Discover a new favorite chicken enchilada recipe with a flavorful roasted poblano sauce. Easy to make and perfect for Mexican food fans. This is a really easy chicken enchilada recipe! I use burrito size wraps in this recipe but you can use any size wrap you wish. There is chicken and plenty of cheese in this recipe! You can also use my refried beans recipe to compliment the enchiladas! Also my anything sauce works well too! You can roast your own chicken and poblanos in your oven or use pre-cooked chicken and jarred roasted peppers too!
Roasting the chicken and poblanos
Line a baking sheet with a piece of aluminum foil. Place the chicken onto the foil and season with tho tablespoons of the enchilada spice mix. Place a piece of foil the same size as the first and fold over the edges to seal the foil. Then, take three poblanos and cover them with four tablespoons of olive oil. Place them on another lined baking sheet. Bake both at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Be careful of the steam coming out of the unsealed foil when checking the chicken. When finished cooking take both out to cool. Once cooled place the chicken into a food processor and pulse until a shredded consistency is reached. Place the shredded chicken into a bowl with the drained fire roasted tomatoes and 8 ounces of the shredded monterey jack. Mix all the ingredients together.
The sauce
You will see the skin blister and separate from the peppers when the poblanos are done roasting. Let them cool until they are easy to handle. Peel the skin, or as much as you can, off of the peppers. Next, cut off the stem of the peppers. You can pull it out or cut it. Try to get the seeds out, but do not worry if you do not get all of them out. They will be put through the food processor.
Place the roasted poblano peppers, queso fresco, spinach, one tablespoon of the enchilada spice mix, and milk in a food processor and process the mixture until it reaches a smooth but thick consistency.
Putting it all together
I used burrito size wraps for my enchiladas, but you can use whatever size you like. First, grease the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Next, fill your wraps with your desired amount of chicken filling. The burrito wraps held quite a bit and I was able to fit 5 in the baking dish. You can fit up to 8 or more if you use smaller wraps. Once the baking dish is full of filled enchilada wraps, pour the poblano sauce over the enchiladas. Try to get in the gaps between the enchiladas with the sauce. Next, cover the enchiladas with the remaining 8 ounces of monterey jack cheese.
Tent the dish with a piece of foil to keep covered but to ensure the cheese does not stick. Then bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes with the cover on, and 15-20 more minutes with the cover off or until the cheese is golden brown. The ingredients are available at grocery stores such as Aldi’s!
Time saving options for the chicken and peppers
Chicken can be purchased already cooked like a rotisserie chicken. Also you can use jarred roasted peppers. They don’t necessarily need to be poblanos. Jarred bell peppers will work. This will cut down significantly on the time it takes to make this recipe.
Try my guacamole with orange juice for a great addition to the enchiladas.
For another great dinner try my swiss cheese chicken bake!
Chicken Enchiladas with Roasted Poblano Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 3 large poblano peppers
- 3 tablespoons of enchilada spice mix divided (recipe below)
- 3 chicken breasts or 1 pre baked rotisserie chicken (see notes)
- 1 14 oz can of drained fire-roasted tomatoes
- 10 oz of queso fresco
- 16 oz of shredded monterey jack cheese divided
- 1 cup of milk almond milk works fine
- 8 ounces of baby spinach
- 5-8 wraps depending on size preference
Enchilada Spice Mix
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon of ground coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon of allspice
- ¼ teaspoon of chipotle chili powder optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- Mix spices for the enchilada spice mix and set aside.
- Place poblano peppers on a lined baking sheet and cover in olive oil.
- On another baking sheet, coat the chicken with 2 tablespoons of the enchilada spice mixture. Place chicken on a piece of foil and cover with an additional piece of foil, sealing the edges.
- Cook the chicken and the poblano peppers for 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. The internal temperature of the chicken must be at least 165 degrees F. Be careful unsealing the foil, hot steam may be released. Set both aside to cool.
- Once the peppers are cooled, peel the skin off, deseed, and cut the stems off.
- Add cooled chicken to a food processor and process until shredded texture. Add chicken to a bowl with the fire-roasted tomatoes and 8 ounces of the monterey jack cheese. Mix well.
- Next, add the stemmed and skinned poblanos to the food processor along with the queso fresco, spinach, one tablespoon of enchilada spice mix, and 1 cup of milk. The mixture should end up being the texture of a thick sauce.
- Grease the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan. Depending on the enchilada size you want, place some of the chicken mixture into the wrap. Place the wrap in the 9×13 pan seam side down. Continue the process until the pan is full with about ½ inch space in between each enchilada.
- Next, pour the poblano sauce over the enchiladas. Making sure to get the sauce in between the enchiladas. Then sprinkle on the last 8 ounces of shredded monterey jack cheese.
- Tent foil on pan so cheese does not stick to the foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Take the foil off and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown and delicious.