Green chicken enchiladas is a classic favorite in our kitchen, full of creamy, gooey cheesy goodness. The recipe screams to be doubled so double everything and make it for your next big get together.
Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
For these green chicken enchiladas, I’ve used a can of Green Chile Enchilada Sauce because we didn’t have any fresh at the time. I look forward to making a batch of fresh enchilada sauce later and mom wants to try canning it this time! Until then, the purchased canned version is wonderful. No worries!
Since making this batch of green chicken enchiladas, I’ve also written about my own green chile sauce for enchiladas or for dipping. If you want to give my homemade green enchilada sauce a try, you can easily make that as well. You’ll love it with the roasted chiles to give it even more rich flavor.
Recaito Culantro Cooking Base
This is the cooking base I’ve used in these enchiladas for an incredibly delicious added flavor. We use it all the time. It can be added to soups, stews, casseroles and my mom used it as a base to salad dressing one day last week.
Mom loves it so much that she can literally eat it out of the jar with a spoon so be sure to pick some up from your local market or, order from Amazon if you can’t find it because it’s what gives the green chicken enchiladas such incredible flavor. You don’t want to leave it out.
It mixes perfectly with the sour cream and cream cheese which make these creamy chicken enchiladas so delicious and flavorful.
Culantro vs. Cilantro
I had to do some research before posting this recipe because I told mom how wonderful it would be if we could make our own. First, I discovered that culantro isn’t the same as cilantro (Chinese Parsley).
If you look at the label for the recaito, there are leaves shaped like cilantro and there are leaves shaped more spear like. Those long leaves are the culantro. Mom is slightly allergic to cilantro and can’t eat very much of it but the culantro is perfectly fine. She just has to be careful to order the culantro version instead of the cilantro version.
You can learn more about the differences between culantro and cilantro at Spruce Eats.
Green Chicken Enchiladas with Recaito
Mom ordered some recao seeds from Amazon and we’ll see if we can get them to grow in the Aerogarden and then we’ll have our own fresh recaito! Special thanks to mom’s friend, Dianne Hunt of Same DiNamics Crochet for her invaluable information on recaito.
Spanish Rice
I’ve served these green chicken enchiladas with Spanish Rice so be sure to pick up my recipe for that as well.
Green Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
Equipment
- 9 x 11 Casserole Pan
- Aluminum Foil
Ingredients
- 12 White Corn Tortillas
- 1 pound Chicken Breast
- 4 ounces Cream Cheese softened
- 1/2 cup Goya Recaito
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream
- 6 ounces Queso Fresco Crumbling Cheese chopped
- 1 Jalapeño, seeds and membranes removed finely diced
- 10 ounces Green Enchilada Sauce canned or fresh
- 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese shredded
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Soften tortillas: brush each with just a dab of cool water, stack, wrap in aluminum foil and put in oven until soft, about 10 minutes.
- Cut up chicken into 1" pieces and cook in olive oil on medium heat. Remove from heat and chop into small pieces.
- In medium mixing bowl, stir cream cheese until smooth. Add recaito and sour cream, stir well. Fold in Queso Fresco, jalapeño and chicken.
- Pour half can of enchilada sauce in 9" x 11" pan and tilt to spread it around the bottom.
- Place about two tablespoons of chicken mixture in each softened tortilla, roll up and place, seam side down, in pan. Carefully squeeze them in there until all tortillas are in the pan.
- Add remaining half of enchilada sauce down the center third of each tortilla, leaving the edges open (this will allow them to get a bit crispy in the oven). Distribute the mozzarella cheese across the top.
- Place in oven, uncovered and cook for 20 minutes, until bubbly.
- Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before cutting. 6 servings. Recipe can be doubled easily.
Notes
Nutrition
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