Zesty Green Chicken Enchiladas

Enchiladas are EASILY in my top 3 favorite foods of all time. I am from San Antonio so obviously my personal favorite are gooey cheese enchiladas with chile con carne sauce but– I leave those to the professionals. These are totally gringo white people enchiladas from a recipe that I adapted off of Pinterest. These make about 2 dozen so prepare to have enchiladas coming out of your ears. Honestly, the dream.

what you need:

• 3 cups shredded chicken (my foolproof recipe for shredded chicken here!)
• 4 cups shredded monterrey jack cheese
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 2 large jalapeno peppers, core and seeds removed (or 4 small ones)
• 1 large poblano pepper, core and seeds removed
• ½ yellow onion
• 10 – 12 tomatillos, casings removed
• 3 cloves garlic
• Kosher salt
• 3 tsp ground cumin
• Ground black pepper
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 2 dozen tortillas (I use HEB Mixla Tortillas, and a flour/corn hybrid tortilla is preferred but if you cannot find those, corn is fine) (I feel like Ina Garten with that sentence)
• 2 T chopped cilantro (optional)
• Sour Cream (optional)

what you need to do:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
• Chop up the onion, jalapenos, poblano, tomatillos, and garlic into chunks. This will all be put into a blender so no need to cut into uniform pieces. Just make sure they about the same size so they cook evenly. See photo below.

• Heat a large nonstick pan with 2 T oil over medium-high heat.
• Add all of the chopped veggies, 3 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and 1 tsp salt to the pan and cook until the onions are translucent and the mixture is pretty mushy. About 10 minutes. See photo below.

• Add all of the contents of the pan to a blender. Let it cool for about 3 minutes.
• Put your lid on your blender but **IMPORTANT** do NOT close it all the way. You need a gap for the steam to escape or it will literally explode and you will burn yourself and create a mess.
• Turn on blender and let it mix for about 30 seconds, or until it is pureed into a smooth consistency.
• Add in your cream, 1 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and blend again until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Add more salt and pepper to taste as desired.
• If you like cilantro, add it in here.

• In a large bowl, combine 1/3 cup of the sauce to your shredded chicken, along with 2 cups of the shredded cheese. Mix until well combined.
• Grab a 9×13 casserole dish or glass/metal pan (you will likely need another smaller pan for overflow!) and spoon about 1 T of the sauce into the bottom and spread around. You don’t need to coat it but just smear it around.
• Prepare your enchilada rollin’ station. I use a small cutting board and set it up right next to my pan and chicken mixture.
• Using one tortilla at a time, grab a large pinch of chicken mixture and spread out in a line in the middle of the tortilla.
• Gently wrap the top of the tortilla down and around the filling, then roll up into a perfect little enchilada.
• Place crease side down into the baking dish and continue rolling until you use up all of the chicken mixture. You can also make a few with just cheese if you run out of chicken or have a vegetarian to feed!
• Once all of your enchiladas are rolled, pour the remaining sauce over the top, spreading it evenly over all of them to make sure they are are covered up.
• Top with remaining cheese, sprinkling over evenly.

• Put in the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
• Once the 20 min is up, turn your oven on high broil, and let the broiler get the cheese all brown and crispy. This takes about 5 – 7 minutes. DO NOT DO THIS AND WALK AWAY. I literally sit on the floor in front of my oven and watch the cheese broil. It’s riveting.
• Remove from the oven and let cool about 5 min to let the cheese set before serving.
• Top with cilantro or sour cream if you dare!
• See my enchilada rolling timelapse below.