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Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce have tender chicken-stuffed tortillas topped with a zesty creamy white sauce and cheese.
Baked Chicken Enchiladas in a Creamy White Enchilada Sauce
Our Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce recipe is a long-time reader favorite recipe here on A Family Feast!
This easy recipe has lightly-fried corn tortillas stuffed with shredded chicken and cheese. Then, the tortillas are topped with more cheese and a zesty white enchilada sauce with a perfect amount of heat, rather than the more traditional red enchilada sauce.
The cooked chicken used this recipe is our very popular Mexican pulled chicken recipe – a versatile, easy and delicious way to prepare chicken for many Mexican-inspired recipes.
Reader Review
“Just wanted to let you know that we are making these enchiladas for the third time tonight. It is a sophisticated and modern take on classic enchiladas. Whoever came up with the pulled chicken recipe deserves a medal.” -Alex & Kim
Why You’ll Love Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce
- Every bite is pure, delicious comfort food.
- Tender zesty chicken is smothered in a creamy white enchilada sauce with the perfect amount of heat and flavor.
- This dish is great for any fiesta or family meal. The recipe as written serves six, but you can easily double the recipe and bake in larger quantities to feed a crowd.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Mexican Pulled Chicken – The tortillas are filled with our Mexican Pulled Chicken – a zesty mix of chicken, canned tomatoes, onions, red bell pepper, and a variety of seasonings. Cook this up ahead of time.
- White Sauce – This creamy zesty sauce is made with chicken stock, sour cream, canned green chilies (we used mild), spices and seasonings, and thickened with butter and flour.
- Tortillas – We used 6” corn tortillas. Flour tortillas can also be used, although we think the flavor of the corn tortillas works best in this recipe.
- Vegetable Oil – To fry the corn tortillas
- Cheese – We used both Monterey Jack as well as Pepper Jack cheese.
Special Tools Needed
- Medium/Large Saucepan – To make the white sauce.
- Box Grater – To shred the cheese (use the larger holes).
- Medium Skillet – To fry the tortillas.
- 9×13-inch Casserole Dish (oven-safe) or baking pan
- Various measuring cups and spoons
- Wooden Spoon
- Whisk
- Tongs – Used to fry the tortillas.
How Do I Make Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce?
- Prepare the Mexican Pulled Chicken.
- Make the white sauce. Spread some of the sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish.
- Fry the tortillas in oil to soften.
- Divide the chicken and Pepper Jack cheese between twelve tortillas.
- Roll each tortilla closed and place seam-side down into the prepared casserole dish.
- Top with remaining white sauce and shredded Monterey Jack cheese.
- Bake until hot and bubbly and golden on top.
- Serve immediately with Mexican Rice and Refried Beans.
Cooking Tips
- Lightly frying the corn tortillas in a little hot oil makes them pliable enough to fill and roll without breaking, plus it enhances the corn flavor. Do not fry for too long – they will get crisp and brittle instead of pliable.
- After baking in the sauce, the enchiladas will be soft and delicate. Carefully remove two per portion with a long wide spatula. It’s helpful to brush or spray the spatula with a little oil to help the enchiladas slide off onto your plate.
- When sprinkling the Monterey Jack cheese on top, spread it evenly over each roll so once the dish is baked, you can identify where each one starts and stops to make it easy to serve. (You’ll see slight mounds for each rolled tortilla.)
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce ahead of time? You can make the chicken, make the sauce, and shred the cheese ahead of time, but the enchiladas should be assembled and baked just before serving.
- How do I store leftovers? Cool, then cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap and store refrigerated for up to three days.
- How do I reheat leftovers? Gently reheat individual portions in the microwave.
- Can I freeze this dish? If you have extra pulled chicken, that can be frozen and used in another recipe such as our Mexican Lasagna, Chilaquiles, or our Pulled Chicken Tacos. But, due to the white sauce, the baked enchiladas will not freeze well.
This Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce recipe originally appeared on A Family Feast in April 2013. We’ve update the post and photos, but the original delicious recipe remains the same (it has been rewritten for improved clarity).
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Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce
Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce have tender chicken-stuffed tortillas topped with a zesty creamy white sauce and cheese.
Ingredients
1 pound prepared Mexican Pulled Chicken (one pound is 1/4 of the entire Mexican Pulled Chicken recipe)
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock, heated
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 ounces full fat sour cream
1 teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce (less if you like your food mild). We used our homemade Rocket Fuel hot sauce.
1 4-ounce can mild chopped green chilies, not drained
Vegetable oil – To fry the tortillas
12 six-inch corn tortillas
6 ounces Pepper Jack cheese, shredded on large holes of a box grater
6 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded on large holes of a box grater
Instructions
- Make the Mexican Pulled Chicken recipe. (You’ll be using one quarter of the cooked chicken in this recipe – see notes below for other recipes that call for the cooked chicken.)
- In a medium to large sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat and add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon for three minutes.
- Add heated chicken stock one third at a time, whisking at each addition.
- Whisk in the salt, cayenne, sour cream, and hot sauce. Then stir in the chilies and remove the white sauce from heat and set aside.
- Spread a cup of the sauce into the bottom of a 9×13-inch casserole dish.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place a skillet over medium high heat and add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil. Have a plate covered with paper towels next to the pan.
- Place in one tortilla at a time and heat to soften, about 5-10 seconds per side. Use tongs to flip and remove to the paper towel lined plate, then stack off to the side. Continue until all the tortillas have been cooked, using more oil as needed.
- Lay all twelve tortillas on your counter and divide the pulled chicken between them in a strip in the center left to right.
- Divide the Pepper Jack cheese over each strip of pulled chicken.
- Fold into a roll and place seam side down into your casserole dish.
- Pour all the white sauce over each tortilla, using all the sauce.
- Sprinkle the Monterey Jack cheese over each tortilla, being careful to keep the cheese on the top of each roll. Once baked, this will help define where each one starts and stops to make it easier to serve.
- Bake uncovered for 40 minutes. Let rest for ten minutes.
- Serve two per portion.
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Notes
Use the extra Mexican Pulled Chicken in some of these recipes:
Our original photos from 2013:
just wanted to let you know that we are making these enchiladas for the third time tonight. It is a sophisticated and modern take on classic enchiladas. Whoever came up with the pulled chicken recipe deserves a medal.
Thank you so much! All of the credit for that pulled chicken recipe should go to my husband Jack (I agree – he deserves a medal!). We’re glad you are enjoying the recipes! Thanks for writing to us!
Just made this recipe last night! We made one red (sub a can of red enchi sauce in place of sour cream), and one white. Delicious!! Perfect amount of spice, so caution if you think you want more 🙂 We thought we needed more (adding some habanero cheese and half chopped jalapenos), and the red dish was super spicy, good, but oh boy was it spicy. Thank you so much for the great recipe!!! This is going to be a regular dish for us. (This was also the first time I’ve ever made enchiladas)
Thanks H & C! We’re glad you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for sharing your adaptation!
I’d love to make this gluten free. Any idea how much cornstarch I should use in place of the flour?
Hi Stephanie – This article suggests using half the amount of cornstarch in place of flour. http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/glutenfreecookingtips/qt/Corn-Starch-Tips.htm
Hope this helps!
We made this last week and I’ve been craving them since then, so we made them tonight again. Fairly simple, yet delicious! Totally a keeper! Thanks for sharing Martha!
Thanks Adri!! We are so glad you liked the recipe!! (And now I’m craving them…)
I just made this and it was so delicious! I cut the butter and flour qty in half for the sauce. I also used a flour/corn tortilla – the best of both worlds! The results were fantastic! Thank you for your recipes. I’m so glad I stumbled upon your website.
Thank you so much! We’re glad you found us too!
These were simply awesome. The taste of the Mexican Pulled Chicken was fabulous and the sauce was so authentically Mexican. It was a wonderful dinner. I did use flour tortillas since that is what I had on hand and still fried–they were great. Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes. They all sound do good!!! Thanks so much–Ah, I think I am ready for a nap after that wonderful meal!
Thanks Linda! We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipes! Thanks for visiting and writing to us today!
If I use flour tortillas will I still need to fry them beforehand?
Hi Michelle! The flour tortillas are soft enough that you won’t have to fry them. Thanks!
These are AMAZING!! Especially if you have your favorite hot sauce to compliment this recipe. By far my favorite find on Pinterest!! Well this and your Mexican Chicken. I’ll be cooking a lot of your recipes in the future.
Thanks Dawn! So glad you enjoyed the recipes!
This was awesome! And easy to make!
Thanks Pat!
These were excellent! Do you think these will freeze well all prepared or should I freeze the sauce separately? Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Mechele – Glad you liked the recipe! Since the sauce is made with milk, it might crystallize a bit if you freeze it and the tortillas might also get a little soggy…it will probably taste OK either way but it won’t be quite the same consistency as it was freshly made. We usually don’t freeze this dish ourselves…but let us know how it works out for you if you decide to freeze some! Thanks for visiting our site! Martha