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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:
Like this recipe better than any I have try
Thank you so much Donna!
I add my own touch in sauce and I mix chicken thighs and turkey legs. Taste good.🙏🏾
Great suggestions Dianne! Thank you!
Easy and delicious!
Thanks Rochelle!
Made this for Christmas Eve dinner with dairy free cheese and sour cream and holy moly was it delicious! Thank you for this awesome recipe!
You’re very welcome Heather! Merry Christmas!
I’ve got this on the oven right now. We’re very eager to try it! I noticed that there’s a step missing in the directions. At step 8, you say to lay the rolled up tortilla in the sauce, but you never mentioned putting the sauce in the baking dish (or how much). Otherwise, this was a very easy recipe to follow and I can’t wait to try it!
Hi Leila – Hope you love the enchiladas. See Step #5 – we suggest placing about a ladle full of sauce in the bottom of the casserole dish. 🙂 Hope that helps!
I need you to put out a book or is there one and I missed it? So many recipes to try and so little time!
Thanks Dawn! No cookbook yet…maybe someday! 🙂
Hi Martha, I currently have the mexican pulled chicken in the oven. I do not plan on making these enchiladas until Thursday night. The recipe says that I need to have one pound “heated,” how would you reccomend that I reheat the refrigerated mexican pulled chicekn before putting the meat in the tortillas
Hi – we just heat it in the microwave or in a pan on the stove!
Thanks, Can’t wait to try it!
It is our family tradition to have enchiladas on Christmas Eve. This year I used your recipe for both the shredded chicken and enchiladas; and everyone LOVED it! I’ve never fried the tortillas before rolling, but the technique worked perfectly for easy tight rolling. Definitely our new go-to enchilada recipe- the white sauce and chicken combo are my favorite! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Wow Lindsey – you sound like an enchiladas expert 🙂 and we are hugely flattered that our recipe has made the list. Thank you for taking the time to write to us – you’ve made our day!
Wow, this is some of the best food I’ve ever eaten … but I guess I can say that about most of your recipes we’ve tried! Thanks!
Awww…thank you so much Rick! We’re very glad you’re enjoying this and all of the other recipes! Thanks for taking the time to write to us today!
Martha – If I’m using your pulled chicken recipe for this enchilada dish (and making both recipes at the same time), is the cooking time different for the Enchilada dish. I’m worried about cooking the chicken at 275 for three hours (pulled chicken directions) and then turning around and cooking again at 350 for 40 minutes as called for in this enchilada recipe…
Hi Marlen – Great question. If you are cooking the enchiladas immediately after making the pulled chicken (while it is still hot) you might be able to get by with less cooking time. Just cook until the enchiladas are heated through and the cheese is slightly browned. Hope that helps!
Just an update on this meal. I made the pulled chicken recipe as written with the exception that I slow cooked it at 275 degrees in the oven in convection mode. I checked the chicken at 2.5 hours and took a temperature check. It was 160 degrees. I removed it from the oven – and let it sit for about 10 minutes and then shredded it with two forks.
I then followed the enchilada as written except I went with 325 degrees in convection mode. Let it cook for 25 minutes and took it out the oven. Results were outstanding! Wife claimed best ever enchiladas…and that says something! The white sauce rocked with a little help from Frank’s original Hot sauce. Left overs were just as good the next day.
Will be making this one again soon!
Thanks for writing back Marlen! So glad you (and your wife) enjoyed the recipe!