Easy Make-Ahead Chicken Enchiladas Recipe (2024)

From the Kitchen

Make-Ahead Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas are one of our family’s staple dinner meals. They are so easy to make and everyone loves them. And these chicken dinner enchiladas work so well to make ahead of time, especially if you’re making these for a big family party!

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Thanks to my sweet sister-in-law Cathy, our family has been making these enchiladas for years! With only a few ingredients, you’ll have dinner ready in no time.

Chicken Enchiladas RecipeVideo:

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken – cooked and diced
10-12 flour tortillas
2 cups cheese
enchilada sauce 14 oz can – any flavor, we love the red and green sauce
optional: 1 cup sour cream
optional: diced green chiles

Method:

Mix together your cooked chicken, 3/4 of your enchilada sauce, and 1 1/2 cup of cheese in a bowl (save the extra sauce and cheese for the topping). Add in any other of the optional extras, like sour cream or dice green chiles.

Add a spoonful or 2 of your mix to the center of the tortilla. Spread it down in a line in the center of the tortilla.

Roll up your tortilla and place it in a baking dish.

When all your enchiladas are wrapped, pour the extra sauce over them and sprinkle the cheese.

Preheat your oven to 350 and bakeyour enchiladas for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

This is such a great meal to make ahead of time, I will often double the recipe and freeze half of it for later. It’s great to make for friends who need an extra meal!

Place your enchiladas into a tinfoil pan uncookedand add a layer of tinfoil to the top.

I like to write on the foil what is inside and the cooking instructions. This makes it helpful if it’s placed in the freezer!

Now it’s ready to give to friends and family in need of a meal. They can read the top and know how to bake it for their dinner!

5 from 1 vote

Chicken Enchiladas

They are so easy to make and everyone loves them. And these chicken dinner enchiladas work so well to make ahead of time, especially if you’re making these for a big family party!

Ingredients

2cupschickencooked & diced
10-12flour tortillas
2cupscheese
enchilada sauce 14 oz can – any flavorwe love the red and green sauce
optional: 1 cup sour cream
optional: diced green chiles
Enchilada Sauce for Chicken Enchiladas

Instructions

Mix together your cooked chicken, 3/4 of your enchilada sauce, and 1 1/2 cup of cheese in a bowl (save the extra sauce and cheese for the topping). Add in any other of the optional extras, like sour cream or dice green chiles.
Add a spoonful or 2 of your mix to the center of the tortilla. Spread it down in a line in the center of the tortilla.
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Roll up your tortilla and place it in a baking dish.
When all your enchiladas are wrapped, pour the extra sauce over them and sprinkle the cheese.
Preheat your oven to 350 and bake your enchiladas for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Recipe Notes

This is such a great meal to make ahead of time, I will often double the recipe and freeze half of it for later. It’s great to make for friends who need an extra meal! Place your enchiladas into a tinfoil pan uncooked and add a layer of tinfoil to the top. I like to write on the foil what is inside and the cooking instructions. This makes it helpful if it’s placed in the freezer!

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More Yummy Mexican Themed Recipes:

Loaded Breakfast Quesadillas
Chicken Black Bean Enchilada Pie
Crockpot Mexican Lasagna

Marie

Marie is a mom of 3 living in Seattle, WA. She's been the founder and managing editor of Make and Takes for the last 16 years, sharing DIY tutorials for home, family, and fun. Author of Make and Takes for Kids, Early Childhood and Elementary graduate, and currently teaching 2nd grade in Seattle!

April 3, 2008

Dinner

chicken, easy dinner, make ahead, mexican, tinfoil dinners

38 comments

After freezing, what is the latest you suggest these are eaten by?
Use a hand mixer to shred chicken – game changer!!
These were outstanding. My husband, brother-in-Law, and nephews- all adults- scarfed down an entire recipe of these. I had made them the week before to have them on hand in the freezer. Thank you.
I don’t have enchilada sauce can i use rotel tomatoes instead.
Can you make this recipe with queso sauce instead of the enchilada sauce? If so, would it still be able to be used as a freezer meal?
I made the freezer version of these in preparation for being at home with my newborn. After cooking, the tortillas turned out very soggy. Do you have any tips for avoiding this in the future? I have another batch still in my freezer, so I’m hoping it goes better the second time. I had included the sour cream in the recipe. Do you think that could have made the difference?
1. I’m wondering if you could cook them a little longer in the oven, maybe 5 more minutes to help dry out any extra wetness? Or even broil them on low for 2-3 minutes more, to crisp them.
  I’ve actually made these with sour cream as well, and I haven’t had them go soggy. Were they perhaps still frozen a little? For best results, be sure they are thawed out a couple of days and then bake.
  Good luck!
Someone please update with cooking from frozen times.
Can you cook these from frozen? If so, how does that change cooking temp and time?
Thank you!!
1. I have not baked this from frozen. If it’s frozen, then I usually thaw it out for the day or overnight before I bake it. So I’m not quite sure on frozen baking times. Let me know if you bake it frozen and if it worked out.
How did you shred the chicken? Do you boil it first or how?
1. You can cook your chicken however you usually do. Then either chop it up with a sharp knife on a cutting board or you can use 2 forks and shred the chicken apart on a cutting board. Either way works great. You just want your chicken in small bite-sized chunks.
Hi… can you cook these from frozen or do you thaw first. Thank you
Do you cook the chicken before you put them in the tortillas?
1. Yes! I’m so sorry that wasn’t clear. I’ve just updated the recipe to reflect the change to cooked and diced chicken in the ingredients. Thanks for asking this question!
Any hint on quantities or ratios for this dish? I am looking to feed 50 folks and am trying to figure out how much chicken to shred.
Susie – I need to try the green sauce. I always get it at Cafe Rio, so I should try it at home.
Whitney – The recipe on the back is for Beef enchiladas, but I like to use chicken. I substituted about 9-10 chicken tenders for the 1 lb. of beef.
Lindsay – I didn’t do the roast yet. I am planning it now for this Sunday’s dinner. I can’t wait to eat it again.
I still make these enchiladas all the time, too (ever since you made these for us 5 years ago). Soooo yummy, and easy!
BTW, how did the roast turn out? I used regular brown sugar yesterday, instead of dark, and the gravy was just right…
Hey Marie,
This sounds delicious! I ran out and bought a can and the recipe isn’t on the back:( Soooo, I was wondering how much chicken you use. Thanks so much!
Whitney
Good job, Merla.
We haven’t done it in a while, but we used to make a bunch of dishes like this because they are so easy to make and even easier to give away when somebody needs a quick meal because they’ve had a bad day, had a baby, fallen off a ladder or got fired.
You get the idea!
I love getting two meals out of one – I love this idea and it would be perfect for my family of four too! Thanks for the tip!
This is pretty much our Enchilada recipe too…though I usually use the green sauce. I precook and shred the chicken in the crockpot. I think I’ve fed this meal to the missionaries at least twice in the six times we’ve had missionaries over. Oops.
I make these same enchiladas but use whatever Mexican brand enchilada sauce the local store carries. They are usually cheaper and I like the flavor a little better. Also for a change, try swapping out the red enchilada sauce for green. It’s great!
What a good idea. Cathy has learned so much about cooking. Maybe I better try this one, when I have “little” company coming.