[twitter]One day my wife said she wanted chicken enchiladas for dinner.

I had never made them before, don’t think I’d ever really had them before, so I looked up an easy chicken enchiladas recipe and found this one from recipe from Canadian Living that I now do quite often. I can make it the night ahead, cover it with foil, and keep in the fridge until dinner.

Easy Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Ingredients:

8 large flour tortillas

Tomato Sauce:
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp (30 mL) chili powder
1 tsp (5 mL) ground coriander
1 tsp (5 mL) dried oregano
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cumin
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) pepper
1 can (28 oz/796 mL) ground tomatoes
(I also toss in the extra “sauce packets” from the taco kits we buy. We don’t use that piquante sauce for the tacos, so I lower the tomatoes I use, and toss this in as a great kickstarter)

Chicken Filling:
2 lb (907 g) boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
1 sweet yellow pepper or red pepper, cored, seeded and sliced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) pepper
2 cups (500 mL) Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/4 cup (60 mL) fresh coriander, chopped

Preparation:
You start by making the tomato sauce first. Heat your oil, fry your onion, garlic, chili powder, coriander, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper for about 5 minutes.

Then add your can of ground tomatoes and bring the mixture to a boil before reducing the heat and simmering until the sauce thickens. This should take about 20 minutes. When the sauce is ready, set it aside.

To make the chicken filling, cut your pieces in to slices. I usually use breast meat for this recipe, it’s up to you. Brown your chicken until it is cooked through and then set aside.

After draining the fat from your pan, add your peppers, salt and pepper and cook for just a few minutes until they soften a bit, but are still crisp. Toss the peppers with the chicken and 1 cup of the cheese along with some of the chopped coriander.

In a 13×9 glass baking dish, spread 1 cup of your tomato sauce evenly along the bottom. Now roll your enchiladas by taking a scoop of the filling, rolling tightly, and placing in the dish seam side down. Repeat until your dish is filled with rolls.

Spoon the remaining tomato sauce over your dish of enchiladas, and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes at 375°F. Remove the foil, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the enchiladas and bake for another 10 minutes.

I usually serve the enchiladas with Mexican rice and refried beans.

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