I love to make enchiladas and have a recipe given to me years ago that never changes… it’s that good! When I have the time, I buy dried Ancho and Pasilla peppers and make an authentic Mexican Red Enchilada Sauce. It tastes so much better than out of a can. You can google several recipes. I also feel marinating the chicken in our candied jalapeño brine (juice), then adding candied jalapeños on top, takes them to another level of yummy goodness.
Ingredients:
Two chicken breasts, cut in half and pricked with a fork
1/2 cup of candied jalapeño, brine
4 cups of cheddar cheese, shredded
One medium onion, chopped fine
One jar of Campbell’s candied jalapeños, slice in half as many as your spice meter allows
One package of thick corn tortillas
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
One large can of enchilada sauce
Two large greased baking dishes
Directions:
Place chicken breast in a large baggie and add brine and marinate for 2-3 hours.
In a skillet about the size of the corn tortillas, add oil and heat on medium. When oil is heated, add a corn tortilla, flip over, and immediately take out of skillet and place on a paper toweled plate. Continue to do this to the remaining tortillas. Do not let them bubble or fry; you only want to coat them in warm oil.
Take chicken out of the baggie and add to the skillet with one tablespoon of oil that you used for corn tortillas. Heat on medium-high and cook until meat is done, turning as needed. Then place in a bowl and shred with forks. Add taco seasoning to the heart and mix well.
Add enchilada sauce to a pan and heat until it starts to bubble.
Place shredded cheese in a bowl.
Place chopped onion in a bowl.
This is a messy process so have a dish towel handy!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set out a large plate and add some of the enchilada sauce to it. Place the corn tortilla onto a plate and then turn it over to ensure it is covered in sauce. Add chicken down the middle, onion, and cheese, then roll and place in a greased baking dish. Continue until the pan is full of rolled tortillas. You can add more sauce to the plate as needed. You don’t want to fit them in the baking dish tightly. I usually make up two baking dishes: one to eat and one to freeze. Once done, spread the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and add the cheese. I like to cut my candied jalapeños in half and spread them over the top of the enchiladas. Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the sides of the dish are browned.
Serve with shredded lettuce, black olives, green onions, and salsa.
You can also make this with ground beef, add the seasoning while cooking and make sure ground beef is finely chopped.
I hope you’ll enjoy it, and if you have an extra 1/2 hour to make your sauce, you won’t regret the spare time.