Casa M Chicken Enchiladas

It is said that being able to make good chicken enchiladas is a requirement for women before they can get married in Mexico. That's how important this dish is in the rotation of weekly meals. Deceptively simple, making good chicken enchiladas can be elusively hard since their success hinges heavily on a really good salsa and great, moist chicken. By the way, this is also a fantastic way to use leftover turkey from holiday dinners too.

Here we leverage a tried and true Casa M Salsa Verde recipe as a base and then make it creamy with sour cream. Next, moist chicken packed with bold flavor means a slow cooker and our Pecking Order® with just a little salt; give it a couple hours and it falls apart retaining all the juice and pulling easily with a fork. Don't overcook the tortillas to the point where they are no longer flexible. Chop the onions very fine. Here we used Oaxaca cheese. It's stringy, flavorful, and abundant in Mexico, but substitute any good-melting cheese you like here. If you happen to live in the Southwest US and have access to fresh corn tortillas, definitely grab some of those.

As always, from our table to yours... #SpiceConfidently #EssenceOfFlavor #ChemistryInTheKitchen #CasaMSpice

— Mike Hernandez

ingredients

For the Salsa:

2 cups Casa M Salsa Verde
1/2 cup sour cream

For the Chicken:

4 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup Casa M Spice Co® Uncontrolled Pecking Order®

Pulling It All Together:

12 5" corn tortillas
avocado oil as needed
1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped
16 ounces cheese

FEATURED QUOTE

Deceptively simple, making good chicken enchiladas can be elusively hard since its success hinges heavily on a really good salsa and great, moist chicken.

- Mike Hernandez

LET’S GET COOKING

1.
Put the chicken, salt, and Casa M Spice Co® Uncontrolled Pecking Order® into a slow cooker or InstaPot. Mix the ingredients well, then cook on the "slow cook high" setting until the chicken is falling apart and easy to pull/shred. When the chicken is finished cooking, put all the chicken and liquids from the cooking vessel into a mixing bowl and pull/shred it.
2.
Make the salsa by starting with the Casa M Salsa Verde recipe and whisking in the sour cream.
3.
Lightly brown the tortillas in a frying pan with a dollop of avocado oil. This is intended to very lightly cook the tortilla and brown it a touch. It should still be flexible enough to fold without breaking. After browning the tortillas, fold them in half and stack them on a plate.
4.
Grease a 13" x 9" baking dish with the avocado oil.
5.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (convection if you have it) bake.
6.
Working with the tortillas you just cooked one at a time, add a little onion, a little cheese, and about 2 teaspoons of the pulled chicken, then fold it like a taco, then lay it flat on its side in the baking dish. You'll use about 1/2 of the onion and 1/2 of the cheese in this step. As you fill each tortilla, arrange them into the baking dish tightly so all 12 fit and nestle up on each other.
7.
Spread the salsa evenly over the top of the prepared enchiladas in the baking dish.
8.
Top the enchiladas with the remaining onions and cheese.
9.
Bake the enchiladas for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.
10.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes and serve immediately.