Welcome Back Chicken Enchiladas

Good news!! After a crazy summer of traveling, I’m finally ready to get back to blogging – and boy do I have a number of stories and recipes to share with y’all. From France, to road-tripping and hunting for Diners Dive-Ins and Dives restaurants with the boyfriend, to Hong Kong… I’ve had the wonderful experience of tasting and trying so many new and great things!

That all being said, I wanted to start off again with a recipe that I made once all my crazy travels had ended. I spent the last month of this summer with my parents up in Wisconsin for some much needed rest, relaxation, and home-cooked meals. While eating out for roughly every day for two and a half months was an epic foodie adventure, sometimes you miss the homey things (my mom’s chocolate chip cookies in particular). My parents recently moved from Chicago to Wisconsin, and while I was sad about the change (read: I was sad to no longer be a reasonable driving distance from Giordano’s pizza), I have to say their new place is perfect. It’s in this calm quiet tiny town with more vowels than I’ve ever seen in a city name. From cute boutique shops on the main street, to jet-skiing at the lake down the street, to being surround by trees in what I’ve affectionally coined “middle-of-nowhere Wisconsin,” this new home feels like we’ve been there all our lives and I love it.

SO, once I got back to Wisconsin I went on a Pinterest binge and picked out a bunch of recipes I wanted to try out, and this was the first one I made for my parents and it was a smashing success! I kept hearing my Dad mumbling under his breath while he was eating, “Yeah, this is good” or “Mmhmm yup we can have this again.” I couldn’t agree more!

I snagged this recipe from the food blog Smells Like Home — which is also where I found this delicious recipe for homemade pretzels. While I appreciate all the support for this blog, you really should check this one out!

Chicken Enchiladas: Serves 6-8

Ingredients for the Chicken Enchiladas

• 1 medium onion, chopped fine
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 15 oz canned tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 ½ cups shredded Monterey jack cheese, divided
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• ½ cup minced fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish
• Juice of ½ lime
• 12 (6-inch) soft corn or flour tortillas
• Cooking spray

Ingredients for Serving:

• Diced avocado
• Sour cream
• Lime wedges
• Extra chopped cilantro

Instructions:

• Combine the onion, oil, and ½ teaspoon salt in a large sauté pan set over medium heat. Cover and cook, stirring often, until the onions have softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and sugar, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water, bring to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
• Nestle the chicken into the sauce. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and the thickest part registers 165° F on an instant-read thermometer, about 15-20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate; set aside to cool. Strain the sauce through a medium-mesh strainer into a medium bowl, pressing on the onions to extract as much liquid as possible. Place onion mixture in a large bowl and set aside. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
• Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425° F. Lightly spray a 13×9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
• Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred or cut it into bite-sized pieces. Add the chicken to the bowl along with the onion mixture. Add in ¼ cup enchilada sauce, 1 cup of each cheese, black beans, cilantro, and lime juice. Toss to combine.
• Stack and wrap the tortillas in a moist paper towel, place on a microwave-safe plate, and microwave on high until warm and pliable, about 30 seconds. Working with one tortilla at a time (keep the others inside the warm towel), place 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of each tortilla. Tightly roll each tortilla around the filling and lay them seam-side down in the baking dish.
• Lightly spray the tops of the enchiladas with cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, for 7-9 minutes, until the tortillas are starting to brown slightly on the top.
• Reduce oven temperature to 400° F. Remove the dish from the oven and cover the enchiladas with the remaining enchilada sauce. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the enchiladas. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake until the enchiladas are heated through, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Remove the foil and continue to bake until the cheese browns, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

I will definitely be making these for my friends in Dallas in the immediate future (you’re welcome, y’all), and I encourage you to do the same! People will love you for it. And if not… Do you really want people in your life that don’t appreciate good chicken enchiladas? I think we all know the answer to that one… Happy eating y’all, and I’m so excited to be back!!