Creamy Green Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas
These Green Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas are made by filling corn tortillas with shredded chicken, black beans, and fresh spinach. They’re smothered in both roasted tomatillo salsa and a tangy sour cream sauce, and it’s this combination of sauces that makes these enchiladas the best ever!
★★★★★
Amanda says: “This is seriously one of the most delicious recipes I’ve ever made. I have this page bookmarked because I make these enchiladas so much!”
These Are My Favorite Enchiladas Ever!
This is a classic Tex-Mex recipe from my childhood that I’ve been making for my own family since 2010.
Although there are quite a few components to the recipe (two types of sauce, the chicken and spinach filling, and frying the tortillas), it’s an easy recipe to prepare in stages so that on busy weeknights I already have most items prepped and ready to be assembled.
Here’s why I think you should make these enchiladas too:
✔ Bold Tex-Mex Flavor: There’s so much to love about these spinach chicken enchiladas, but the roasted salsa verde and tangy sour cream sauce are what make this recipe truly restaurant-worthy!
✔ Make Ahead Option: You can prep several components of this recipe in advance, which makes for easy assembly on busy nights. Or, you can assemble the entire batch of enchiladas and freeze them for later.
✔ Family Friendly: We have picky eaters in our household, and most of my kids can’t handle the tiniest bit of spice. Rest assured that these enchiladas are well and truly packed with flavor, but they’re not spicy!
Enjoy!
-Katie
Key Ingredient Notes
I’ve provided the full list of ingredients with their measurements in the recipe card below, but I wanted to briefly touch on the main items you’ll want to stock in your fridge and pantry for assembling these enchiladas.
- Shredded Chicken — You can use any cooked and shredded chicken you’d like in the filling, but this slow cooker Mexican chicken is my all-time favorite.
- Black Beans — Can be subbed with pinto beans or kidney beans if you ran out of black beans.
- Baby Spinach — I used fresh spinach, but I’ve also tested this recipe with frozen spinach. If using frozen spinach, thaw it completely and squeeze out any excess moisture before adding to the chicken filling. (Here’s how I like to freeze my own spinach, if you’ve got some that’s about to go bad!)
- Shredded Cheese — I used Monterrey Jack, but almost any cheese will do. You could sub in a sharp cheddar, a Mexican cheese blend, or something else entirely.
- Corn Tortillas — This type of tortilla is prone to cracking, so you need to gently warm them before rolling up the filling. I used to steam my tortillas, but these days I prefer frying them.
- Sour Cream Sauce — This is what makes the enchiladas so creamy! It’s made by preparing a very basic butter and flour roux, then thinning it out with broth and stirring in some sour cream.
- Salsa Verde — I prefer making my own roasted tomatillo salsa (recipe below!) to use as a green enchilada sauce, but if you’re in a rush and you don’t want to make your own you can use store-bought salsa verde instead. Look for one that’s roasted as opposed to regular salsa verde.
How to Make Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas
- Roast and blend the tomatillos. The salsa verde comes together in about 20 minutes, with most of that time spent roasting the tomatillos and aromatics in the oven. Once everything is nice and soft, the tomatillo mixture is blended with fresh cilantro and garlic until smooth.
- Make the sour cream sauce. Broth is whisked into melted butter and left to cook for a couple of minutes to remove its raw flavor. Then, chicken broth is drizzled into the pot before the sour cream is stirred in.
- Fry the tortillas. I like to use a seasoned cast iron skillet for this! Add about 3/4 inch of canola oil, heat it up, and then fry the corn tortillas for a few seconds on either side to soften them.
- Assemble the enchiladas. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the chicken filling into each tortilla, roll it up, and place seam side down in a baking dish. Once all of the enchiladas are in the dish, drizzle with salsa verde and sour cream sauce.
- Bake. I always bake my enchiladas covered with foil to trap the steam, which prevents the tortillas from drying out and helps heat the enchiladas all the way through.
The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe for green sauce chicken enchiladas. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.
Make Ahead Instructions
The great thing about these chicken and spinach enchiladas with green sauce is that the individual elements can all be made ahead!
- Shredded Chicken — Can be made ahead and combined with the beans and spinach, then refrigerated for up to 2 days. You can also prep just the chicken and freeze it for several months until ready to use.
- Salsa Verde — Can be made and stored airtight in the fridge for up to 2 days, or even frozen for up to a month.
- Sour Cream Sauce — Can be made and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Do not freeze it.
- Assembled Enchiladas — I recommend freezing the enchiladas after assembling, but before baking. Here’s my full guide on how to freeze enchiladas, which provides detailed step-by-step instructions on how to do so.
Side Dish Suggestions
These creamy green chicken enchiladas pair well with pretty much all of your favorite Mexican side dishes Here are some of my go-to’s:
- Cilantro Lime Kale Slaw
- Mexican Caesar Salad
- Super Simple Guacamole
- Restaurant-Style Salsa
- Mexican Rice
And don’t forget to wash everything down with a pineapple margarita or 3-ingredient lemon margarita! Or, if you’d rather drink something non-alcoholic then I can highly recommend this strawberry agua fresca recipe or these pineapple lime coolers.
More Favorite Mexican Recipes
Be sure to check out the full Mexican recipe archive, but here are some of my favorite family-friendly dinners.
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Green Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas Recipe
Corn tortillas are filled with tender shredded chicken, black beans, and fresh spinach, then smothered in two contrasting sauces for the best ever enchiladas.
Ingredients
Enchiladas
- 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts , cooked and shredded (I used this Crock-Pot Mexican Chicken)
- 1 (15 oz) can Black Beans , drained and rinsed
- 5 ounces Baby Spinach , chopped
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
- 8 ounces Monterrey Jack Cheese, grated
- 24 Corn Tortillas
- Canola or Vegetable Oil, for frying
Tomatillo Salsa
- 6 large Tomatillos (about 1 1/4 pounds), husks removed and cut in half
- 1 - 2 Jalapenos, cut in half with stems and seeds discarded
- 1 Yellow Onion, quartered
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1/4 cup Cilantro Leaves, packed
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
Sour Cream Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
- 3/4 cup Sour Cream
- 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Salt, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
Instructions
- Make the salsa verde. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Toss the tomatillos, jalapeños, and yellow onion with olive oil and spread out on a cookie sheet. Roast for 10 - 15 minutes, or until everything is soft. Combine the roasted ingredients with the fresh cilantro, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, make the sour cream sauce. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 clove of minced garlic. Add the flour, whisking until golden and bubbly, about 2-3 minutes. Slowly whisk the broth into the flour mixture. Stir in the sour cream, whisking if necessary to remove any lumps. Simmer until sauce is thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Fry the tortillas. Fill a well-seasoned cast iron pan 3/4 - 1 inch deep with canola oil. Turn the heat to medium-high. Heat the oil until it is ready to fry the tortillas (around 375ºF if you are able to check with a thermometer). When the oil is ready, the edge of a tortilla will sizzle when dipped into the oil. Add the tortillas one at a time and fry for 5-7 seconds on each side, turning using kitchen tongs. They should be soft enough that they are easy to roll without breaking. Drain the tortillas on a paper towel lined cooling rack.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 375ºF.
- Make the filling. Stir together the chicken, spinach, salt, pepper, and shredded cheese in a large bowl. Add the beans and carefully stir in so as not to mash up the beans.
- Prep the pan. Spread 1/4 cup of the salsa verde on the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Set aside.
- Assemble the enchiladas. One by one, fill each tortilla with 1/4 - 1/3 cup of the chicken filling. Roll the tortilla, placing it seam side down in the prepared baking dish. Repeat until all tortillas have been filled. Drizzle sour cream sauce on top, followed by the tomatillo salsa. Top with additional shredded cheese, if desired.
- Cover and bake. Cover with foil and bake at 375ºF for 20 minutes, or until tortillas are heated through. Makes 2 dozen enchiladas.
Notes
If you don't want to fry the tortillas, you can also steam them using a tortilla warmer.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 359Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 67mgSodium: 646mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 6gSugar: 2gProtein: 23g
GoodLifeEats.com offers recipe nutritional information as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although GoodLifeEats.com makes every effort to provide accurate information, these figures are only estimates.
This recipe was originally published January 13, 2010. It has been updated with new photos and the instructions have been improved for clarity.
kay says
I’m trying to find how to use the strained broth left over after making Mexican Chicken in the crockpot
Katie says
I would recommend straining the debris out of the remaining broth and using it in something like this Chicken Tortilla Soup.
Maureen says
Thanks for giving detailed instructions on freezing the enchiladas and sauce.
David says
This food looks so attractive. I just wanna enjoy it right now. Tommorrow, I will try doing it. Tell you about the result later. Thanks a lot, Katie.
Amanda says
This is seriously one of the most delicious recipes I’ve ever made. I have this page bookmarked because I make these enchiladas so much! Somehow even following the recipe, though, I end up with 24 enchiladas instead of 12 but there is only one size corn tortillas at my grocery store. Maybe mine are smaller? Regardless, with two casserole dishes filled up I have plenty to share and everyone loves them!
Katie Goodman says
So glad you like them! I might just put more filling in each of my tortillas and therefore end up with less in the end.
Julie says
How do these freeze? Do I bake first and then freeze?
Katie Goodman says
I freeze them assembled with the green sauce frozen separately. Thaw both before baking. I don’t make the sour cream sauce until I’m ready to bake because that sauce doesn’t freeze well.
Dianne Ellis says
Love the salsa at Pappasito’s. It was the first place I ever had “warm” salsa!! And I’ve eaten at a lot of Mexican restaurants! 🙂
Amanda says
I’ve made this recipe several times and it is ALWAYS yummy! However, whenever I make it, I always end up with WAYYYYY more than 12 enchiladas. Usually 2 dozen. I live in NC and I’ve only seen one size corn tortillas in the grocery stores here. Is it possible that my corn tortillas are smaller than yours? (I have no idea what size they are… they’re just the only ones available!) When I’m just cooking for my husband and me, it’s a lot of leftovers! Which is fine, because they’re yummy, but this is also something I plan to make when my adult stepkids (18 and 21) come over because it makes more than enough. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Katie says
I’m not sure if there are different sized corn tortillas or not. The number you end up with depends on how full you stuff the tortillas, so maybe I am just putting more filling in mine that you. If it is too much leftovers you could half the recipe or make 2 smaller 8×8 pans and freeze one of them. Glad you enjoy the recipe!
Payton says
What kind of sauce do you cook the chicken in with the crock pot? I saw the spices but won’t it get dry if you don’t have another sauce? Thanks, Payton.
Katie says
you can add some chicken broth or salsa if you are worried about it getting dry.
Tone says
THE best enchilada’s…have served this dish several times and always get raves and requests for the recipe. I lay my tortillas out in two layers (bottom and top)rather than roll them…can’t seem to get the hang of the rolling thing without the tortilla’s breaking apart. So yummy!
Linda says
Tried these last night. They were really good! Mine came out of the pan a bit scrambled, though. LOL. I had quite a bit of the chicken mixture left over. I put it in a ziplock bag and froze it to use at a later date. Hubby loved the tomatillo salsa! Thanks for sharing this!
Amanda says
Can these be assembled and frozen before baking? I’m not sure because of the sour cream sauce. Thanks!
Katie says
When I freeze the enchiladas I assemble and freeze them without the sauce on top. You can freeze the tomatillo sauce but I always make the source cream sauce fresh.