Recipe

Authentic Chicken Enchiladas That Would Make My Abuela Proud

By Emily Weaver at University of Iowa

My mother's side basically fits the "Mexican family" stereotype. Our Christmas fiestas always include pozole (a traditional Mexican soup), pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread), cerveza, tamales, and beans and rice. 

There are always ninos and ninas running around and my nana is constantly weaving her sentences in and out of Spanish. Her favorite team is the LA Dodgers (she never misses a game), and she never fails to mention that at her funeral she wants a mariachi band.

One tradition that I cherish the most is when my mom makes her authentic chicken enchiladas. Growing up, she learned recipes from her mother and I have started to learn from her.

Every year I requested the same thing for my birthday dinner: chicken enchiladas. While other kids got excited to go out for their big day, I looked forward to coming home after school with the house smelling like my favorite meal. 

Now that I am in college and away from my mom for my birthday, I don't have that luxury anymore. I hope one day I can make my children the meal my mom made me. But until then, I guess I'll just have to practice. 

Authentic Chicken Enchiladas

  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 50 mins
  • Servings: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 cooked chicken
  • 2 bags cheese
  • 2-3 cups chile verde
  • Corn tortillas
  • Vegetable oil

Emily Weaver

Step 1

Shred the chicken.

Emily Weaver

Step 2

Bring chile verde to a simmer, and in a separate pan heat vegetable oil. Peheat oven to 350ºF.

Emily Weaver

Step 3

Fry corn tortilla in vegetable oil until edges are a light brown then place in chile verde.

Emily Weaver

Step 4

Place tortilla in cooking pan and continue to do so until there is a complete bottom layer.

Emily Weaver

Step 5

Cover the bottom layer with chicken and cheese

Step 6

Casserole Style (for those of you with big families like mine): Repeat steps 3-5 until the cooking pan is full (should hold 3-5 layers depending how deep your pan is).

Individual Rolls: Roll corn tortillas with chicken and cheese until you run out of space to fill the pan.

Emily Weaver

Step 7

Place in oven for 10-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Emily Weaver