Easy Chicken Enchiladas

I usually cook a big meal on Sunday that can be used for lunches throughout the following week. That meal is usually labor-intensive, especially when I’m experimenting with homemade mozzarella, grinding my own sausage, deboning a whole rabbit, or something like that. But sometimes I don’t have time to stand around the stove. I’ve developed recipes for days like that which enable me to get the maximum possible output with the minimum possible input. This is one of those recipes.

As I’ve mentioned before in my poppy seed chicken and chicken pot pie recipes, I use my stand mixer to shred chicken. By employing that technique in this recipe, you really only have to be in the kitchen for a few minutes to make this dish.

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

3 big boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2+ pounds)
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 14.5 oz can chicken stock
1 4.5 oz can chopped green chiles
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
8 oz sour cream
2 12 oz bottles of salsa verde (I prefer Trader Joe’s)
12 oz shredded Mexican blend (or plain jack) cheese, divided
corn tortillas

Preheat the oven to 350°. Put the chicken in a 9×9 casserole pan. Add the sliced onion, chopped chiles, salt, pepper, and chicken stock. Poach in the oven until cooked through, about an hour. Stir the contents halfway through to make sure everything is cooking evenly.

When the chicken is finished cooking, use a slotted spoon to transfer everything to the stand mixer. Discard the excess stock. Stir the steaming-hot chicken mixture with the paddle attachment, slowly at first, as it will slosh around a little. Once the chicken starts to break up, increase the speed and mix until the chicken is shredded. Add the sour cream and 8 oz of the cheese and mix for a few seconds more to incorporate evenly.

Pour enough of one jar of salsa verde into a casserole dish or a baking pan. This is to keep the tortillas from sticking to the bottom, so the amount you add will depend on the size of your dish. If I wasn’t pressed for time, I’d toast the tortillas before filling them. Then again, if I wasn’t pressed for time, I’d make my own salsa verde. But for the quick version of this recipe, I just spoon the chicken filling into a tortilla, roll it up, and place it fold-side-down in the dish. Repeat until you run out of filling.

Pour the remaining salsa verde over the enchiladas and make sure all of the exposed tortillas get a little wet. Otherwise, they’ll dry out in the oven. Top with the remaining cheese and bake uncovered in the oven for around 20-30 minutes until the filling heats through and the cheese melts on top.