Enchiladas Suizas is a phrase used quite liberally these days to describe a wide range of enchilada dishes. Variations will get even wilder once you head north of the U.S./Mexico border.
Luckily it’s easy to return to the essence of the dish by building a traditional green sauce and mixing it with a bit of cream. This will give you an authentic, mouth-watering meal that comes with a hidden benefit; your tastebuds will now have a Suiza-meter for the rest of your life that will help you detect the real Suiza (or not).
Enchiladas Suizas Recipe — Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce
We’ll be using creme fraiche here, but you can always use Mexican Crema or heavy cream to get a similar result. Also note that you can substitute jalapenos for the serrano peppers if it’s hard to find serranos in your area.
Rotisserie chicken will work in a pinch but for this batch I poached a chicken breast with some onion, cilantro and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer until cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
You can pan roast the tomatillos and poblano but I usually just throw them in the oven at 400F.
The tomatillos will only need about 10-12 minutes in the oven. You can pull them out when they turn army green and then let the poblano roast a bit longer. (What is a Tomatillo?)
Add the roasted tomatillos to a blender along with ½ white onion, 2 cloves garlic, ½ serrano, and 10 cilantro sprigs.
Once the poblano starts to get charred it is mostly roasted.
Cut off the stem and de-seed the poblano. You can also scrape off the blackened bits of skin but don’t worry about getting every last bit.
Add the poblano to the other ingredients in the blender and pulse blend. Give a quick taste for heat level. If you want more heat you can add the other half of the serrano pepper. This mixture will get diluted a bit by the cream and stock so I tend to make this blender mixture a bit more spicy than usual. (Are poblano peppers hot?)
Heat a dollop of oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Add green sauce from blender and cook for a few minutes.
Add 1 cup chicken stock and ¼ cup creme fraiche to the simmering green sauce. Cook on medium-low heat until heated throughout.
Use two forks to shred the chicken and mix with a few tablespoons of finely chopped onion, a handful of cheese, and dashes of salt.
This is the inner mixture of the enchiladas. You also have the option of adding a few tablespoons of the green sauce or even a bit of the creme fraiche to this mixture.
Okay, heat the tortillas in the oven for a few minutes. This will make them easier to roll up.
Prepare your baking dish for the enchiladas by adding a few spoonfuls of the green sauce and spreading around. This will prevent the enchiladas from sticking.
On a plate, add a couple spoonfuls of the green sauce. Dredge a tortilla in the sauce, flip, and fill with a small handful of the chicken mixture.
Roll up and place on the baking dish. Keep going ‘til the chicken is gone. This recipe will make 6-8 enchiladas depending on the size of your tortillas.
Add the remaining sauce on top of the enchiladas along with a layer of cheese.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until all the cheese is melted.
Cilantro and a drizzle of crema are optional garnishes that will help finely tune your brand new Suiza-meter. You could also consider serving this with our Mexican Green Rice.
So good!
Sweet Suizas, no?
Buen Provecho.
Enchiladas Suizas -- Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce
Ingredients
- 5 tomatillos
- 1 serrano
- ½ white onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 10-12 sprigs cilantro
- 1 poblano
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ¼ cup creme fraiche (or heavy cream)
- 8 corn tortillas
- 1 large chicken breast
- 2 tablespoons white onion finely diced
- 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- cilantro for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- To poach the chicken, cover the chicken breast with water and bring to a boil. Add a half onion, cilantro sprigs and a pinch of salt for additional flavor. Once boiling, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Once cooked, set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, roast the tomatillos and poblano in the oven at 400F. The tomatillos will be done roasting when they turn army green, about 10-12 minutes. The poblano will need a bit longer.
- Add the tomatillos to a blender along with 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 10-12 sprigs of cilantro, and 1/2 of a serrano pepper.
- Cut off the stem and de-seed the roasted poblano. Add it to the blender and pulse blend with the other ingredients. Taste for heat level and add another half of the serrano if you want more heat.
- Heat a dollop of oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Add the green sauce from the blender and simmer for a few minutes. Add 1 cup chicken stock and 1/4 cup creme fraiche to the mixture (or heavy cream). Cook on medium-low until heated through.
- Use two forks to shred the chicken and add it to a mixing bowl along with 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped onion, a handful of cheese, and dashes of salt. You can also add some green sauce or cream if you want.
- Heat tortillas in the oven for a few minutes. (Or nuke them in some damp paper towels for 60 seconds.)
- Prepare the baking dish by adding a few spoonfuls of the green sauce to prevent sticking.
- On a plate, add a couple spoonfuls of the green sauce. Dredge a tortilla in the sauce, flip, and fill with a small handful of the chicken mixture. Roll up and place seam side down on the baking dish. Keep going ‘til the chicken is gone. Add the remaining sauce on top of the enchiladas along with a final layer of cheese.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
- Serve immediately.
- Optional garnishes include freshly chopped cilantro and a drizzle of Crema.
Don’t have poblanos or cream? You can simplify and make a batch of Enchiladas Verdes.
Once you’re familiar with this style of making enchiladas you can swap out a few ingredients and make our Red Sauce Enchiladas or our Colorado Enchiladas.
And for a list of even more Mexican entrees you can make tonight, click here.
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Lenna DeMaris
These are our new favorite special night dinner, though we did increase the number of tomatillos to 12 and poblanos to 3 because we cook two breasts so we can have leftovers for another meal. We also increased the Monterey Jack Cheese to 2 cups.
Patrick
Ahh good to know, thanks much for mentioning your adjustments Lenna. Cheers.
Tom Evans
Hi Patrick,
I made this one last night, and it was TERRIFIC!!
One thing – I’m confused why you have me put the extra cup of stock in the sauce. It seems about right just as it comes out of the blender. I added only half as much & ended up boiling it down quite a bit to keep it from being too runny.
I don’t see anyone else commenting on this & wonder if I did something wrong?
Tom
Patrick
Hey Tom! The stock will thin out a chunky sauce and add a bit of depth to the flavor. But if you like the consistency out of the blender you can cut down on the stock amount — this probably means the tomatillos you used are bigger than average as that can have a similar thinning effect. Cheers.
Tom Evans
Many thanks, Patrick,
Now I understand – it’s all about depth of flavor.
Good to know!
Tom
Christina
Hi Patrick,
I know this is an older post but hoping you’ll see my questions…
1. Can I make these (to a point in the recipe) ahead of time and refrigerate? If yes, what do you recommend?
2. Also I need to double this to serve 4. Do you think I can cram them all in one 9×13 baking dish, or just do 2 dishes?
Thanks!
Patrick
Hey Christina!
If making ahead of time you could pre-cook the chicken and partially make the green sauce if you want. I would probably save the final step of the sauce (adding the stock and cream) until just before baking.
And I would be tempted to try and get it all in one dish if making for 4 people. It will depend a little on how big the tortillas are, but you can probably fit them in a dish that size — you’ll probably have to turn some “sideways” to fill in the edges but I do that all the time and it works fine. Cheers.
Bobbie
So glad we stumbled upon this recipe! We used flour tortillas instead of corn, and Mexican crema instead of cream, and wound up with a really smooth taste. We also roasted a chicken instead of boiling chicken breasts so we got a really juicy flavor. And I’m not good with spicy food but we used the entire serrano pepper and it was great! Definitely saving this recipe for the future.
Patrick
Ahh great to know, so glad it was a hit! Thanks much for mentioning your adjustments Bobbie. Cheers.
Anna L
This was dinner last night and definitely not hard to prep. It was a nice change from the enchiladas I normally make. I have homemade salsa verde in the house for us to dip with chips but this sauce was elevated with the roasted poblano. Only change I made was to add more serrano pepper. My husband likes it super spicy. I will definitely be adding this to my meal planning rotation. Thanks!
Patrick
Thanks much for your note Anna! Yeah the roasted poblano is a gamechanger 🙂
Donna
Thank you for such a wonderful blog and for this recipe. I made these for guests and we all cleaned our plates. These enchiladas + charro beans = heaven 🙂
Patrick
Oh nice thanks much for your note Donna! That is a great meal 🙂
Andrea Richards
I made these tonight and my husband is raving about how good they are! I poached the chicken in broth seasoned with cumin, chili pepper and paprika. I used the stock from poaching in the sauce. I also added a tablespoon of sugar to cut the bitterness. Instead of cream I used Mexican crema.
Thank you!
Patrick
Thanks Andrea, so glad it’s a keeper for you! Cheers.