I've been overflowing with tomatillos lately so these Enchiladas Suizas have been in my kitchen non-stop over the past couple weeks.
They are wildly satisfying so if you're new to them please consider giving them a go.
But don't sweat the chicken too much as you'll be getting loads of flavor from the Suiza sauce!
How To Make Enchiladas Suizas
The original version of this recipe poached the chicken and that's always a good option.
But when I'm not in a rush I will brine-and-bake the chicken.
Letting the chicken rest in some saltwater gives it a massive bump in flavor and it's worth a try if you don't mind waiting an extra half hour for dinner.
And of course, in a pinch you could always use rotisserie chicken.
But again, don't sweat the chicken too much as your Suiza sauce is far more important! You'll get loads of flavor from your creamy green sauce and that's the key to this dish.
Start by roasting your tomatillos and poblano in the oven at 400F. Sure, you can always pan roast these but I think the oven is the easiest and it's equally effective.
The tomatillos typically need less time to roast than the poblano, but I usually just leave them in until the poblano is blistered and peeling, somewhere around 25-30 minutes. More info on working with tomatillos.
Once the poblano has cooled a bit you can de-stem and de-seed it. You can also pull off any loose bits of skin, but don't worry about getting every last bit as it won't affect the flavor.
Add the roasted poblano and tomatillos to a blender along with:
1/2 white onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 jalapeno pepper
10-12 cilantro sprigs
Give it a whirl and take a taste for heat.
If you want more heat you can add the other half of the jalapeno pepper (or more!). This mixture will get diluted a bit by the cream and stock, so I tend to make it a bit more spicy than usual. Are poblano peppers hot?
Once you're happy with the heat of the green sauce, add a glug of oil to a saucepan over medium heat. Add the sauce from blender and cook for a few minutes.
Once it's heated we'll add:
1 cup stock (I used this chicken stock)
1/4 heavy cream, or creme fraiche
Cook over medium-low heat until heated throughout. You're really just bringing it up to temp so there's no need to overcook it.
And say hello to your Suiza sauce!
It's got vibrancy from the tomatillos, some depth from the roasted poblano, and savoriness from the cream 🙂
Once the sauce is done you can start building your enchiladas.
Use two forks to shred the chicken. Combine it with a few tablespoons of finely chopped onion, 1 cup shredded 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 to this mixture.
Next we'll heat up the tortillas -- this will make them easier to roll up. I used the microwave for this batch but you could always just stick 'em in the oven for a bit. 3 ways to warm up corn tortillas.
Prepare your baking dish for the enchiladas by adding a few spoonfuls of the Suiza sauce to the dish. This will prevent the enchiladas from sticking.
On a plate, add a couple spoonfuls of the Suiza sauce. Dredge a tortilla in the sauce, flip, and fill with a small handful of the chicken mixture.
You can optionally add more cheese if you want your enchis to be kind of gooey 🙂
Roll tight and place seam side down 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.
Getting hungry?!
I added freshly chopped cilantro to this batch but they really don't need much else so you can consider that optional.
Sweet Suizas, no?
Give 'em a go if your kitchen needs a kickstart -- once you get the green sauce to your liking you'll find all sorts of excuses to make them 🙂
Buen Provecho.
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Enchiladas Suizas -- Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce
Ingredients
- 5 tomatillos
- 1 jalapeno (or serrano)
- ½ white onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 10-12 sprigs cilantro
- 1 poblano
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 8 corn tortillas
- 1 large chicken breast
- 2 tablespoons white onion finely diced
- 1 cup shredded cheese (I used Jack)
- freshly chopped cilantro (optional)
Instructions
- Feel free to cook the chicken however you want. I go back and forth between poaching it and the brine-and-bake method.
- To poach the chicken, cover the chicken breast with water in a saucepan and bring it 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.
- To brine-and-bake the chicken, add 1/4 cup salt to a quart of water in a mixing bowl. Dissolve the salt and add the chicken, letting it brine covered in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. If the chicken isn't fully submerged then add a bit more water. Once brined, pat dry the chicken and add it to a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 400F for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside (160F).
- Meanwhile, de-husk and rinse the tomatillos. I usually de-stem them as well. Roast the tomatillos and poblano in the oven at 400F for around 25-30 minutes.
- Cut off the stem and de-seed the roasted poblano. You can also remove any loose bits of skin. Add it to a blender along with the tomatillos, 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 10-12 sprigs of cilantro, and 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper. Pulse blend and taste for heat level, adding the other half of the jalapeno if you want more heat.
- Heat a glug of oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the green sauce from the blender and simmer for a few minutes. Add 1 cup chicken stock and 1/4 cup heavy cream to the mixture. 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 if you want.
- Heat the corn 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. You can optionally add more cheese on top. 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 (400F) or until the cheese is melted.
- Serve immediately. You can optionally garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.
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.
Still hungry?!
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Debbie
This was excellent. I had company so none left and already I want more!
Chris Morse
Your step-by-step pictures are very informative and make putting this together a stress free event! Recipes supported by pictures and videos give many the little extra confidence to bring your recipes to the table! Thanks for the clear, easy instructions! Awesomeness with ease!
Patrick
Thanks much Chris!
yamini
wanted to tell u that u could cook the beans in a pressure cooker it cooks real dast and if u soak them in water for a few hrs to they cook faster
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 9x13 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.