Because you layer this Tex-Mex dish, lasagna-style, instead of rolling each enchilada individually, you save time in the kitchen, and the results are ultimately healthier because the tortillas don't have to be fried or softened in oil before you assemble the casserole. Look for Mexican crema at Latin food markets or with the Mexican cheeses in the supermarket.

Stacked Chicken Enchiladas

canola oil

skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)

cumin

salt

red pepper

onion

garlic cloves,

can organic whole peeled tomatoes, undrained and crushed

cilantro, divided

lime juice

(7-ounce) can salsa verde

Cooking spray

(6-inch) corn tortillas

pepper-Jack cheese (about 3/4 cup)

Mexican crema

Place a small roasting pan in oven. Preheat oven to 425° (leave roasting pan in oven as it preheats).


Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with cumin, salt, and pepper. Add chicken to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Turn chicken over, and place in the preheated roasting pan. Add onion, garlic, and tomatoes to pan; bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Cool. Shred chicken; toss with tomato mixture.


Combine 3/4 cup cilantro, juice, and salsa verde; spread 1/4 cup salsa mixture in the bottom of an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with 4 overlapping tortillas, half of chicken mixture, and 1/4 cup salsa mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 tortillas and remaining salsa mixture; sprinkle evenly with cheese. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until golden; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cilantro. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon crema.


This recipe has a lot of potential. It felt like it needed more ingredients. It's just chicken, tomatoes, onions and tortillas with a bit of cheese. We served it with refried beans on the side and it made for a very tasty, filling meal. In the future I'd put the refried beans as part of a layer and maybe add some green onions too. I also added cheese to the inside layer because just having it on the top isn't enough. The chicken/onion/garlic/tomato mix was delicious but I feel like I could have made that on the stovetop instead of the extra step in the oven. Taking the chicken out of the pan makes you lose the brown bits and juices it was cooking in, and that loses some flavor. I'd make this again but add some things to make it better. 

3 1/2 stars.  This is pretty easy and family-friendly for an enchilada dish.  I'd still only try in on a weekend to have the extra time to make my own chicken.  I don't think rotisserie would work, as someone mentioned, it is the oven-roasting of the meat and the sauce that makes it tasty.  I did do this slightly differently - I pan seared the seasoned chicken 3 minutes on each side (only needed 1 T of oil), removed it from the pan then sauteed the onions and garlic for 3 minutes, added the tomatoes to crush, then put the chicken back in the pan and then baked it.  1 less pan to wash that way.  My only complaints - minor at that - are that it could have been a bit more flavorful (maybe some more spices on the chicken, maybe some diced green chilies in the sauce) and the top layer of tortilla seemed a little dry after I ran out of sauce.  Used light sour cream in place of the crema.  We served this with diced ripe avocado and tomato slices.

The flavors in this dish are excellent, and if you're someone who feels a little skimped by Cooking Light's portion sizes, you'll love this dish.  But, it is really not ideal for a weeknight.  I guess I was a little misled by the header, as it says that stacking the tortillas rather than wrapping them is a time saver.  It is, but all the steps render this dish more appropriate for a Sunday night in my opinion.  Anyway, it's very tasty and hearty, and I served with a simple green salad.  I would love to have driven around looking for crema, but reduced fat sour cream worked in a pinch, with a little extra salsa verde on the side.  I think the leftovers will be great, too.

As written it is wonderful.  To make it into a fast weeknight meal, I do the following and it is still wonderful.
1. Pre-Heat oven 375
2.  cook chicken breast or thigh in skillet 3 minutes, turn, add onion and garlic, cook 3 minutes, add can of tomatoes, cover and cook 4 minutes (longer if you have really thick chicken).
3.  spoon chicken mixture in food processor, pulse until chicken is chopped-up
4.  spray casserole dish with cooking spray, pour salsa verde on bottom to coat, sprinkle lime juice over salsa, (I do not add cilantro)
5.  put half of the tortillas over the salsa
6. put all the chicken mixture over the tortillas and then half the cheese
7. put remaining tortillas over chicken 
8. pour remaining salsa over tortillas, sprinkle with lime juice and remaining cheese
9. bake for 12 minutes

Made this with chicken breast cubed and my husband has been raving about it since!  The flavors are so amazing.  Leftovers were better and gone!  A favorite for us for sure.

I disagree with those who say flavor can't be replicated with rotisserie chicken; I had some leftover frozen chicken mix of white and dark and used that. I sauteed the onions and garlic, upped the spices and added chipotel chile powder, used fire roasted diced tomatoes and the chicken and let simmer about 15 min before assembling the  casserole. If I did this again, I too would add more salsa verde and cheese and I made it with about 5 more tortillas for a 3rd layer, then baked it an add'l 15 min.  Very good and so much easier than rolling the enchiladas.  It does make a lot, but sure the leftovers will be very good as well.

Delicious!  Slight changes; used chicken breast, 15 tortillas in a 9x13 baking dish and left over salsa verde from CL Spicy Shrimp Tacos With Grilled Tamatillo Salsa.

My family and I loved this recipe. Substituted Salvadorian creama and it was delicious.

I thought this recipe was really flavorful and easy to make. I like to have leftovers, so I made it in a 9x13 dish and used 18 tortillas (6 each layer) and extra cheese. Everything else was by the recipe. I had plenty of chicken to fill the dish, but I should have made extra cilantro sauce, which I think really makes the dish. I also added 1/2 tsp of salt to the chicken mixture because it tasted kind of bland on it's own. It probably wouldn't have made a difference in the assembled recipe. I would definitely make this again.

It took me a little longer than it said, or I would give this 5 stars!  I did make the effort to find salsa Verde and Mexican Crema (which we LOVED) and even fresh cilantro.  The only thing I did differently was to use chicken breasts instead of thighs, but we loved it! DH was a bit skeptical as I was making it because it did mess up quite a lot of dishes (and washing is his part!) but in the end he said worth every bit! We'll definitely be making again!

I cooked this using regular mild salsa instead of salsa verde and couldn't find Mexican Crema.  It was fantastic!!  I agree with previous reviewers that it is quite time consuming. I did the prep work in the morning and stuck the whole thing in the fridge so at dinner time I popped it in the oven.  My husband really liked it as well as my 4 year old.  Will definitely make again!

Very tasty. Easy to make. My husband and kids liked it too! Will definitely make again.

I thought the flavor in the chicken was delicious and the chicken was so incredibly tender and juicy.  I actually used 12 chicken thighs, because of how small they were, but they still equaled the 2 lbs recommended in the list of ingredients.  I followed the recipe exact and it took me about 50/55 minutes total-I tend to take my time in the kitchen.  A garlic press comes in handy for this dish since it requires so much garlic.  There was a nice hint of heat to the dish, but it's not overpowering by any means.  Plenty of leftovers since I only cook for two.  You could easily turn this dish into individual enchiladas as well by portioning out the chicken mixture and salsa evenly among the 12 tortillas if you prefer that method.

I cooked it like other readers, cooking tomatoes, onions and garlic stove top and omitting the 'small roasting pan' part altogether. Didn't have salsa verde- used almost a whole jar of Newman's hot regular salsa. Absolutely delicious but so time-consuming! I respect that the recipe says 45 min prep time, but who has 7 chopped garlic cloves hanging around? IRL you have to do all that prep work, I was at it for a good 1.5h all told. Also, I used just about every big bowl I had! Lots of cleanup.
Would I make it again? Only if I had a day to prep it first. Delicious, but labor-intensive in every way!

I made this subbing tofu for the chicken and thought it worked really well.  I sliced the tofu in 1/2 inch thick slices, drained in towels, and then crumbled.  I mixed it with the spices (more than called for, as per usual for me with CL recipes) and sauteed the onions and garlic in a separate pan before adding the tomatos.  My biggest complaint about this recipe is that I found it too salty, even using only 1/2 the kosher salt called for (probably because the salsa has a high sodium content).  Next time I will omit the salt and probably add some roasted veggies.

This was fabulous!  I did cut the recipe in 1/2 and used chicken breast that I had poached yesterday.  I simply added the onions &amp; garlic to a pan to soften, then added in the tomatoes &amp; pre-cooked, shredded chicken.  I then followed the rest of the recipe.  This was SO yummy!  The kids both totally enjoyed it - said "a teeny bit spicy, a teeny bit limey, a teeny bit oniony, a teeny bit cheesy - Yum!"  Anyway - I will absolutely make this again!  Great alternative to our (normal) ooey-gooey enchiladas!

Excellent everyday meal.  I followed the directions and it turned out well,  Pleasing for both adults and children.

We found this dish to be very flavorful when made exactly as written in the recipe.  You cannot sub rotissere chicken and expect it to be as flavorful.    Only change I made was to cook my chicken for an extra 5 minutes.  Didn't find the onions to be undercooked and the chicken gave off plenty of liquid during roasting.  I would make this again with no other changes.

I don't like the tags with the stars.  This is not "special occasion" food but it is really good.  My kids loved it; and that's saying something in my house.

This was a really yummy way to make healthy enchiladas and was a hit at the dinner party I served it at.  I modified slightly based on other reviews.  I sautéed the onions and garlic on the stovetop and added fire roasted tomatoes, a whole rotisserie chicken and spices   It did take about double the amount of salsa verde as other reviewers indicated.  I added a little more cheese than what was called for but overall - kept this light and lean.  Delicious - will definitely make it again.

I cooked this exactly as the recipe was written and found it full of flavor.  You cannot sub with rotisserie chicken because of the way you cook the spices with the chicken. That is a big part of the flavor. I did sauté the onion and garlic a few minutes before adding the tomatoes. The depth of the size of the glass dish is very important so it all fits. I happen to have had a deep enough dish and it really made it nice and thick.  Even an hour after dinner my husband mentioned how good it was and that he was still thinking about the flavors.   I will be making this again!

I saw this recipe and thought it looked like it would turn out really well. I made a couple of modifications (used rotisserie chicken, cut out the lime, less cilantro, and upped the spices, used red salsa) and it was a flavorful hit at the dinner table. My big problem is with the instructions. They make this dish needlessly complicated, and there was one point when the ambiguity of the "pans" caused a blip in the proceedings.

Example: "Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with cumin, salt, and pepper. Add chicken to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Turn chicken over, and place in the preheated roasting pan. Add onion, garlic, and tomatoes to pan..."

You could go a couple of different directions with instructions like these. I believe the onions and tomatoes should spend time in the skillet with the chicken, not the roasting pan. In fact, I'm not even sure a roasting pan is necessary. And yes, more salsa next time.

I made this with 1.5 cans pinto beans instead of chicken but kept the cumin for seasoning.  I cooked the onions until soft on the stove and then just stirred in the pinto beans until hot with the tomato sauce and then layered as in the recipe and baked it. I would increase the salsa verde to 1 cup.  We topped it with sour cream.  It was good and I will make it again and would try the chicken in the future.

The overall flavor of this was excellent. My family loved it. But there were flaws in the cooking process. I too found the onions were undercooked. The pan size was way too small I had lots of extra chicken and I couldn't get 3 layers of tortillas. I will make this again but cook it on the stove top and increase the pan size to 13x9.

Not great as written, but was good with some changes. The oven time isn't near enough to cook the onions, and the tomato/onion/garlic mixture was flavorless (except for the overpowering undercooked onion taste). After the chicken was cooked in the oven, I shredded it and put it back on the stove mixed with the tomato mixture and cooked for several minutes, until the onion was cooked through. I seasoned with Tony Cachere's for more flavor. There also wasn't enough of the salsa mixture, so I just added more salsa until I had enough for each layer.

stacked chicken enchiladas

Total: 1 hours

Servings: 3.5

Author : Julianna Grimes

Ingredients

Instructions

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