White Chicken Enchiladas With Cream Cheese

White chicken enchiladas, in our opinion, are one of the best meals you can make. Warm, soft flour tortillas filled with chicken and cheese and smothered in a creamy white sauce…are you drooling yet?

Making enchiladas is easier than many people believe, and this white chicken enchilada recipe with cream cheese is no exception. This is probably the easiest recipe we’ve made.

All you have to do is combine a few ingredients, whip a sauce together, and bake the enchiladas for about 20 minutes in the oven. Easy!

Here are our best tips and tricks for making the best chicken enchiladas ever.

Easy White Chicken Enchiladas

The filling of these enchiladas is a mixture of shredded chicken with two types of cheese (cheddar and mozzarella).

To make the chicken filling, the most practical thing is to buy a pre-baked chicken (like a rotisserie chicken), remove the skin, and shred it.

If you are preparing the chicken at home, you can use two baked chicken breasts. If you do this, the most important step is to marinate the chicken breasts in a marinade of your choosing for at least a couple of hours before baking.

If you’re baking your own chicken, it should be baked with the skin to ensure that it is juicy. You can discard the chicken skin later on (or you can eat it if that’s your thing!)

In any case, after you remove the chicken skin (or keep it if you’d rather), you’ll shred it with a fork.

The shredded chicken should be mixed with equal parts of grated cheese. You can choose your favorite cheeses, or you can go with our recipe and choose cheddar and mozzarella.

The cheddar provides most of the cheesy flavor while the mozzarella melts perfectly into the enchilada so that every bite is satisfactory.

White Chicken Enchilada Sauce

Making white enchilada sauce starts with making a roux with butter, flour, and milk before adding the cream cheese and green chilis. The entire sauce-making process takes about 5 minutes.

Here’s how to prepare the white sauce for chicken enchiladas:

1. Mix 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour or cornstarch (use whatever you have on hand as they work equally well).
2. Cook until you make a thick paste.
3. Add in two cups of milk and 1 cup of chicken broth and stir until smooth.
4. Mix in the cream cheese and green chili peppers (optional but highly recommended) and stir again until smooth.
5. That’s it! Your sauce is ready to pour over the enchiladas.

How Long To Bake Chicken Enchiladas

All the ingredients to prepare the enchiladas are previously cooked, so it doesn’t take long to bake enchiladas. All you need is 20 minutes, plus the cooling time.

We also recommend using the last 5 minutes to switch the oven to the broil setting so that you get super crispy melted cheese on top. Yum! Just be sure to keep an eye on it so the cheese doesn’t burn underneath the broiler.

After you’ve removed the white chicken enchiladas from the oven, let them sit for about 15 minutes.

If you cut into them immediately after taking them out of the oven, you will be disappointed to see all of the tasty juices run out. Trust us, the 15 minutes of cooling time is worth the wait.

How To Make Chicken Enchiladas With Cream Cheese

Let’s dive into this delicious recipe!

Step 1: Gather your ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a refractory container with a little oil or butter.

Step 2: Combine the chicken and cheese.

In a mixing bowl, combine the shredded chicken with a cup and a half of cheddar cheese, and a cup and a half of white cheese. You should reserve a bit of both kinds of cheese for the enchilada topping.

Step 3: Roll the filling into the tortilla.

Place a flour tortilla on a shallow plate. On one side of the tortilla, place three tablespoons of chicken filling. Roll up the tortilla and place the enchilada in the refractory container.

Repeat this procedure until you run out of filling. The number of tortillas is approximate and depends on how much filling you add to each tortilla.

Reserve the container full of enchiladas while you make the sauce.

Step 4: Make the roux for the sauce with the butter, flour, milk, and chicken broth.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, place the butter, and wait a couple of minutes until it melts completely.

When the butter is melted, add the wheat flour little by little. And mix until you get a thick paste.

Without stopping stirring add the milk and the broth. Continue cooking until sauce thickens. By running the whisk across the bottom, you can see the metal surface of the pot.

Step 5: Add the cream cheese and green chili to the white sauce.

Mix until everything is properly integrated and turn off. The sauce is ready.

Step 6: Pour the white sauce over the enchiladas.

Step 7: Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake for up to 20 minutes.

After the first fifteen minutes, place the oven on the gratin function and cook for 5 more minutes before turning off.

Remove from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes. You can serve with chopped cilantro on top, avocado, or hot sauce.

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