These Salsa Verde Enchiladas are loaded with flavorful salsa verde chicken and topped with a delicious slightly spice sauce! Top with cilantro and sour cream and you have the perfect weeknight dinner!
This recipe was originally published in November 2018 – I’ve since updated the photos and added new content. Enjoy!
Enchiladas are one of my go-to weeknight meals! They’re so simple, easy, and they always heat up SO well for leftovers.
This Salsa Verde version is tangy, slightly spicy and SO good! Perfect for a big family or to meal prep for the lunches for the week ahead!
Why You’ll Love This Dish
First, contrary to the popular opinion that enchiladas are a time consuming dish – this is just not true for this recipe!
The Instant Pot is a life saver when it comes to this chicken. It cooks the chicken SUPER quickly (think like, half of the time that an oven would take)! The chicken gets extra moist, tender and subtly spicy. The salsa verde soaks into every single delicious bite! I love it so much! I could eat it by the forkful. But let’s put it into enchiladas, shall we?
Y’all, these enchiladas are so creamy, cheesy and with the crunchy garnish – they have all of the textures down pat. I love how the flavor of the juicy salsa verde is in each bite – I also love the fresh onion and garlic.
The fluffy flour tortillas (you can use corn as well) get loaded with the salsa verde, and they are the best when the cheese melts perfectly on top. Baked to golden perfection, yes please!
Oh and you can’t forget the toppings! Of course, you know me, I must have ALL of the toppings! For me, I love cotija cheese, extra red onion, chopped jalapenos and cilantro for toppings!
Want it extra creamy? Add a dollop of sour cream and a spoonful of extra salsa verde!
However you put it all together, you always end up having the literal perfect weeknight meal.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- 16 oz. jar of salsa verde
- Chicken breast
- Flour or corn tortillas
- Red onion
- Fresh garlic
- Mexican flavored cheese
- Favorite toppings for garnish
Best Tips for Making Enchiladas
Refer to my 2 Ingredient Salsa Verde Chicken post for specific times and directions on how to cook the chicken – BUT, IMPORTANT NOTE: Instead of using the FULL jar of salsa verde when you’re cooking the chicken, only use HALF of the jar. You’ll need the other half of the jar to go on top of the enchiladas.
When your chicken is almost done cooking, throw your diced onion and garlic into a skillet with a little bit of olive oil. Cook until fragrant for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the other half of the jar of salsa verde, stir to combine the flavors and then take it off the heat. Cooking the onion/garlic will allow it to develop better flavor!
With your chicken in the Instant Pot, you should still have some salsa verde leftover. This is going to be useful! In a 9×13 casserole dish, layer the bottom of the dish with a THIN layer of that leftover “salsa juice” from the chicken.
Next, take a tortilla, fill it with some chicken, roll it up, and place it rolled side DOWN in the dish so it stays together. Repeat with remaining tortillas until your chicken is gone.
Now, bring that salsa verde/onion/garlic mixture over to the enchiladas and spread it out on top of the tortillas until it’s evenly distributed. Hello texture! If you have any extra salsa verde from the Instant Pot you can also add that on top of the tortillas as well. I recommend doing that for extra juicy enchiladas!
Lastly, you’re going to add a heavy sprinkle of cheese to the top of the tortillas. Extra cheese for me, please!
Once they’re ready to go, wrap some foil on the casserole dish and pop them in the oven! I baked them for about 20-25 minutes until bubbly and golden.
Garnish with your favorite toppings!
You guys are going to absolutely love these Salsa Verde Enchiladas! They’re unique, juicy, creamy and packed full of flavor! Enjoy!
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few more you might like:
Ground Chicken Tacos with Chipotle Crema
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Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas
These Salsa Verde Enchiladas are loaded with flavorful salsa verde chicken and topped with a delicious slightly spice sauce! Top with cilantro and sour cream and you have the perfect weeknight dinner!
Ingredients
- 16 oz jar of salsa verde
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1.5 lb chicken breasts
- 8 flour tortillas
- 1 small diced red onion
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 heaping cup shredded mexican cheese
- toppings: sour cream, cilantro, red onion (optional)
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Add raw chicken breast and HALF (8 oz) of the jar of salsa verde as well as the salt, garlic powder and onion powder to your Instant Pot (SEE NOTES FOR WAYS TO COOK CHICKEN DIFFERENTLY - AKA IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN INSTANT POT).
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Mix everything to combine and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Release steam valve for quick release. Once that is done, shred the chicken with two forks and set aside.
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In a frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil, saute half of your diced onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes. Once done, add the OTHER half of the jar of salsa verde into the skillet and take it off the heat. Mix well.
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You should plenty of salsa verde left over in your instant pot with your chicken. Use some of that sauce and spread a THIN layer on the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish.
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Add a good amount of chicken to the corn tortilla. Roll up and place in dish rolled side DOWN so it stays together. Repeat until your chicken is gone or you've run out of room in the casserole dish!
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On top of your tortillas, add the onion/garlic/salsa verde mixture to cover them. If there is any salsa verde left in the Instant Pot, add that on top of the enchiladas as well! I recommend about 1/4 cup of extra salsa verde if you have it 🙂
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Next, sprinkle the enchiladas generously with cheese.
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Wrap some foil around the casserole dish and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Garnish with sour cream, red onion, cilantro and jalapeno! Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Find the recipe for my 2 Ingredient Salsa Verde Chicken here. It will give you the instructions for the Instant Pot, Crockpot and oven version on how to cook the Salsa Verde Chicken.
Remember that in this recipe, the IP chicken calls for HALF of the jar of salsa verde and then you use the OTHER half for the topping 🙂
Wow! These colors are beautiful! When I made them, they were delicious but they did not turn out nearly as pretty as yours!
Awww! Thanks, G!! I’m glad they turned out delicious for you!
These were so good! Mine totally fell apart though :/ any advice? The tortillas broke as soon as I rolled them up, and continued breaking while sitting in the pan.
Hi Macy! I’m so glad that you liked the recipe 🙂
So sorry that the tortillas broke on you! It could be due to the amount of filling in the tortillas? I know that I’m constantly putting too much in them lol which can be hard for a corn tortilla to take (they aren’t as sturdy as flour tortillas). It could also be the brand that you’re using? I usually use either make my own OR buy the Aldi brand which works pretty well! 🙂 I hope that helps and you have better luck!
What would be a good side? Rice? Beans? Shredded lettuce with sour cream?
All of the above would work! Refried beans, black beans, pinto beans. Spanish rice, side salad!