These baked chicken enchiladas with red sauce are filling, delicious, and easy to make with homemade enchilada sauce and soft tortillas filled with shredded chicken and melty cheese. They freeze well, too, so they’re great for meal prep!
If you love Tex-Mex recipes, I think you’ll also like my sheet pan tacos for an easy weeknight dinner.
Easy Chicken Enchiladas in Red Sauce (Enchiladas Rojas)
Making enchiladas is one of my favorite ways to transform yesterday’s leftovers into tonight’s dinner, and these chicken enchiladas with red sauce are a favorite recipe for leftover chicken in my house! It’s a variation of my original sour cream chicken enchiladas, but this version skips the extras, like sour cream and diced tomatoes, and it’s still simple to prepare and delicious.
I make these chicken enchiladas with my 10-minute homemade red enchilada sauce and a rotisserie chicken purchased from the store (or leftover air fryer rotisserie chicken). It cuts the cooking time in half. These might be the easiest and cheesiest enchiladas ever!
Why This Chicken Enchiladas Recipe Is a Favorite Tex-Mex Dinner
- A great way to use up leftover chicken (or turkey), or you can buy a cooked rotisserie chicken from the store and shred it.
- Customizable with your favorite fillings. Try these enchiladas stuffed with my chicken birria, beef birria, or slow cooker beef machaca for tasty variations.
- Homemade red enchilada sauce makes these taste like they’re fresh from a restaurant. But you can easily swap with your favorite store-bought red sauce, too.
- Freezer-friendly. The cooked chicken enchiladas store and freeze well, making them great for meal prep.
I’m always in the mood for a quick and delicious Mexican-inspired meal, whether it’s my green chili chicken enchiladas, breakfast enchiladas, or a chicken enchilada casserole.
What You’ll Need
Here are the ingredients in this easy red sauce chicken enchiladas recipe. Scroll to the recipe card below for the full recipe with exact measurements.
- Onions and Garlic – Diced, minced, and sautéed to bring out their flavor. Yellow onions work well. If you don’t have fresh garlic, substitute 1 tablespoon of jarred minced garlic per fresh clove.
- Shredded Chicken – Any leftover chicken or turkey is great for this recipe. Chop and shred it. This enchilada recipe also comes out wonderfully with taco night leftovers, like my pulled chicken recipe!
- Spices – I season the chicken filling with a simple blend of chili powder, cumin, and dried oregano. You could replace these individual spices with taco seasoning.
- Red Sauce – Your favorite store-bought red sauce is fine to use, though I urge you to try this recipe with my homemade red enchilada sauce. So good! Made as-is, my red sauce recipe is pretty mild. You can adapt the heat level by adding crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne, or hot sauce to taste.
- Tortillas – Traditional enchiladas are made with corn tortillas that are warmed up and dipped in enchilada sauce. I like to make this version with soft flour tortillas since they’re a bit easier to roll. You can use either type.
- Shredded Cheese – I use a shredded Mexican cheese blend, but you can use shredded cheddar cheese, too. The cheese melts more smoothly if you shred it fresh from the block.
Flour Tortillas vs. Corn Tortillas
I almost always make my enchiladas with 7- or 8-inch flour tortillas. My favorites are low-carb, whole-wheat tortillas. However, if you’d prefer to make your enchiladas more traditionally with corn tortillas, I suggest buying the 6-inch fajita-sized ones.
Enchilada-Making Tips and Variations
- Avoid torn tortillas. To prevent the tortillas from tearing (especially if you’re using corn tortillas), warm them in the microwave or in a skillet before you roll your enchiladas.
- For even more flavor, heat extra enchilada sauce in a pan. One at a time, dip corn tortillas into the sauce and then fill them with the chicken mixture and roll them.
- If you don’t have leftover cooked chicken, you can cook a batch of air fryer chicken breasts to shred for this recipe. You could also use quick-cooking ground chicken, or make ground turkey enchiladas.
- Different protein. Swap chicken with pork carnitas, or make beef enchiladas instead with leftover crock pot carne asada or beef barbacoa.
What to Serve With Enchiladas
Optional Enchilada Toppings
Just like tacos, quesadillas, and other Tex-Mex favorites, you can serve your enchiladas with restaurant-style salsa or homemade guacamole, or these easy toppings:
- Sour cream
- Avocado slices
- Chopped tomatoes
- Jalapeño slices
- Fresh cilantro
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For the enchilada filling:
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Prep. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
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Sauté the aromatics. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in garlic and cook for 20 seconds, or until fragrant.
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Finish the chicken filling. Add the chicken and season with salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, and oregano; mix around until well combined. Stir in the enchilada sauce. You can use more sauce if you like, or if it looks too dry. Continue to cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
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Assemble. Add about ¼ to ½ cup of enchilada sauce to the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Fill 8 flour tortillas with the chicken mixture. Roll them up and transfer them to the baking dish, seam-side down. Lightly spray the enchiladas with cooking spray. Top the enchiladas with the remaining enchilada sauce and sprinkle with the shredded cheese.
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Bake. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 3 to 4 more minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted and the top is light golden brown. Remove from oven.
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Serve. Top with sour cream, avocado slices, halved cherry tomatoes, jalapeno slices, and chopped cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.
- I use a mild homemade enchilada sauce, but feel free to use your favorite store-bought sauce.
- I use “Mission” Low Carb Soft Taco Tortillas. You can make this recipe with authentic corn tortillas if you prefer.
Serving: 1enchilada | Calories: 258kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 697mg | Potassium: 206mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 432IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 221mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
How to Make Chicken Enchiladas With Red Sauce
- Make the chicken filling. Start by sautéeing the onion and garlic with oil over medium-high heat, until fragrant. Add your shredded chicken, salt, pepper, and seasonings. Stir to coat, and then add the enchilada sauce. Let that cook for a few minutes. If you find the filling looks dry, add more sauce.
- Assemble the enchiladas. Spread about ¼ cup of red sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Next, spoon the prepared chicken filling onto flour tortillas. Roll them up tightly and place them in the baking dish, seam side down. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the rolled-up enchiladas, and sprinkle with shredded cheese.
- Bake. Cover and bake the enchiladas in a 400ºF oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for another 3-4 minutes to brown the top before serving.
Make-Ahead, Storage, and Freezing
- Refrigerate leftovers. Allow the enchiladas to cool completely, then store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheat. I recommend reheating your chicken enchiladas covered with foil at 400ºF for 15-20 minutes, until hot.
- Freeze. The baked chicken enchiladas freeze well. Cover the cooled enchiladas with plastic wrap, then with a layer of foil, or store them in an airtight container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the enchiladas in the fridge before reheating.
