These chicken enchiladas are so quick & easy to make! With salsa verde, shredded chicken, and spinach, they’re a healthy & simple dinner – and perfect to make ahead! Goes wonderfully with homemade guacamole.
Mmmm… chicken and spinach enchiladas.
Doesn’t that just sound comforting and delicious?
Oh yes, yes they are! And they’re sooo good!!
I started making enchiladas several years ago, back when I was trying to “fix” Mr. Crumbs’ peculiar ways with food textures. He’s not a big fan of casseroles since they tend to be uniformly orange and filled with “mystery” ingredients. But I love them myself.
There’s something homey about a good ‘ol casserole, dontcha think? And I find them easy to make and comforting to eat. These enchiladas were my attempt at a compromise with Mr. Crumbs, and wouldn’t you know, it worked!
This chicken enchilada recipe is a dump, mix, and bake type of meal, which means it is a quick and easy recipe for a weeknight! I firmly believe that every family needs a favorite enchilada recipe, so look no further if you don’t have one yet.
And if you do already have one, ditch it and make mine instead. Your family will absolutely LOVE it!
Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas
Besides being a healthier version of a satisfyingly delicious comfort food, these chicken and spinach enchiladas are also:
- Fast and easy! Put this recipe together in 15 mins and bake for 20! Viola! Dinner is ready.
- Freezer friendly. You can freeze this recipe in the casserole dish and then go straight to the oven when you’re ready to bake!
- Perfect for company. As a great make-ahead recipe, you’ll have something ready to go when your unexpected company stops by! It’s a definite crowd pleaser!
Ingredients for Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas
This recipe is made from real food ingredients that you can easily find in any grocery store…
- Shredded chicken
- Frozen spinach
- Taco seasoning
- Cumin & garlic powder
- Red onion
- Salt & pepper
- Sour cream
- Chili salsa verde (here’s the link to my homemade chili salsa verde)
- Corn tortillas (here’s the link to my homemade corn tortillas). You can also use flour tortillas (here’s how to make them homemade).
- Cheddar cheese
Note: If you don’t have taco seasoning on hand, you can use store-bought chili powder or make my homemade taco seasoning.
Can you make enchiladas with flour tortillas?
Yes! Feel free to use flour tortillas if you prefer them to corn. Here is my recipe for homemade flour tortillas.
What is enchilada sauce?
Enchilada sauce is a red sauce made from a tomato paste base. It also has several spices commonly found in Mexican food. Here is a recipe for my homemade enchilada sauce.
But for THIS chicken and spinach enchiladas recipe, I don’t use red enchilada sauce. I use a salsa verde made with green chilies, which makes a more flavorful and tangy enchilada. You can find my salsa verde recipe here.
How do you make chicken enchiladas from scratch?
- Combine chicken, spinach, red onion, and seasonings.
- In a separate small bowl, combine sour cream and chili verde salsa.
- Smear creamy salsa mixture all over the bottom of a baking dish, then mix creamy salsa into the chicken and spinach mixture.
- Measure chicken mixture into the center of a tortilla and roll up. Repeat for all tortillas.
- Spread the remaining creamy salsa mixture over the enchiladas. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake.
How do you make chicken and spinach enchiladas ahead for busy nights?
This enchilada recipe is PERFECT for making ahead of time. Make it through step 5, cover, and keep it in the fridge. Then when it’s time for dinner, add the creamy salsa verde sauce and top with cheese. Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes!
Can I freeze this chicken and spinach enchilada recipe?
Yes! These chicken and spinach enchiladas are super freezer-friendly! Make the entire recipe, sprinkle the cheese on top, and freeze it in the dish. Go from freezer to oven, and add 20-30 minutes to the bake time.
How do I make this chicken and spinach enchiladas recipe super easy?
- After I butcher a whole chicken into parts and make chicken stock, I freeze the cooked chicken meat into one cup portions. Why? Because…
- This makes it REALLY easy to pull out one or two bags, along with spinach, and thaw for dinner.
- Plus it allows me to save the chicken parts (i.e. chicken breasts, thighs, and drumsticks) for meals that call for whole pieces rather than shredded chicken.
- There are various stopping points along the way to help you make this recipe ahead of time.
- You can mix the chicken, spinach, and sauce and stop there
- OR you can go ahead and fill and roll the tortillas and stop there. Whichever suits your fancy, and your schedule.
- Personally, I pull the chicken and spinach the night before to thaw. The next morning I’ll whip up the sauce and combine with the chicken and spinach just after breakfast to make the dinner process run a bit smoother. Then I’ll roll it all up just before baking, which makes the total time of afternoon dinner prep (including baking) less than 30 minutes. This means very little time prepping these chicken and spinach enchiladas.
- Make enchilada casserole. Use the process for layering the enchiladas like in this recipe. It makes your prep time just a little bit quicker since you don’t have to roll the enchiladas.
How do I substitute ingredients in this chicken enchiladas recipe?
There are SO many ways you can customize this recipe to fit the ingredients you already have on hand. Here’s what I recommend, and a few things I don’t:
- Salsa. Using red salsa in place of salsa verde (green salsa) is delicious too, but make sure it’s thick, or strain a thinner salsa before using. Note that this will slightly change the flavor. Salsa verde is usually spicier with a lemony tang. Red salsa will have that underlying tomato flavor. Here’s our favorite homemade salsa recipe.
- Greek Yogurt. You can substitute sour cream for the Greek yogurt without any other modifications. You can also swap regular yogurt (make it homemade) for Greek yogurt (make this homemade too), but you might have to adjust how much you use in order to keep that thick, creamy enchilada sauce texture. Using a thick salsa, like my homemade salsa verde recipe, is best when using regular yogurt.
- Tortillas. We prefer homemade corn or homemade flour tortillas. Most recently we tried this with store-bought corn tortillas that weren’t very good on their own, so I don’t recommend doing that unless you’ve found a brand that you really like.
More Easy Mexican Recipes
- Easy Black Bean and Corn Salsa Tacos
- Homemade Tortilla Chips
- Simple Homemade Salsa
- Easy Guacamole Recipe
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas
- Lime Crema
- Crockpot Refried Beans
Chicken Meal Prep Plan
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Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde Sauce
These chicken enchiladas are so quick & easy to make! With salsa verde, shredded chicken, & spinach, they’re a healthy & simple dinner.
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Main Meals
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded chicken
- 1 package frozen spinach, thawed
- 2–3 Tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 red onion, diced finely
- salt & pepper
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 1 1/2 cups chili Salsa verde
- 8–10 homemade corn tortillas*
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Combine chicken, spinach, 2 Tbsp of taco seasoning, cumin, garlic powder, and red onion in a large bowl. Season with pepper and taste. Add additional taco seasoning, if desired. Season with salt as needed.
- In a separate small bowl, combine sour cream and chili verde salsa. Taste, and season with salt, pepper, taco seasoning and/or cumin as desired.
- Smear approximately 1/4 cup of the creamy salsa mixture all over the bottom of a 9×13 glass baking dish. Mix approximately 1/2 cup of the creamy salsa into the chicken and spinach mixture. Add more creamy salsa, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the mixture is dry. You want it to be a moist mixture, but not goopy and saturated.
- Measure 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture into the center of a tortilla and roll up. Place tortilla at one end of the baking dish, seam down. Repeat with remaining tortillas and chicken mixture.
- Spread the remaining creamy salsa mixture over the enchiladas. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and slightly bubbly.
Notes
*See substitution ideas for notes on the tortillas.
Let’s talk chicken and spinach enchiladas… do you have a favorite flavor combination? I’d love to hear your creative ideas in the comments!
Hi, I can’t see that you’ve posted how many people this serves? 1 enchilada per person or more? Thank you!
We usually serve 2-3 per person, and this will serve a family of 4 with possibly some leftover for lunch. 🙂
This recipe is in regular rotation at our house. Since we are a lo carb household we buy lo carb tortill as. I do modify the sauce and make a white sauce and use less salsa verde. I still kick up the heat with either cayenne or not sauce. The sauce variations are endless as you read the comments. Anyway you make it it’s Awesome!
tomatillos not avaiable here in Portugal. Can I substitute ordinary tomatoes, perhaps green ones?
This recipe looks so good! My freezer safe glass Tupperware says not to go from freezer to oven… will thawing before baking work for this recipe, or is going from freezer to oven important?
You can thaw before baking for sure Keely!
I made this with corn tortillas and froze it right before the oven step, checked the frozen pan the next day…and all the tortillas had split open! Maybe corn tortillas have less liquid and don’t tolerate being frozen as well as flour ones. I’m sure it will still be delicious 🙂
★★★★★
It’s very possible Kelsey! I’ve made this with corn and flour, and flour tortillas in general seem to hold much much better long-term than corn. I’m sure it’ll be messy, but still delicious as you said!
I just made this a few days ago, and my husband is already asking me to make it again. These are probably the best enchiladas we’ve ever had! The recipe definitely would not have been the same without the homemade chili verde salsa. I’ve never done well with very spicy food, but this recipe has just the right amount of spice and such a good flavor. This is definitely a keeper! 🙂 Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
I am a sucker for Mexican any day, but I bet this woudl be spicy for me. Thanks for posting, I shared this on my May real food meal plan.
Everyone loved these enchiladas! I only had 3/4 cup sour cream so I used 3/4 cup cream cheese for the rest of the sauce. I also used fresh spinach in place of frozen. So delicious! Will be keeping this recipe and making often.
★★★★★
Hi Jennifer!
Yay!! We’re so glad to hear that you are a fan of this recipe. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
I’ve been eyeing this recipe for a long time and finally made it since I actually had all the ingredients on hand. I’m always apprehensive to make a new dish for my husband since he’s so picky. So far, he’s loved all your recipes and this one was a huge hit! We’ve planned on eating the leftovers tonight. Eating leftovers the very next night is virtually unheard of in this house! I can’t believe I was able to sneak spinach into my hubby and he NEVER said a thing! 🙂 The only change I made was adding some cream cheese to the sauce because I was a little low on sour cream. Yum! Thanks, Tiffany! 🙂
I forgot to rate this. 🙂
★★★★★
JMJ
I made this last night (subbing turkey for the chicken and a homemade red salsa because it’s what I had) and the entire pan was devoured. I knew my family liked enchiladas, but I have never had a whole pan devoured. Even the 4 year old ate TWO – including the spinach! This is definitely a “keeper” recipe and will be made again…only a double batch will be made since I rely on leftovers for lunch the next day. Thank you for the recipe.
Love this Kathleen! We’ve made similar substitutions and it always comes out good. I’m so glad your family enjoyed – especially the 4 year old eating spinach! (PSST – feel free to sneak in about 1/4 cup finely diced mushrooms too)