Chicken Enchiladas & Spanish Rice

Recipes from Our Best Bites

This meal is comfort food.  It is down home, tasty cooking.  It's "I'm going to wear my fat pants and let it all hang out" kind of eating.  Needless to say that it's good! I would tweak a couple of things on the rice next time but I've included that in the notes below.  Enjoy!

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas:

4 Tbsp. butter

5 Tbsp. flour

2 (15-ounce) cans chicken broth (I like the less sodium kind)

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1 1/2 tsp. cumin

1 t. coriander (I didn't use this)

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/3 c. sour cream

2-3 shakes Tabasco sauce

Kosher salt, to taste

4 ounces cream cheese 

1 (7-ounce) can diced green chilies

3 1/2 c. cooked, shredded chicken

4 c. shredded pepper Jack cheese, divided

8-10 medium flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a 9x13-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.  When butter is melted and bubbly, add flour and stir to combine.  Continue cooking, whisking continuously until mixture is light golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.  Slowly add chicken broth, whisking until smooth.  Whisk in garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, coriander, chili powder and pepper.  Bring sauce to a simmer and stir until thickened, about 3-4 minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in sour cream and hot sauce.  Add salt to taste and set aside (I didn't add any extra salt).

In a separate mixing bowl, soften cream cheese in microwave until you can easily stir it.  Add green chilies and 1/2 c. of reserved sauce.  Stir to combine and add chicken and 2 cups pepper Jack cheese.

To make tortillas easier to roll, heat in microwave for about 40 seconds.  Place about 1/3-1/2 c. chicken mixture on each tortilla and roll tightly.  Pour 1 c. sauce into the bottom of prepared pan and spread evenly.  Place tortillas snug in pan.  Pour all remaining sauce on top of the tortillas and top with remaining 2 c. cheese.  Bake 30-35 minutes, until hot and bubbly throughout and cheese is melted.  We just served our enchiladas with sour cream (SO good) but if you want you could also top with olives, tomatoes, green onions etc.  

Spanish Rice:

6-8 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 medium onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced (I used the jarred stuff)

1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 (28-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 1/2 c. water (2 c. for higher elevations)

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (next time I would only use 1 Tbsp.)

1 1/4 tsp. Kosher salt

1 1/4 tsp. chili powder (next time I would only use 1/2-3/4 tsp.)

1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce (more if you like)

1 1/4 c. uncooked long-grain rice

To cook bacon preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.  Place bacon on baking sheet and cook for 13-17 minutes.  After cooked, place bacon on paper towel lined plate to drain.  This is the best way to cook bacon! It makes it crispy and you don't have to constantly be watching it.  You will be converted to this cooking method once you've tried it, guaranteed.  

After the bacon is coked, reserve about 1-2 Tbsp. of it's oil and place in stock pot and head to medium heat.  Add green pepper, onions and garlic.  Cook until onions are translucent.  

While vegetables are cooking, mash tomatoes slightly in blender by pulsing a couple times or with a handheld masher.  Pour into pan with vegetables.  Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil.  Stir, cover, and reduce heat to low.  Cook 20-25 minutes or about 1 hour for high elevations or until rice is cooked, stirring occasionally to make sure rice is not burning (I had to cook mine for a good hour).  

When the rice is cooked, add the bacon and heat through.