20-Minute Chicken Enchiladas

Used it as inspiration! I've made many enchiladas and have learned over the years it's best to simply layer as if making lasagna rather than spending time trying to roll! I also sautéed the onion in a bit of oil, added the flour, and dry spices to make a roux and then stirred in the tomato sauce, beans (liquid and all-no draining and the broth. Cooked until bubbly, added the chicken. Layer of sauce, layer of tortillas, layer of sauce, layer of tortillas, topped with remaining sauce and then the cheese. As the sauce was hot, the broiling to melt the cheese was all that it needed.

These are NOT enchiladas. They may be delicious but don't call it something it is most definitely not.

I just saw this recipe for the first time so I haven't made it yet but...
I noticed several complaints about the corn tortillas not working good. Whenever I make enchiladas I have always dipped the tortillas one at a time into the sauce until it is softer. Then fill either on a plate or in the baking dish. I think you'll find that this is way better than using a microwave. (don't leave them unattended in the sauce or they become mush. Use tongs to hold them as the sauce is really hot. )
Hope this helps!, Cindy

PS If you use flour tortillas your enchilada becomes a buritto.

The corn tortillas cracked in half after I microwaved them and the dish was a mess. Recommend using flour tortillas, though that probably increases the calories. The flavor is bland, with more heat than anything else.

I made this as specified, with the optional addition of medium hot roasted chilis. Absolutely delicious! However, I had to prepare all my ingredients, chop, measure, etc. and it took longer than 20 minutes. I will definitely make it again when I am not crunched for time :)

My family loved these.  I made a few alterations:  

• fresh onion instead of pre-cut

• chicken tenders (5 min in minced garlic + lime juice, then pan sautée in grape seed oil) instead of rotisserie chicken

• 1/3 less chili powder and no hot pepper, as our kids prefer super mild

• nine 8" whole wheat tortillas, instead of the corn ones

• 25 oz black beans instead of 15 oz

• to accomodate vegetarians in the family, instead of putting chicken and beans together into sauce, after setting aside sauce that will go on top, divide remaining sauce and put half with the chicken and ~1/4 of the beans, and half with the remaining beans;  then assemble four chicken-bean enchiladas and five bean-only ones

• bake at 400° instead of broil; I found it was done in about 10-15 minutes

With these alterations, prep time was more like 40 minutes.  Still not bad on a school night!

Quick, healthy, and delicious!  I followed another reader's advice and added chopped green chili's to the sauce and baked the dish for 25 minutes rather than broil.  I was also able to keep the prep time near 20 minutes by using a veggie chopper (Vidalia Chop Wizard) to chop the onions and tomatoes. 

The serving size is at the top of the recipe. Two enchiladas and one Tablespoon of sour cream.

Used leftover holiday turkey in place of chicken. Was skeptical about using tomato sauce, but it turn out well with the spices used to make the sauce more chile, than tomatoey.

Delicious! Loved this recipe! wasn't a fan of the corn tortillas so next time I will try with flour tortillas instead. And will also try baking it like a casserole. Highly recommend this recipe!! Tasty and simple to make!

The nutritional information calorie count would be per serving. Take the number of calories per serving and multiply by the number of servings indicated in the recipe.  This way you can determine the calorie counton whatever serving size fits your dietary preferences by dividing total calorie count by YOUR servings count.  Hope this helps and isn't too confusing.

For anyone whos interested, not related to me making this recipe, but may be helpful for those looking for prechopped onions. Actually, Walmart sells them in the frozen veggie section. I know cause I use them all the time. :)

Made it for my friends and family. They all loved it just left out beans, it was still good.

I usually make double the sauce, add a large can of black beans to the mixture, and then fill 18 corn enchiladas. I also add chopped jalapeño peppers to spice it up. This recipe is fantastic - easy to make, and a crowd favorite.

I also made this casserole style after reading the reviews. I followed the recipe as is and everyone really enjoyed it. Especially since I could make the spicy eaters and the not so spicy eaters have it their way by just putting the chopped jalapenos on the side.

I have used several recipes from this site and I appreciate the nutritional information that is provided, however the recipe tells me this casserole is 374 calories (I am assuming it means per serving?) but how big is a serving? Is it 1 cup, or 5 ozs. or 1/2 the casserole???? It would be very helpful if serving size were included.

This is a great healthy recipe I'm happy to try it my personal recipe tends to have much more fat, tasty but unwanted and unneeded fat. Glad to add this new recipe to my cook book.

My husband requested this again and I couldn't reproduce the recipe until I found it torn from the magazine and in a drawer. We jazzed it up with a small can of diced green chills and topped it with sliced green olives before topping with a llittle extra cheese. We also bake it in the oven for about 30 minutes. We like to serve with avocados as well. Simpler recipe than many I have and I love that I know what is in the enchilada sauce. Real food!

Very tasty. I made it casserole style, like another reviewer mentioned; so much easier. Baked at 350 for 25 minutes with foil cover on then 10 more with it off. Kept the toppings on the side so everyone could use what they wanted and added some cubed ripe avocado. Very filling. Just the right amount of spice, though 1/2 tablespoon of the chili powder was ancho chili powder. It would be fun and easy to play around with various seasonings in the sauce.

This was easy and delicious. I fed 8 people and the all raved. I used flour tortillas instead of the corn.

Bland and disappointing (and also took way more than 20 minutes). There are much tastier CL enchilada recipes out there - our favorites are Enchiladas Verdes (January 1999) for green sauce, Chicken Enchiladas (May 2010) for red sauce, and Chili-Cheese Black Bean Enchiladas (September 2003) for a vegetarian option.

Quick, easy and delicious. I substituted chipotle chili powder for the regular chili powder, which seemed to pump it up at little. This one is definitely a keeper.

Everyone loved this and went for leftovers the next day. Not too spicy. Very kid friendly. Super fast if you use bottled enchilada sauce.

took about 30 minutes by the time you make the sauce, assemble to enchiladas, and broil but definitely worth the time! Topped with shredded lettuce, salsa, and sour cream

I don't think that I've ever rated a CL recipe with only one star but this one I did for several reasons. First, as mentioned by other reviewers, it took longer than 20 min. To really heat through and make bubbly it required at least 8-10 min in the oven (even on broil). Second, the flavor was just ok. Tasty but not anything to write home about. There are so many amazing recipes out there this one easily gets pushed to the back of the line. The last reason is that the reheat value is super low. The tortillas got gummy and just didn't hold up well. I made it thinking it would be good for several meals and after the first leftover meal I chose a grilled cheese sandwich instead - that says a lot.

This will definitely go on the meal rotation! I added 1 seeded jalapeño to the sauce mixture, increased the amount of garlic to 1 tsp. and the salt to 1/2 tsp. I put this together as a casserole with a little sauce on the bottom, followed by 6 tortillas. Next I added the entire amount of chicken mixture, a little cheese and topped it with 6 more tortillas. Finally, I added the reserved 1 1/2 cups of reserved sauce over the tortillas and added a little more cheese. I baked this at 350 degrees for 15 minute until the cheese was melted.

I was disappointed in this recipe. It was okay, but certainly took longer than 20 minutes. It was a bit a trouble and even though I followed the directions for the tortillas, they broke apart and crumbled while I tried to fill them, making beans drop everywhere. We liked it alright, but I have other Mexican recipes that I like better. I would not make it again.

This was a great recipe! I made it for my family. My mom told me she has always tried to make enchiladas But they never turned out. Everyone loved them. I will be making These again! I am never disappointed with Cooking Light!

I'd definitely make this again! The dish (no substitutions) was very flavorful, but not too spicy.

Fantastic! Since our daughter had a sleepover, I took the opportunity to make this while she wasn't around because I thought the spiciness would be too much for her. I was right. Unlike some, we found this this to be full of flavor, spicy and delicious (and I made it exactly as instructed). You can read my full review at Taking On Magazines: http://bit.ly/17IOrjQ

Nice meal, but definitely not a 20 min meal! I made it pretty much as written, minus tomatoes, cilantro and sour cream. I halved the recipe and mashed up the other half of the can of black beans and mixed in with a can of regular refried beans for a yummy side. Would make it again!

These were delicious! I followed directions exactly except I added black pepper and onion powder to the sauce- it just needed a little something. My husband says the filling tastes like filling from the southwestern egg rolls from Chili's and I have to agree. I served with Mexican red rice and it was perfect! I liked the fresh tomato and cilantro on top. Will be making these again!!

Not a terrible recipe, but it's honest to say I wouldn't make this one again. A few intrinsic problems: 1) This recipe does not take 20 minutes; count on at least 30; 2) spices need to be kicked up a bunch (start with lots of garlic and a whole minced jalapeno plus cilantro to start); 3) There is no way you can fit 1/3 cup of this chicken mixture and "roll" the tortilla shell in the size stated. I have made several enchilada recipes from light cooking (C.L. included as casseroles) so I had a few "emergency" tweaks ready in the wings to make this one work. Use a bit of sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish, layer tortillas over it, add 1/2 of the chicken mixture, sprinkle with cheese, repeat layers and end on tortillas (with 1/4 cup reserved sauce on top) and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Then broil, top with tomato and cilantro and serve. Overall, this was tasty, but I would rather take the time on a weekend to make "the real deal" instead of this short cut version...

I only had little 4 inch corn tortillas, so I made this a layered enchilada casserole. 1/2 cup sauce on bottom of dish, 4 little tortillas layered to cover dish, 1/2 of the chicken filling, 4 tortillas, the rest of the chicken filling, the rest of the sauce, and cheese on the top. Very easy and tasty. Will make again, and probably as a casserole, since I don't love rolling enchiladas.

This was a delicious, quick, and easy meal. Only had ground sirloin not chicken and refried beans instead of black beans so had to sub those. It was yummy and best of all kids liked and ate it. Will make again!

Easy to make and everyone loved it.