In episode 085 we are making Chicken Enchilada Suiza for dinner. These are delicious corn tortilla enchiladas that are stuffed with tender chicken, cilantro and spices. Then they are coated in a yummy homemade Suiza sauce that is creamy and flavorful. Finished with some cheese and baked in the oven.
These are great served with some Mexican Rice and Refried Beans. And who could say no to a really good Margarita!
Transcript
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Intro: Welcome everybody to another episode of Let’s Make Dinner, your audio library of amazing dinner recipes you can always get on the table. I’m your host, Susie Weinrich.
Susie Weinrich: What’s up everybody? Welcome to your Thursday. If you are struggling with dinner ideas, then you are in the right place. Today on the Let’s Make Dinner podcast, we are going to be making something called Enchilada Suiza or Suiza Enchiladas. So Suiza is S U I Z A. It’s funny because I have a friend that actually calls me Suiza. That has nothing to do with the enchiladas, it’s because when I had something monogrammed on a little trinket, they spelled my name wrong and it looked like Suiza. So Suiza it was.
But Suiza enchiladas actually means Swiss enchiladas, and they’re not like coated in Swiss cheese. Maybe some people do that. That’s not what we’re doing here. I think that Suiza, meaning Swiss, just means it’s similar to like Swiss style cooking with lots of cheese and cream, and that’s exactly what they are. They are chicken enchiladas that have green chilies and spices and all the delicious things you love about enchiladas, wrapped in a corn tortilla, and then they’re coated in a sauce that has sour cream, green chilies, heavy cream, mixed with a verde enchilada sauce. Then you top everything with cheese and it is absolutely delicious.
Tips and Tricks: The nice thing about this recipe is that it is chuck full of shortcuts and tips and tricks that make it a pretty easy dinner. Enchiladas can be kind of time-consuming, but for this recipe, we’re taking all sorts of shortcuts. So in these tips and tricks, first of all, the chicken. You’re going to use a shredded cooked chicken for your enchiladas, and my recommendation is to go to Costco if you have one nearby. Grab one of their rotisserie chickens that are still 4.99. Crazy. Shred that up. What I like to do is cut both of the breasts off of the chicken, the rotisserie chicken, maybe takes some of the thigh meat, pop it in my stand mixer while it’s still warm, run the paddle attachment for about 20 to 30 seconds, and it shreds it perfectly. I promise you this is not some TikTok trick that doesn’t really work. This actually works. It’s how I do it every single time I need to shred chicken.
The other shortcut we’re going to take here is that we’re actually going to use store-bought verde enchilada sauce. It’s also called Green enchilada sauce. You just need one 10-ounce can, and then you’re going to Zhush it up with sour cream and heavy cream, and some spices. That makes it feel more like a homemade sauce. Even though you didn’t, you know, make the whole entire sauce yourself.
The other ingredients that I want to talk about are the corn tortillas. So when you’re using corn tortillas, they can be such temperamental little bitches. I am telling you, if you don’t treat them just right, they will break and crack on you. Number one, buy a high-quality corn tortilla. I started buying some locally made corn tortillas called Yoli tortillas, and they are leaps and bounds better than any of the cheap corn tortillas that you get in the grocery store. I just heat them for like 30 seconds per side in a cast iron skillet and they roll up perfectly. They do not crack or anything.
Now a couple of other ways that you can prep your corn tortillas. You can put a little oil in that skillet and give them a quick fry, 15 seconds per side and then roll them up. But sometimes I find that to be kind of messy. You can also stack about five to six corn tortillas together, wrap them in kind of a wet paper towel, cover them completely, and microwave them for about 30 to 45 seconds. You can do that, or you can put a little water in the bottom of a pan. This tip actually comes from Rick Bayliss, who is a very popular Mexican cuisine chef. So put a little water in the bottom of a pot and then add a steamer basket on top. Stack your tortillas in there, pop it over low heat, and cover that pot, and that steam will soften up your corn tortillas and you can use them that way. So any of those methods will work. Just make sure you don’t use your corn tortillas straight out of the package. That will not work. I promise it won’t work. They will crack and tear and shred. They are a hot mess, but they’re so delicious.
The last tip on the ingredients is for the cheese. You can use just about any cheese you like. I like to use Monterey jack cheese, Colby jack, cheese, and pepper jack cheese. All of those would work. But the tip here is, is that you want to fresh shred your cheese. Get an eight-ounce block of cheese and shred the whole thing. It’s going to melt up so much creamier and more delicious than if you buy the pre-shredded cheese. That pre-shredded cheese usually has some kind of anti-clumping agent on it and a preservative that doesn’t allow it to melt as creamy and delicious as your fresh, shredded cheese.
Suiza Enchiladas Recipe: Let’s get on to making this full recipe for your Chicken Enchiladas Suiza. There are really four parts to this recipe. You’re going to make your chicken filling, you’re going to make the Suize sauce. You’re going to roll up your enchiladas and assemble the whole thing, and then you’re going to bake it. So those are the four categories of making your Enchiladas Suizas.
So let’s start with the chicken filling. What you’re going to do in a large bowl, you’re going to stir together three cups of cooked shredded chicken. I find three cups to usually be two large chicken breasts, usually creating about three cups of chicken. Then you’re going to add three tablespoons of that verde enchilada sauce that you bought at the store. One 4-ounce can of green chilies, half a cup of fresh chopped cilantro, one teaspoon of cumin, one teaspoon of chili powder, and half a teaspoon each of kosher salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Then you’re going to add one cup of that shredded Monterey jack cheese. Mix that all together. So it looks super delicious. Take a big whiff of it because it’ll smell really good and then set that aside.
Your next step is to make the suiza sauce. So in a separate bowl, you’re going to whisk together the remaining 10-ounce can of the verde enchilada sauce. Then you’re going to use one four-ounce can of diced green chilies, a quarter cup of sour cream, half a cup of heavy cream, and one teaspoon of cumin. I like to take a whisk and just whisk it really, really good until all that sour cream breaks down into the sauce. Then you have your delicious suiza cream sauce. You can set that aside as well.
Now when I’m doing enchiladas, I like to kind of prep, I don’t know, what do I want to call it? An assembly station where you have your corn tortillas, maybe a cast iron skillet on the stovetop, you have your filling, you have the 9×13 pan that you’re going to put them in, and then the sauce and the cheese on the backside. What you want to do is prep your corn tortilla. Choose whichever way works best for you; whether that’s frying in oil, heating in the cast iron skillet, or doing it in the microwave, or steaming in the pot. Whatever way works best for you. Then you’re going to take one corn tortilla and spread about a quarter cup of that chicken mixture down the center of that warm tortilla. Then you’re going to roll the tortilla right over the top of that filling so that you end up with a thin little cigar-looking enchilada. In your baking dish, you’re going to pour about one cup of that suiza sauce across the bottom and then spread it out. Then you’re going to place all of your enchiladas seam-side down into that pan. You’re going to repeat this with all of those tortillas until your baking dish is completely full. You’re going to have about 10 to 12 enchiladas.
If you have any of that chicken filling left, go ahead and scoop that over top of all the enchiladas and spread it out across everything because you’ll serve that extra filling when you serve your enchiladas. Now you’re going to pour the remaining Suiza sauce over all of those rolled enchiladas, and then you’re going to sprinkle all of the remaining shredded cheese over top.
You’re going to bake these uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then sometimes at the very end, I like to broil them for about two to three minutes so that the cheese gets kind of golden and bubbly on top. Now just like a good lasagna, you want to make sure that after you take your enchiladas out, that you let them cool for about 15 minutes. This just helps everything set up. The sauce will thicken up a little bit. The enchiladas will come together and congeal a little bit, and then it’s time to serve.
So when we are serving enchiladas, if it’s a weeknight and we just gotta get dinner going, sometimes I’ll just do chips and guac and salsa. If you want more of a meal-style enchiladas, then of course we’re talking some refried beans and Mexican rice. I have a really great recipe that’s kind of an unusual side dish for Mexicans because we always think of rice and beans. But I have a fresh pineapple side dish that has this lime orange cilantro glaze on it that is really delicious and makes a great addition when you want to have kind of a bigger Mexican feast. Then please don’t forget the margaritas. If it’s the weekend and you love tequila, then I have so many margarita recipes. Everything from roasted strawberry margaritas to just a classic lime margarita on the rocks. Then of course, if you want to do chips and salsa, I’ve got a great homemade salsa, a tomatillo salsa, a pico de gallo, and fresh guacamole.
So that does it for this full episode of Let’s Make Dinner. As always, I will link all of the recipes that I talked about in this episode right in the show notes so that you can save them, pin them, make them, print them, or whatever you want to do when you’re ready to make this Chicken Enchilada Suiza for dinner.
Outro: So, until next time, I hope this episode of Let’s Make Dinner, makes your dinner time a little easier. See ya.
Double Dip: All right, now it’s time for your double dip. If you are enjoying these episodes of Let’s Make Dinner every Thursday and it’s really helping you get dinner on the table, then you can be prepared next Thursday when you’re like, what the heck are we going to have for dinner? You can be ready with next week’s episode and all the groceries you need to make the recipe.
So let’s talk about what we’re making next week, next Thursday on this show. We are making an unbelievable chicken salad recipe with grapes and pecans. It’s going to knock your socks off. This is such a good chicken salad recipe. It’s perfectly balanced. Not overly mayonnaisey, not overly sour creamy, not too sweet, not too salty. It’s just the perfect balance, and it has the tender chicken and the crispy juicy grapes and the, and the crunchy pecans. It is amazing. I love it either on top of lettuce or in a croissant. Or you know what I really, really, really love, is eating it on Ritz Crackers.
All right, so let’s go over all of the ingredients you need to make your chicken salad for dinner. Just like the recipe this week, you’re going to need cooked, diced, or shredded chicken. You need four cups. So that’s going to be a good three chicken breasts or on your rotisserie chicken. It’s probably going to be both breasts and the thighs if you don’t mind having the dark meat in there. You’re going to need mayonnaise, sour cream, and a lemon. You’re going to need some spices from your spice cabinet; so onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, kosher salt, black pepper. Then you’re going to need fresh dill, celery, green onions, two cups of red grapes, and half a cup of chopped pecans. Whether you want to, like I said, serve it on lettuce or in a croissant or on crackers, that’s up to you. But make sure you have that as well for serving.
So that’s it. I hope you guys join me next week and make this chicken salad with me. Until then, I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend ahead. See ya.
Recipes Mentioned
- Chicken Enchiladas Suiza
- Mexican Rice
- Refried Beans
- Pineapple Side Dish
- Pico De Gallo
- Salsa
- Guacamole
- All the tequila cocktails!
Next Week:
I hope you will join me every Thursday for a new dinner idea! Next week we will be making Chicken Salad Sandwiches for dinner! Grab the ingredients and join me then.
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