This One Pan Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Skillet gives you all the flavor and deliciousness of hand-rolled sour cream chicken enchiladas without all the work! It's cheesy, creamy, zesty and your family is going to love it!
Alright, folks here's the deal. I love sour cream chicken enchiladas with a giant pink puffy heart, but I hardly ever make them. By the time dinnertime rears its ugly head, the last thing I want to do is attempt to roll up enchiladas (like these delicious green chile and cheese ones) while my toddler plays the part of Godzilla in my kitchen.
Seriously, this kid.
Is it a boy thing? My girls were not climbers and into everything like he is. It's about all I can do every day to keep him from killing himself, let alone make some dang enchiladas.
So, we make skillet chicken enchiladas. They have all the flavor of your normal enchiladas but take 300% less work! Are you sold yet?
How to Make Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Skillet
Step 1.) Make the Sour Cream Enchilada Sauce
The Sour Cream Enchilada Sauce is what makes this recipe, and it's basically a thickened chicken broth, seasoned up and studded with green chiles and black olives.
Step 2.) Cook and Shred the Chicken
Once the sour cream enchilada sauce is made, you're going to cook the chicken right in it! Place your chicken breasts right into the sauce to cook at a low simmer for about 15 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked, you'll take it out of the sauce, shred it up, stir some sour cream into the sauce and put the chicken back in.
Step 3.) Add Tortillas
Enchiladas wouldn't be enchiladas without tortillas, right? You'll cut some corn tortillas into bite-sized squares and add them right into the sour cream sauce and chicken.
Give it a stir.
Step 4.) Add The Cheese!
Top the entire skillet with cheese, cover and cook for another 5-8 minutes until bubbly. Once it's done, you'll have something that looks something like this. Not too shabby, right?
Seriously, if you're a chicken enchilada fan like I am, this One Pan Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Skillet is your new best friend.
Cooking Tips for Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Skillet
I've had a few people comment that this recipe doesn't have enough spice or kick to it. The recipe as written will give you a sauce that is creamy, just lightly seasoned and lets the flavor of the chicken, cheese, and tortillas come through-- like the sour cream chicken enchiladas that I grew up eating! 🙂
This mild sour cream sauce is meant to be just that-- mild! So if you are looking for a more tangy and spicy sauce, like red enchilada sauce, you can substitute 2 cups canned red enchilada sauce for the chicken broth, flour, and butter.
You can still stir in the sour cream to make a creamy sauce if you'd like. You can even make your own Homemade Enchilada Sauce, or just make one of these awesome recipes-- Easy Beef Enchilada Skillet or Chicken Black Bean Enchilada Skillet
Can I Freeze This Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Skillet?
Yes, just like its full-blown enchilada cousin, this skillet freezes and reheats well.
Tools Used for This Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Recipe
- Better Than Boullion: I use a lot of chicken/beef/vegetable broth in my recipes because it adds such nice flavor, but I don’t love keeping cans or cartons of it in my pantry. For this reason (and more) I use this broth base anytime I call for broth in my recipes. It only takes one teaspoon of the base to make 1 cup of flavorful broth and can be stored for quite a while in the refrigerator.
- Anolon Nouvelle Copper Non-Stick Skillet: These non-stick pans are metal utensil safe and last a long time. I've been using Anolon's pans exclusively for the past five years and am still in love with them!
Want More Easy One Pan Meals?
- One Pan Easy Chicken Cacciatore
- One Pan Crack Bean Burritos
- One Pan Smothered Chicken Skillet
- One Pan Cheeseburger Macaroni
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- Barbeque Chicken
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One Pan Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Skillet
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon chipotle chili powder optional
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- 4 ounces chopped green chiles
- 4 ounces chopped black olives
- 3 whole boneless skinless chicken breast halves
- 1 cup sour cream
- 12 whole corn tortillas cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 cups colby-jack cheese grated
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat butter over medium heat until melted. Stir in flour, cook for 1 minute and whisk in chicken broth. Continue stirring until smooth and thickened-- about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir chipotle chili powder, salt, oregano, green chiles and black olives into the sauce and place chicken breasts into pan. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover and cook about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- Remove chicken from pan, leaving the heat on low, and place chicken on a plate to shred into bite-sized pieces.
- Stir sour cream into the sauce and return chicken to the pan along with the tortillas. Stir until combined and top with grated cheese. Cover pan and cook for 5-8 minutes until bubbly and the cheese is melted.
Everyone's palate is different. I try to watch my salt intake so I don't add any because of the low sodium chicken broth I used. I halved the recipe and used 1 rotisserie chicken breast. I think it tastes great with flour tortillas! I used ancho chili. We all use what ingredients we have on hand, and the dish came out great! This is the second time I'm making it.
Have not made b/c of sodium content. I try to cook with as little sodium as I can and use unsalted chicken broth (mostly from my instantpot cooked chicken. I am astounded at the high sodium content of this recipe. Aside from omitting the salt and using sodium free ingredients that I can find, where else does this amazingly high sodium content come from?
I also do low sodium and use the following:. No salt butter.
Swanson no sodium chicken broth - eliminates 1380 mg sodium in her bouillon.
I add chicken herb-ox 3 tsp to replace salt, it does add potassium
Found Pearls low sodium olives at Walmart
Found lower sodium cheese there as well-- Great Value. All cheese is high and this has a lot in it. Swiss is lowest in sodium naturally but may not taste as good in this. Lucerne makes a low salt cottage cheese that might work; ricotta is low but it is hard to spread. Some brands are higher than others in sodium
Daisy sour cream is lower
Macayo chilies at WM are lower--half as much
Guerrero corn tortillas are lower
It all adds up. Just read labels and compare. If you find lower sodium products, let me know.
Hello Heather! Your sour cream chicken enchilada skillet recipe sounds perfect for our family! How many cups equal 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts? I am using rotisserie chicken bone in leg quarters! Thank you !
I can’t wait to make your recipe, thanks for your help with my question!
This recipe is delicious and in my regular rotation! So quick and easy, especially if you use shredded rotisserie chicken! It’s a keeper. Thanks so much for sharing.
The spices weren’t enough and the timeline is all wrong. The chicken was definitely not done after 15 minutes and the amount of spices were off. If I make this again, I’ll cook my chicken separately in the crockpot beforehand or buy a rotisserie chicken. I’ll also add more spices. It wasn’t that it was too mild. It was plain bland.
I added a cup of salsa Verde this time- last time it had no flavor, this time, tons! and I used three cans of chicken instead of breast
I love this receipe! I can't tell you how many times I have made it!!! I am going to be making
it tonight. It is good for at least 4 meals and keeps well in the fridge.
Wondering if anyone has ever tried adding rotel tomatoes to this. I may try it tonight. This recipe is bliss for me.
I say if you don't like the result of the recipe as presented, make your own. As a tex- mex person I grew up and learned to cook from my mother and the "culture" of Our kitchen. We used all the ingredients available to us and seasoned the food according to OUR palate. Try not to be rude and make negative remarks about how others choose to cook. Hey oregano is a wonderful herb. Can be used in many dishes.
Read the comments before I started making this. Adjusted the spices and green chili to our tastes. It turned out fantastic. Hubby loved it. I will definitely make this again.
Don't try it with flour tortillas LOL follow the instructions!(spoiler alert it doesn't work with flour) I subbed the green chilies for fresh jalapeño and used chili powder instead of chipotle. I thought it was awesome! my boyfriend loved it which, of course, made me look cool. Thanks!