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
Other Popular Recipes People Really Like
- 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.
Andi says
Made this last night and hubs & I both loved it! I used a whole chicken which I had cooked beforehand, and the broth from that, with chicken bouillon added. Also increased the chili powder. Made it in our big cast iron skillet and put the whole thing under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese and crisp it up a bit. It was heaven! Thanks for giving us an alternative to the boring, time-consuming & messy job of softening tortillas! A+++++++++
Carrie says
I made this recipe to the T. It was bland not sure what I did wrong. Won't be making it again.
Sam says
You could always add more spices to adjust to your flavor level. It's a recipe. It's a basic guideline for how to make this dish. Nothing is set in stone.
R says
Can't wait to make this tonight and i just so happen to have all the ingredients! Win!
Deanna says
Great recipe! It was delicious.
Teddy says
I have never heard of it but I am going to make it one day.
Alyssa Spencer says
I made this with rotisserie chicken like someone else mentioned, just because I needed a quick meal one night and it turned out well. The only thing I didn't like was that it had really no spice to it like I thought it would, so I added more (kind of a lot more) chipotle chili powder than it calls for. That being said, it was perfect for us adjusted to my desired amount of spice. Next time I'll probably leave out the black olives just because my fiancé is not a fan and I don't really think they're necessary for me, but if you like them they were not bad in there by any means. I do plan on making it again!
T.S. Schindler says
Sounds great! How can I print off the recipe?
Will Rackliffe says
Great Grandma Afton would be proud. You have a very nice site. I want to try this recipe.
Heather Cheney says
Thanks Will! 🙂
Jessica says
I made this today but used pork loin and flour tortillas because that's what I had on hand, it was really good! Needs some more spiciness tho!
Lisa Nyberg says
Absolutely amazing! I used leftover turkey and now I will do Thanksgiving just for this afterwards! ????
Heather Cheney says
That's so great! Thanks for sharing.
Tyra says
Made this last night and it was to die for and so easy to prepare! I used rotisserie chicken since I found this at lunch and didn't have any chicken thawed. Served with black beans and Knorr taco rice! Yummy!
Heather Cheney says
Sounds great! I love using rotisserie chickens.
Jolisa Sheridan says
This looks amazing! Everything on your post sounds exactly like me except that 3 of my 4 children sound like your son. It's exhausting to even think about dinner let alone try and rangle them long enough to get anything on the table besides cold cereal. I am looking forward to one of those days I manage to find some sanity (or perhaps be just insane enough) to prepare this! Thank you for sharing...yum!