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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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.
Gwen says
Made this tonight. It was great and everyone loved it. I added a can of corn. Will make again. Thanks for the recipe.
Amber says
I wonder if adding a can of chile would make it pop???
Debra says
Has anyone tried this w/O the flour? Or do you think the flour can be substituted for a gluten free flour? Hubby doesn't like enchilada sauce and is gluten free. But I love enchiladas. I'm hoping I can figure out the gf thing and this would be a good middle ground, since many reviews say it's on the bland side.
Anne Armstrong says
I'm trying it today without the tortillas. My kids can wrap theirs in a tortilla but my husband and I can go low carb. I may cook some rice for the kids too. Would be really good over rice.
eliesa says
Hi Anne! What did you eat it with? I'm doing a low carb diet, so I can't use the tortillas. (I can make the rice for the kids) but was it too soupy without the tortillas? Thanks!
Lydia Jones says
I used cornstarch instead of flour., and used corn tortillas. Would also be good served over rice if gluten is a problem.
This would also be great with low carb tortillas (Flour) for low carbers. Mission and La Banderita both make very good ones.
Emmapawprints says
This is delicious...I used taco seasoning instead of the chipotle powder & oregano...I also added a blend of sharp & tex mex cheddar...I omitted the olives too (personal preference)...this was enjoyed by our entire family...so good, hearty and easy to make. Hubby and I spiced ours up with a little Valentino hot sauce but the heat was just perfect for our daughter. I also transferred it to a baking dish and broiled the cheese...mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Thanks for a great recipe.
Robin Pennell says
Everyone in my family lived this - which is a rarity! However, it is very rich and I'm going to add a little cayenne pepper to cut the richness. Thanks for the recipe!
Emily Cobb says
This is a good recipe but we love spice so to kick up a notch I added more Chipotle, a pinch of Cayenne "hot" green chile's and fresh Garlic. To add a bit of freshness I topped it with Scallions served with Chipotle black beans and Tortilla chips for a crunch.
Alyssa Spencer says
I've made this multiple times now and wanted to share an update. I've made it with the boneless chicken breasts and rotisserie chicken: both turn out well. I've made it with and without black olives, it doesn't make much difference in my opinion. My fiancé doesn't like them so I omitted them after the first time and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Now, the changes I would make: if you want any spice to this add more Cumin and Chipotle chili powder. It's completely necessary in my opinion. Also, cutting back just a tad on the tortillas was better for us, so I'd just say use your judgement, but I do not recommend using flour tortillas in place of corn.
Natalie says
What size tortillas? 8", 12"?
Kim A. says
Corn tortillas not flour tortillas. I used the smaller ones and added a lot more Chile powder. It was amazing. Oh, I also sauteed onion and garlic for more flavor.
Marie says
After reading the reviews I made this with more spices. I made it with 2 tsp Chili powder and 1/4 tsp cumin and kept everything else the same. With those changes I thought this was a really good recipe and will make it again.
Melissa says
Thank you for listing how much you added. I kept seeing the comments of "more" but was unsure how much more I needed!
Anna says
This was delish! Thank you. It's similar to a Mexican dish, chilaquiles. I topped it with some cilantro & green salsa. It gave it an extra kick! My family loved it. They suggested that the tortillas be fried next time.
Casey says
I could tell by looking at the ingredients list that the spices were on the weak side...also I like enchilada sauce not just basic sauce ....will take the concept of this dish but will dr heavily to a more enchilada-ish sauce..thanks for the basic concept
Pinnie says
This was terrible, don't waste your time or money on this! ?