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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📖 Recipe
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.
Lisa says
Excellent recipe but very mild. Instead of broth I used green enchilada sauce and then followed your recipe. Sometimes I add black beans to it just for fun cause I like them along with my favorite jalapeño rub for super kick. Really great recipe, thank you for sharing it, I make it often!
Lisa says
Creamy sauce. I did add a can of black beans for the base just because I like different fractures and contrast. The sour cream made the sauce taste great.
Sallyjojo says
We really enjoyed this. No Olives and subbed jalapeno and ancho chilies for the green chilies. No tortillas, put in a bowl and topped with crushed tortilla chips. Delicious, easy and quick. Thanks for sharing. Next time I'll serve with some yellow rice as well!
Sharon Riegsecker says
Delicious! I didn’t have Chipotle chili powder, so used regular and a little adobo sauce from canned chipotles. I also added black beans instead of the ilives and used crushed Tostitos instead of the corn tortillas. Top with a little fresh Cilantro, sour cream dollops and diced avocados...delish!!!
Virginia says
Wow! Thank you so much for your insight. Thank heavens you were paying attention. No one wants an extra gram of carbs.
Cathie says
Just made this recipe. Easy and delicious. Serve over chips or shredded lettuce top with green onions.
Dawn says
Oh I have to make this! It looks so delicious 🙂 All but the olives, I have to keep the olives out - I cook with olive oil but never acquired a taste for olives. It took me years to finally use the oil haha!
I wonder if yellow rice for the side would go well with this? I mean I know it wouldn't be a one dish meal at that point tho.
JaneDoe says
Tossed green salad would be better to keep the starch amount down and keep it healthier. Btw, i could eat rice with every meal.
Renee says
Absolutely delicious !!!
Next time I will add tortillas just before serving.
Erin says
I served the black olives on the side. My semi picky kids loved it!
Marsha Nelson says
I agree! Maybe try using coconut or almond flour and whole wheat, low carb tortillas. (small are 4 net grams each). Tostitos also makes Simply Tostitos bean tortilla chips. Yes carbs, but really for the amount (12 net grams per 11 chips) you could use some of these crushed on top for a bit of texture and leave out the other tortillas. 44 tortilla chips divided into six servings would net the 8 grams of carbs noted here.
Jill says
So easy and tastes fantastic! I used canned chicken breast and flour tortillas--they worked great.
Debbilyn says
This recipe turned out fanulous