How long to cook enchiladas step by step directions are here! Make with precooked shredded beef, pork, or make as a simple leftover chicken recipe. Smothered with cheese and sauce wrapped in flour tortillas this Mexican recipe may become a new favorite family friendly meal.
Let’s talk about how to make enchiladas and how long to bake them in the oven too here. A quick meal we love on taco Tuesdays to change things up and great with leftover meats from the night before. Get your kids into the kitchen and get to baking together this week. (affiliate links present)
How Long to Cook Enchiladas in Oven
Baking enchiladas depends a bit on how large of a batch you are making, obviously. For the most part though you are just melding all the flavors together and melting your cheese so it isn’t long.
Leave 20-25 minutes or so uncovered to get this done well. You could lower the temperature, cover with foil and take longer if you were preparing other things at the same time.
Want a bit more golden brown crisp to the top, change from 350 F to 375 or 400 for closer to 15 minutes for a quick one pan meal. Filled with different meats, spicy levels for your sauce and toppings you can change this up so each week you can enjoy a different flavor. A bit like making air fryer flautas but smothered in sauce instead of dipping it in one.
How Long to Cook Enchiladas at 350
You only need about 20 minutes to bake enchiladas in the oven. The meat is precooked so it is already a safe temp. so all you are doing is warming everything together, softening the wraps and melting all the cheeses.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (or so) of shredded chicken precooked
- you could stuff with roasted vegetables for a vegetarian version
- taco meat with ground beef is a great choice too
- or use shredded pork inside
- 6 tortillas regular size, flour is our preference but corn tortillas can be used
- Red enchilada sauce or use our spicy tamale sauce
- An onion diced
- 1 tsp paprika, cumin and salt
- Olive oil
- 1.5-2 c shredded cheese
Then you are going to want a baking dish that is as wide as your tortillas and a spatula to serve them up, unless you’re making Instant Pot enchiladas.
Can you make enchiladas with rotisserie chicken?
Yep, we do this with our Easy Rotisserie Chicken Enchiladas. Don’t be cheesy either with the sauce, have a lot of that for baking and serving too. Good to keep some with your leftovers too so you can add more to the top when reheating the next day.
How to Cook Chicken for Enchiladas
If you are in a hurry I would just grab a cooked one at the store or make next day as a leftover chicken recipe, that is what we do. That way all you have to do is assemble all the pieces but beyond the baking at the end there isn’t any prep work. Buy cheese already shredded and you’re good to go.
If you want to add more oomph to the insides you could spread a layer of canned or homemade pressure cooker refried beans on the insides before adding your ground beef or poultry chopped up into bite size pieces.
How to cook chicken fast
- In a pan: Heat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Season thin breasts or thighs with salt and pepper, and add them to the skillet.
- Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through to 165 degrees in the center.
- Broiled chicken breasts or thighs for 4-6 minutes on each side until browned and cooked through will get them crisp on the outsides.
- Grilled chicken with salt and pepper, and grill for 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through.
- Baked in the oven is a great one if you want to cook the whole bird for this and leftovers.
- Instant Pot can be used to cooked to tender with a cup of chicken broth or water on the bottom. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes
Can you use frozen chicken to make enchiladas?
You can!! This is all different ways of how to cook frozen chicken breasts. You would need to do this beforehand and add pre-cooked though. Quickest is under pressure for 12 minutes, then do a quick release. It can be done on the grill, oven or stove too.
Make an assembly line if you want to make bunches. For a family of 4 it doesn’t take long though, you should account for 2 per person or so.
Homemade Chicken Enchilada Recipe
- Pour olive oil into a frying pan and add onions, paprika, salt and cumin.
- Fry 1-2 minutes until softened, pour into a bowl.
- Shred or dice the cooked chicken, add that into the bowl.
- Add 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce and mix in bowl too.
- you could drain 1/2 cup of black beans and add those in there too
- Put 1/6 of the chicken mixture into the middle of 1 tortilla, sprinkle some cheese on top, roll up and set into your pan seam side down.
- Make 5-6 enchiladas with this mixture depending on how full you want each one.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Once all are prepped and laying in your dish, pour the remaining sauce over rolled tortillas in dish and sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese.
- Bake 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until top is melted and bubbly.
- Serve chicken enchiladas with more sauce and cheese or sour cream on top. I like sliced avocados too!
There is a way to make this deconstructed too though. What does that mean? Well instead of filling, rolling and baking you just layer many of the same ingredients and then scoop it up when it is done. We call this enchilada casserole and it is incredible. I use pasta instead of tortillas for this version but the flavors remain the same.
How Long to Cook Enchiladas on the Stove
You could. Essentially you are just warming everything together, but it has the meat cooked so you aren’t worried about that part. If you wanted to do the same thing in a cast iron skillet you could.
It would fit fewer of them but the steps are the same. Follow the same directions over low heat. Bubble and simmer for about 15 minutes until cheeses on top and inside melt, meat is warmed and serve ’em up!
I have had a few questions thus far that I thought I would answer here. If you have others just mention them below and I will do my best to add them here as well.
Enchiladas are traditionally baked in the oven, but if you prefer to cook them on the stovetop, you can use a deep skillet. Cooking time for enchiladas on the stove will be shorter. Typically, you would prepare as directed here, add with sauce over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the tortillas are heated through and the cheese has melted.
Yes, you can prepare enchiladas ahead of time. You can assemble the enchiladas and keep them in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 24 hours before baking. Alternatively, you can fully bake the enchiladas, let them cool, and then refrigerate them for a day or two. Just reheat them in the oven before serving.
How Long to Cook Enchiladas
Equipment
- 1 9×13 pan
Ingredients
Instructions
- Pour olive oil into a frying pan and add onions, paprika, salt and cumin. Fry 1-2 minutes until softened, pour into a bowl. Shred or dice the cooked chicken, add that into the bowl. Add 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce and mix in bowl too.
- Put 1/6 of the mixture into the middle of 1 tortilla, sprinkle some cheese on top, roll up and set into your pan. Make 5-6 enchiladas with this mixture depending on how full you want each one. Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Once all are prepped and laying in your dish, pour the remaining sauce over rolled tortillas in dish and sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese. Bake 350 F 20 minutes or until top is melted and bubbly.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
