Easy Chicken Enchiladas with Queso Fresco are perfect for a weeknight. The dish is made with both chicken and black beans to create a filling, hearty entrée that your family will love.
Featured Comment:
“Super easy and most delicious! Have used this recipe at home and for potlucks.” -Penny
These Easy Chicken Enchiladas with Queso Fresco are one of my weeknight go-to meals. I love a quick meal that tastes great, and is just as delicious the next day for lunch.
And, they’re easily adaptable. You can swap in ground beef for the chicken, or chicken breasts instead of thighs. You can use more meat and leave out the beans. And you can even swap in corn tortillas to make these gluten-free.
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Ingredients
- Queso fresco makes these enchiladas just a little bit different than the usual recipe. It’s a Mexican farmers cheese with a little bit of a sour flavor to balance out the richness of the enchilada sauce. You can buy it already crumbled or in a block like you see here.
- You can use either flour tortillas or corn tortillas here—your choice.
- The filling is made with diced chicken thighs, black beans, and red onion.
- Enchilada sauce from a jar, a can, or a packet works perfectly here. Use your favorite brand.
How to make chicken enchiladas with queso fresco
The filling consists of sautéed chicken and onions, plus black beans, queso fresco, and a little enchilada sauce.
Next, we’ll roll the filling into tortillas, and nestle them into a pan (a little enchilada sauce goes on the bottom of the pan first).
The remaining enchilada sauce goes on top, followed by the shredded cheese, then it’s baked to perfection. A little extra queso fresco + cilantro goes on top!
What to serve with enchiladas
Authentic Mexican Rice is a great accompaniment to enchiladas. Add a salad and dinner is done!
To drink, Agua de Jamaica (Hibiscus Iced Tea) is super refreshing and complements the enchiladas beautifully.
📖 Recipe
Easy Chicken Enchiladas with Queso Fresco
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1¼ lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs (you can substitute chicken breasts)
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 1 can (15.5 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup crumbled queso fresco
- 16 oz red enchilada sauce (I used two 8-oz Frontera packets)
- 8 flour tortillas (can substitute corn tortillas)
- 1½ cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- For garnish: chopped cilantro, ½ cup queso fresco
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Season the chicken thighs with ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Place the chicken in the pan and cook until golden brown on the bottom, about 4–5 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until golden brown on the other side, about 4–5 more minutes.
- Remove the chicken and place on a cutting board. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 3–4 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat.
- Empty the enchilada sauce into a 2-cup measuring cup. You’ll have a scant 2 cups.
- Chop the chicken into ½ inch pieces. Add it back to the skillet with the red onion. Add the black beans, 1 cup queso fresco, and ⅓ cup of the enchilada sauce. Stir to combine.
- Pour ½ cup enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 13×9 inch pan. Tip the pan until the sauce covers the entire bottom.
- Place a tortilla on a flat surface. Using a pastry brush, brush the tortilla lightly with some of the remaining enchilada sauce. Place a heaping ½ cup of the meat and bean mixture down the center of the tortilla. Roll the tortilla, making sure that the filling doesn’t escape. Place the filled tortilla in the pan. Repeat with the remaining 7 tortillas.
- Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Top with 1.5 cups of Mexican blend cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the filling is bubbly. Top with cilantro and additional queso fresco if desired, and serve.
Super easy and most delicious! Have used this recipe at home and for pot lucks.
One of our favorite recipes. This was simple yet it has some complexity flavor. We smoked our chicken first and that seemed to elevate the experience.
YUM to the smoked chicken—that sounds amazing.