Skillet chicken enchiladas are a cheesy, gooey favorite of ours. Seasoned chicken, black beans, green chilies, red enchilada sauce, and lots of cheese all come together to deliver a simple and delicious Mexican classic. This recipe uses a shortcut of canned enchilada sauce, making this an easy, fuss-free weeknight dinner!
My skillet enchiladas are both prepped and cooked in a single cast iron skillet for really easy cleanup. You can sauté the chicken and filling, transfer to a bowl, assemble your enchiladas on the counter, and then arrange them back in the skillet for baking. This recipe makes about 5 enchiladas, making it the perfect amount for a smaller crowd of 2-3.
Lastly, these go exceptionally well with my homemade guacamole and my classic margarita recipe.
Skillet Enchilada Filling
To create the enchilada filling, I drew inspiration from my go-to chicken chimichanga recipe. All wrapped up in a flour burrito-sized tortilla. My enchilada filling consists of:
- Diced seasoned chicken: you can use either chicken breast or chicken thighs. Chicken thighs are my favorite because they’re super tender and juicy. It’s important to dice the chicken into very small chunks so they easily blend with the other ingredients.
- Low-sodium black beans: always rinse in a colander before using.
- Chopped green chilies (canned)
- Green onions
- Mexican blend of cheeses: I usually get prepackaged shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend but feel free to use your favorite cheddar cheeses.
- Mild or hot red enchilada sauce: If you like spicy food I highly recommend the hot enchilada sauce. You will need about 20 ounces for this recipe.
- Spices: cumin, salt and pepper, and chipotle chile powder are my favorite seasonings for the chicken filling. This recipe works really well with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for amazing smokey heat.
Enchiladas are assembled with enchilada sauce, chicken and bean filling, and shredded cheese, and then tightly rolled and placed back in the skillet on a bed of enchilada sauce.
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Skillet Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
Spicy chicken enchiladas made in a cast iron skillet with seasoned chicken, black beans, green chilies, and lots of cheese.
Ingredients
- 5 large burrito flour tortillas
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts or 3–4 chicken thighs, diced small
- 20 ounces of canned mild or hot red enchilada sauce
- 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 1 15.5-ounce can black beans, rinsed
- 4.5 ounce can chopped green chilis
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions for garnish
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- Optional 1 chipotle chili in adobe sauce, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- Guacamole or sour cream for topping if desired.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Cut chicken into small bite-sized chunks. I typically cut into small half-inch cubes.
- Heat oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté chicken for 2-3 minutes and then add green chilis and black beans. Season all over with salt and pepper. Add cumin and chipotle chile powder and optional diced chipotle chili and mix to incorporate.
- Once the chicken is fully cooked (3-4 more minutes). Transfer everything to a bowl and set aside.
- Add 1/2 a cup of enchilada sauce to the now empty cast iron skillet. (Just enough to have a thin coating on the bottom of the skillet).
- Place a tortilla on the counter or flat surface and spread 2 tablespoons of enchilada sauce down the center of the tortilla. Top with 1/2 cup of chicken mixture and sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of cheese. Wrap tortillas tightly and place seem down in the cast iron skillet. Repeat with the remaining 4 enchiladas.
- Top all enchiladas with the remaining enchilada sauce and sprinkle with a cup of cheese.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes and garnish with green onions and guacamole when serving.
Notes
Don’t skimp on the enchilada sauce. It’s what makes enchiladas tender, creamy, and delicious. Look for mild enchilada sauce for less heat.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 enchiladas
- Calories: 683
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 717mg
- Fat: 21.9g
- Saturated Fat: 6.2g
- Carbohydrates: 66.4g
- Fiber: 7g
- Protein: 55g
- Cholesterol: 110mg
Keywords: chicken enchiladas, skillet enchiladas
★★★★★
Made these last night, and my family devoured them. Wish I could post a photo to show you because they not only tasted fantastic but looked beautiful. I posted them and your recipe link on a food group I belong to – Milk Street Community. We always love your recipes and this one is no exception.
★★★★★
Thank you so much for the kind words and appreciate the share!
I love chicken enchiladas and your recipe looks delish. Can’t wait to try it.
Found your recipe on Pinterest when I was looking for something to grill on our Traeger using a cast iron skillet. The recipe looked scrumptious and I had everything at home so looked no further. It turned out delicious and so easy to make. The only other thing I added was sliced black olives and then topped with sour cream instead of guacamole.
Thanks Deb! Glad you found me 😉
You don’t need to cover with foil before baking?
Nope!
This recipe was fantastic! I just purchased my first cast iron skillet and this was the first thing I made with it – I used rotisserie chicken (because I’m super lazy and love the pre-handpulled version from Costco…ha!) and this was the easiest recipe for an impromtu dinner party. Thanks for posting!!
★★★★★
Thanks Sarah – good idea with the rotisserie chicken! That’s perfect. Will have to try that myself.
Once again, you nailed it Shawn! Absolutely delicious, and so easy! Our new favorite!
We prepared the chicken enchiladas tonight. This recipe turned out beautifully and tasted delicious. We made our own enchilada sauce and it lends itself nicely to this dish. We forgot to take a picture of the finished result (we were really hungry). . This is definitely going to be in our dinner recipe rotation. Can’t wait to try more of @kitchenswagger recipes.
Just want to point out the flour is misspelled in the recipe..
You mean you’ve never heard of flower tortillas?! Good call – thanks for the note.
You have totally won me over!!! I stumbled upon your blog via Pinterest in my search for a filet mignon recipe….and have been no further since Sunday. “Black Iron” has never seen so much use in all his tenure with us, (we’ll just say years). Steaks were to perfection, Monday saw us devouring the Chicken Pesto Panini, Tuesday’s Chicken Parmesan would make one want to smack your mama and these here enchiladas with the guac…YES, YES AND YES!! To top it all off, clean up has been a breeze, my 15 year old son is appreciative he is definitely a fan of the name. Beautiful blog, photography, story telling and easy meals, I have enjoyed every minute! Many thanks!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for the kind note Karrie – so glad you’re cruising your way through the blog. Bring that cast iron back to life – I love mine. Glad to hear your son appreciates the name! Thanks again.