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Tender chicken mingled with green chiles and spices, all wrapped up in a cozy bubbly white sauce and draped with melted cheese. So easy, cheesy, and delicious!
Gluten free chicken enchiladas fill that comfort food need in your soul and warms you from the inside out.
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Family Favorite, So Easy to Make
- The whole family loves it! It's very mild so it's a hit with kids. You can really punch it up with your favorite hot sauce, or tame it down with a little sour cream.
- If you have some leftover cooked chicken, this is seriously easy to throw together
- It's a gluten free recipe that anyone can easily master. I think it will become one of your go-to recipes for leftover chicken.
- It's a delicious recipe that's really easy, but has that sit down restaurant feel to it
Here's What You Need
You'll need these pantry staples like canned goods and spices, some dairy ingredients, and cooked chicken. Be sure to read the recipe card for the complete recipe.
- Cooked chicken - either chicken breast, chicken thighs, or a combo of each
- Tomato sauce - just canned tomato sauce is perfect here
- Diced green chiles - we only need ½ cup, so I just use a 4 oz. can of diced green chiles. You could probably use some green chile salsa if you have some on hand.
- Cumin powder
- Chili powder
- Salt and pepper
- Plain Greek yogurt - use plain yogurt, either nonfat or full-fat (I generally use nonfat Greek yogurt)
- Chicken broth - homemade or canned, you only need 1 cup so just use whatever is convenient
- Milk, or half and half - milk is totally fine, but if you want a really rich white sauce use half and half! Or a combo of milk + half and half. This recipe is a great way to use up what you've got on hand.
- Gluten free tortillas - either corn or flour tortillas (see Notes)
- Shredded cheese - you can cheddar cheese, quesadilla cheese, pepper jack cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, or a combo of any of those. It's a very versatile recipe!
Use Up That Leftover Chicken
This is a very versatile and forgiving recipe. You can swap out and sub in several ingredients and still have it turn out delicious. It's a recipe born out of leftovers!
The chicken is no exception. As long as it's thoroughly cooked and tender, it will work here. If you have some chicken to use up, consider trying these in this recipe:
- Leftover rotisserie chicken
- Shredded chicken that's leftover from another recipe
- Canned chicken - I like to pressure-can my own chicken (it saves a lot of money) but buying canned chicken from a grocery store will work just as well.
- Cooked chicken thighs or chicken breast - or a combo of both!
- But if you don't have any chicken to use up, you can easily cook it in an Instant Pot. Check out my recipe for Instant Pot Chicken Breast. You can have tender, juicy chicken in about a half hour - ready to be turned into enchiladas!
Best Gluten-Free Tortillas
You can use corn tortillas, which are naturally gluten free. But for this recipe my entire family likes flour tortillas. There are a lot of gluten-free tortilla options these days, but I'll list our family's favorite choices for enchiladas in order:
- Olé Extreme Wellness flour tortillas
- Mission Sweet Potato gluten free tortillas
- BFree gluten free low carb tortillas
- Mission gluten free tortillas
- Siete gluten free tortillas (either cassava or almond flour variety) - these can be found in the freezer section in grocery stores. I've seen them in Costco and Walmart.
Gluten Free Chicken Enchiladas -Step by Step
Grab your ingredients and let's make some super easy, cheesy comfort food!
Step 1. In a large skillet over medium-low heat, combine chicken, tomato sauce, green chiles, spices,cornstarch, and yogurt. Add a lid and let it simmer while you make the white sauce.
Step 2. In a small bowl combine the chicken broth and gluten free flour. I usually use my brown rice flour blend (see recipe card for details). Whisk until smooth and free of lumps.
Step 3. Heat the broth and flour mixture in a saucepan over medium heat until it thickens.
Step 4. Whisk in the milk (or half and half). Keep stirring until a smooth and creamy sauce forms. Add salt and pepper to your taste.
Step 5. Heat the gluten free tortillas in the microwave to soften them and make them more flexible. This will take about 40-60 seconds for 6 tortillas.
Step 6. Working one at a time, spread white sauce all over each warm tortilla. Add ½ cup chicken mixture and shredded cheese (to taste).
Step 7. Roll up and place seam side down in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Repeat for all 6 tortillas.
Step 8. Pour the rest of the white sauce over all the enchiladas. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top and cover with aluminum foil.
Step 9. Bake at 350℉ for 25 minutes. Remove foil and cook 5-10 minutes more, or until cheese bubbles and edges are lightly browned.
What Goes with Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
- Lime cilantro rice
- Healthy rainbow fruit salad
- Chopped salad recipe with crispy chickpeas
- Salad bar
- A little chocolate dessert, like low carb almond joy, chocolate pudding, chocolate no bake cookies, gluten free chocolate chip cookies
Gluten Free Baking for Beginners
Say you've tried these easy gluten free enchiladas, and now you're wondering - are there any other gluten free recipes I can try that are easy enough for beginners? Here's a great place to start - it's totally free:
Creamy Gluten Free Chicken Enchiladas - Easy Recipe
Tender chicken mingled with green chiles and spices, all wrapped up in a cozy bubbly white sauce and draped with melted cheese. So easy, cheesy, and delicious!
Gluten free chicken enchiladas fill that comfort food need in your soul and warms you from the inside out.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 6 enchiladas 1x
- Category: dinner
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked, diced chicken
- 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz. (or 1 cup)
- 1 can diced green chiles, 4 oz. (or ½ cup)
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon chile powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅔ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ⅓ cup gluten free flour (see Notes)
- 1 cup 2% or whole milk, or half and half
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 6 gluten free tortillas (see Notes)
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheese - cheddar, pepper jack, quesadilla cheese are some good options.
- Hot sauce, to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet combine chicken, tomato sauce, green chiles, cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder. Add the nonfat Greek yogurt. Heat through over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- In a small bowl combine the chicken broth and gluten free flour. Whisk until smooth.
- Pour the broth and flour mixture into a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook and stir until it thickens.
- Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly until it becomes a smooth and creamy sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add hot sauce to taste, if desired.
- Heat the tortillas in the microwave until softened, about 1 minute.
- Grease or butter a 9 x 13 baking dish (or spray with cooking spray). Spread white sauce over each tortilla, add ½ cup of chicken mixture, and shredded cheese as desired.
- Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat for all 6 tortillas.
- Pour the rest of the white sauce over all the enchiladas, top with the remaining cheese, and cover with foil.
- Bake at 350℉ for 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue to cook until cheese bubbles and the enchiladas are golden brown around the edges (about 5- 20 more minutes).
Notes
Gluten free tortilla options - read "Best Gluten Free Tortillas" section above.
Gluten free flour options: most gluten free flours work here as long as they're starchy - rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, cornstarch. Or a flour blend, such as 1 to 1 Baking Flour (Bob's Red Mill), Measure for Measure flour, or Perfect flour Blend (Namaste) .
My own flour blend is what I typically use. It's just 3 parts brown rice flour, 1 part tapioca starch, and 1 part potato starch.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 enchilada
- Calories: 305
- Sugar: 4.3 g
- Sodium: 554.8 mg
- Fat: 6.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 35.5 g
- Fiber: 2.6 g
- Protein: 28.1 g
- Cholesterol: 86.8 mg
Frequently Asked Questions
Corn tortillas can work just fine for chicken enchiladas, since they are naturally gluten free. But I prefer to use gluten free flour tortillas for this chicken enchilada recipe. They tend to be soft tortillas that hold up better than corn tortillas, which often break apart and get cracks in them when I roll them up. Be sure to warm them in the microwave according to the recipe instructions. You can also read the "Best Gluten-free Tortillas" section above for even more info.
I've tested this many times over the years, and the way that works the best for my creamy chicken enchilada recipe is to cover them with foil for the first 25 minutes so they get thoroughly heated through and the cheese melts. Then I like to remove the foil for about 5-10 minutes until the cheese gets a little browned and bubbly.
Since the chicken filling is cooked before you fill and roll up the enchiladas, you don't have to worry about it being "raw". The main thing here is to heat it up to your liking. The first way you can tell is by the appearance - the white sauce will start to bubble and the cheese will be melted. The most reliable way to tell will be to open up one of the center parts of an enchilada with a fork and check if it's hot enough. The white sauce and cheese will probably fill in and cover up the area that you opened up if you let it cook a few minutes longer.
How to Best Store Leftover Enchiladas
If you have any leftover enchiladas, storing them for later is really easy. In fact, they taste even better the next day!
You can store them in the casserole dish they were baked in if that makes things easier. Just cover the dish with the foil you used to cook them or some plastic wrap. Just make sure that it is sealed tight around the edges of the dish so the enchiladas won't dry out.
You can also store the leftover enchiladas in an airtight container to make reheating them easy. My gluten-free chicken enchiladas will keep in the refrigerator very nicely for 3-4 days.
Heat them in the microwave for roughly 1 minute per enchilada, test the center to see if it's warm enough, and heat for 30 seconds (or more) as needed.
I don't recommend freezing this gluten-free chicken enchilada recipe. The tortillas tend to fall apart.
A Lotta Enchiladas
Author
Recipe creator: Kristie Winget, a gluten free recipe creator who thinks Taco Tuesday was a really good invention 🌮 🎉 🌮 Here's a little more about me.