As part of my 50 Freezer Meals in a day menu I wanted to share my enchilada freezer meal recipe. Usually the day before I start cooking all my freezer meals I will add a bunch of chicken breasts to the crockpot so they can roast slowly on low all night. That way when I wake up in the morning all the chicken is ready to be shredded or diced for the various recipes I am making.
This enchilada freezer meal recipe is one of my favorites because it is just so super easy! You can make your enchiladas as mild or spicy as you like, add sides like cilantro lime rice or beans. It is so delicious. For ease you make them up, add them to your 9×13 pan and freeze. Thaw and bake for a really short time for a quick dinner.
ENCHILADA FREEZER MEAL RECIPE
Make sure you have some Enchilada Sauce. I have quite a few great Mexican friends who have shared with me this secret: It is possible to make homemade Enchilada sauce, but honestly this stuff tastes exactly like their homemade. I have never tried to make homemade sauce before, so I am going to stick with these cans. If any of you have a different opinion or a recipe to share that makes better homemade enchilada sauce please share by leaving a comment.
Take your shredded chicken breast and add it to your shredded cheese.
Mix it up a bit.
Add in some onions if you like that sort of thing. I usually never put onions in because I am pretty much the pickiest person on the planet.
Then add in your can of Enchilada Sauce. I like the mild because these can get a bit spicy for me – I am a gringo you know..LOL.
Then you just get out your flour tortillas, heat them in the microwave a bit so that they don’t crack/split when you fold them. Have your enchilada making station all ready to go.
Add a little bit of enchilada mixture to your tortillas and wrap them up. I had way too much chicken mix I think on this one.
Wrap them up and add them to a nice 9×13 or baking dish.
Pour over some enchilada sauce on the top.
Sprinkle your cheese.
Cover with foil, label and freeze. Or bake right away at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or till melty and bubbly.
Enjoy with some homemade salsa, sour cream, lettuce, beans and rice!
Now if you really want to spice up the flavors a notch you can add in some jalapenos with your mix.
Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Breasts
- 1 Medium Onion diced
- 3 cups Cheddar Cheese Shredded
- 10 Medium Flour Tortillas
- 2 Cans Red Enchilada Sauce
- Optional:
- 1 Can Black Beans
- Jalapenos
- White Rice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Place 4 raw chicken breasts into a pot of water.
- Boil on high for 20 minutes, or until chicken is shreddable.
- Then using a cutting board, shred the chicken.
- Mix cheese, onion, chicken and 1 can red enchilada sauce in a bowl. (Optional ingredients can be added at this point.)
- With a large scooper, fill each tortilla with mixture. Roll it up and place it in large 9x13 baking dish with seams down. Repeat until all chicken mixture is used.
- Pour the second can of enchilada sauce over the top.
- Top with cheese.
- Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until melted and bubbly.
- Serve with sour cream, salsa, lettuce beans or rice.
Nutrition
—> See ALL of my Freezer Meals recipes here.
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Haven’t finished making this yet but I was looking around to see how you did the cheese. Looks like 2 cup in mix and one on top.
I also saw the questions about how much shredded chicken to use.
I boiled 7 chicken breasts with seasoning in the water (and then probably ate half of one to see how it came out) and this came to 8 cups of shredded chicken. This was about 5 lbs of chicken breasts. So yeah, HUGE BREASTS but still. Posting this so others can math it out.
I loved the use your hand mixer in the pot after you boil the chicken shredding advice. Wish I had known that before!!! I literally have two mixers.
Any idea how long to microwave for bake and freeze?
Like mins per enchilada in microwave?
I love to cook but I am just too busy to do it on the daily.
Also, When you do the overnight crock on low for the breasts, how many lbs of chicken do you put in the crock?
I loooooove enchiladas. They are so versatile and you can make them soooo many different ways that I’m going to fill up my freezer with these.
I knew a pampered chef lady once who instructed me on the “”4 C’s”” when it comes to food:: Cheese, Chicken, Chocolate & Coffee. If I make a mole sauce that’s 3/4 but 2/4…
I love it.
Thanks for the post. I’m so busy – doing big cooking once a week will be a game changer for me. xox xox xox ur a lifesaver PLUS, I STILL GET TO COOK!!!!
Hi Dori, great questions! I don’t really use my microwave for cooking the enchiladas myself, so if you are reheating one enchilada in the microwave I would guess on high for 1 minute 30 seconds or until it’s warmed through all the way. Everything should be cooked so it’s just warming it up. And as for the overnight in the slowcooker, you can do however many you will need for the next day, you don’t need to fill it all the way up if you only need a little bit. Just add a little water in the slow cooker and cook what you need. 2 breasts – or fill it up! Your choice!
Can I freeze the enchilada mix because I just ran out of tortillas and don’t want to waste the rest.
Yes you can! Totally! Or just put it in the fridge and get more tortillas tomorrow. 🙂
Hi!
I’m a new mama (DD is going to be 2 in November) and just recently stumbled on the freezer meal rave – mostly because I am so tried of getting home after work to nothing to eat (I work closing shifts, so I get home close to midnight).
I have to say I have reviewed so many of your recipes (and some people you have linked to) that I decided I had to leave a comment after blog stalking you for so long ( XD). I found your blog mostly because I was trying to figure out why my Enchiladas didn’t turn out after freezing them – I forgot to thaw OOPS!
When reading this post, I saw you mentioned enchilada sauces and thought I would mention to you that you already have the recipe!
Red Enchilada sauce is just a charred, strained and cooked puree of Tomatoes, onions, garlic and red (ancho) chiles – everything else is on you!
You can even make green enchilada sauce using Tomatillos, onions, garlic, and ANY GREEN CHILE OF YOUR CHOICE!
I live in Arizona so buying those 4 ingredients tend to be more cost savvy – but I would recommend you try it. The smell is contagious and will have everyone wondering what you are doing and you will never regret playing with it (:
I make chicken enchildas, but I use corn tortillas. Maybe I will try flour next time. Something I think you could do is add some Montery chicken spice to your chicken. It gives the dish great flavor.
Thanks Jordan, sound delish!
This recipe is fantastic! I will be making it again and again! Thank you.
So happy you liked this freezer meal! 🙂
Hi Karrie – love your website! Thank you for so many yummy recipes! You said in this one that you do your chicken breasts in the slow cooker the night before – can you let us know how you do this? Many thanks!
I add my chicken breasts into the slow cooker, add about 1 cup of water or so, some seasoning salt on top and set it on low. First thing in the morning I shut it off, and shred. Then allow to cool and use it in my make ahead meals.
I found out the “2 Cans Red Enchilada Sauce” means 2 of the 19 oz. cans not the 10 oz. cans. Learn by doing 🙂 I’m new to this so I assumed wrong.
Love your site! Thank you so much for all the useful information. I wanted to let you know what I do with enchilada sauce. I also get the cans and don’t do homemade. But I will make a huge quantity of enchilada sauce that I touch up and then freeze the extra. I saute chopped onion and green chilies. Then add multiple cans of enchilada sauce to fill a very large restaurant size pan. I add in tons of red peppers, yellow peppers, orange peppers, and of course – jalapenos. It’s a very chunky sauce. What I don’t use for my freezer meals – I freeze in individual bags for future use. I usually take on this project when I come across a good sale on the sauce. My best to you and again – thank you!
I accidentally baked this when I intended to freeze it. Will it be okay to freeze?
Yes you can still freeze!
We use mild rotel instead of chopping onions and in place of the red enchilada sauce. Then just before baking, pour canned green enchilada sauce and grated cheese and bake
I have started to track my eating habits and need to know the nutritional value and calories of this recipe. I love it and make it a lot! Myfitnesspal app is saying 1 serving is 4030 calories! I sure hope not!
An easier way to shred chicken/beef/pork is to use a electric hand mixer. Leave a small amount of water in the pot you cooked the meet in and turn the mixer on. This works best if the meat comes out of the slow cooker but nonetheless it works wonders and is super easy!
I wanted to make some freezer meals for a friend who doesn’t have an oven, just a microwave. Do you have any recipes that can be fully cooked prior to being frozen? Thanks
Almost every freezer meal recipe can be cooked prior to being frozen and heated in a microwave including these enchiladas! 🙂
Chile Rojo sauce from Grandma. If you don’t like it spicy. You can always leave out or cut in half the ingredient.
2 ancho chile (produce section of Walmart)
2 new mexico chile
1 tomato
1 small onion
1 jalapeno
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic
cumin
salt
pepper
Take chile pods and bring to boil 30 minutes. Remove steams and seeds and place in the blender.
Bake in oven at 300 the produce. Ok to broil for roasted flavor. 30 minutes.
Place in blender the liquefy add spice to taste. I normally just dash a little of everything.
You can make in large batches and keep on hand for topping sauce or use to slow cook meats in for tacos. Enjoy 🙂
I’ve made enchiladas similar to this before, but the bottom of the enchiladas ended up being very slimy. Do you have a suggestion?
Maybe you are adding too much sauce on that bottom layer? Also make sure you are not baking on top rack of oven, make sure its near the middle or closer to the bottom if you hate them being to wet/slimy – but be careful not to burn them either.
Will this meal be able to be warmed up in the microwave? I’m freezing meals for my son to take back to college…and being able to cook in the microwave after he gets home would be better than having to cook for 45-50 minutes. thanks
Definitely! I would probably cook them and then package them in small portions for him to warm up. Great idea!
I have to try this one. It looks soo good
I might rival you for pickiest person on the planet! No onions or peppers for me! I also won’t eat anything with mayonnaise and I don’t like most seafood or fish.
Love your recipes this is the 4th one I’ve tried. I am making another batch now to freeze. I usually add velveta cheese to the mixure but I’m worried about it separating so I might skip it this go around. Anyone had any experience freezing velveta cheese? I also add Mexican rice to the mixture as well. (I pretend there aren’t onions in it, it’s a Jedi mind trick sometime I use because EVERYTHING has onions in it!)
I love it! Totally laughing about the Jedi mind trick! I hear Velveeta does not freeze well but I haven’t tried it myself.
Can you freeze individual enchiladas? I’d like to wrap a few up for my husband to take to work for lunch. Then he could just pop them in the microwave like you would with a frozen burrito. Have you tried that?
Yes, you totally could do that for sure!
I beg to differ… Canned enchilada sauce does not taste the same as homemade, nor is it as good quality (or good for you). It’s super easy to make too…
All you need is
1 pd tomatoes or tomatillos (for a green sauce)
1 or 2 Jalapeños (or poblano/pasilla pepper or dried Ancho chili soaked in water)
1/2 medium onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup liquid (water, chicken stock, milk, etc…)
salt and pepper to taste
Optional: handful of shredded cheese
Place a saucepan on the stove with oil to just cover the bottom (2 tsps) and turn on heat.
Then place all ingredients in the blender (including cheese if using), blend until smooth. Pour into hot saucepan (quickly to avoid getting burned with hot oil) and bring to a simmer for a few minutes. Then pour over your tortillas.
Easier than pie.