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Chicken Enchilada Skillet

September 4, 2024

Warm and bubbling from the oven, covered with melty cheese and loaded with chicken, this chicken enchilada skillet is as easy as it is delectable.

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Chicken Enchilada skillet show in a white skillet with a white enamel spoon topped with fresh cilantro

Busy Nights Are No Match For This Crazy-Easy Chicken Enchilada Skillet Recipe

You cannot possibly show us an easier recipe than this one-pan chicken enchilada skillet dinner. It’s so fast, so simple, and so good that it feels almost impossible. But it really is this easy, and it really is this good. The only problem with this chicken enchilada skillet recipe—if you can call it a problem—is that everyone in your household will be begging you to make it all the time, and you might occasionally want to mix things up and eat other meals. But that’s a problem for another day. Tonight, we’re making the best chicken enchilada skillet ever, and making everyone happy in the process. With just over five minutes of prep time, this thing almost makes itself. You can whip it up on the busiest of evenings, and be feasting like kings just about 25 minutes later, digging your forks into the cheesy, chickeny, enchilada sauce-y skillet.

Ingredients for chicken enchilada skillet including rotisserie chicken, shredded cheese, tortillas and  enchilada sauce

Pantry Ingredients + Our Favorite Dinnertime Hack = Enchilada Skillet Perfection!

While it’s hard to pick a favorite dinnertime hack—because we love a great shortcut—using a store-bought rotisserie chicken is definitely up there. You just have to...buy it. And, well, that’s it! It’s seasoned, it’s cooked, it’s ready to roll. Our recipe calls for four cups of shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken, and that should be roughly what you get from one chicken. If it’s a little more or a little less, that’s OK. The recipe will still work just fine. Here’s everything else you need to make chicken enchilada skillet:

  • Olive oil
  • Yellow onion, diced
  • Rotisserie chicken
  • Taco seasoning
  • Canned green mild green chilies
  • Canned red enchilada sauce
  • Corn tortillas
  • Shredded Mexican cheese blend
Onions sauteeing in a white skillet with a wooden spoon
Softened onions, shredded chicken, green chillies, taco seasoning, and enchilada sauce in a skillet with a wooden spoon
Shredded chicken mixed with red enchilada sauce in a white skillet
Shredded chicken with white enchilada sauce in skillet topped with corn tortilla strips
shredded chicken mixed with large corn tortilla strips and red enchilada sauce
red enchilada sauce mixed with corn tortilla strips and topped with shredded cheese
Skillet chicken enchiladas topped with melted cheese and red enchilada sauce in a white skillet
Chicken enchilada skillet topped with fresh cilantro

How To Make This One-Pan Chicken Enchilada Skillet Recipe

Doctored up with all the fixings—we love to serve this skillet dinner with sour cream, guacamole and salsa—this meal can stand alone. But if you’d like to bulk it up a little, serve it with Mexican rice and / or beans. Here’s how gosh darn easy it is to make it:

  1. Sauté the onions and add the chicken, taco seasoning, green chilies and enchilada sauce.
  2. Bring to a boil, then add the tortilla pieces and simmer for two minutes.
  3. Cover the whole thing with cheese and bake til you just can’t take it anymore! About 25 minutes.
Large white spoon scooping out a serving of chicken enchiladas from the skillet

Tools You’ll Need:

More Easy Skillet Recipes To Try

Chicken enchilada skillet with red enchilada sauce in a white braiser topped with fresh cilantro leaves

Enchilada Night, In 30 Minutes!

When dinner is as easy as this skillet chicken enchilada recipe makes it, everybody’s happier. It leaves lots of time for other things, like homework and game night and arguing about what movie you want to watch for movie night. Which is sometimes what you need dinner to be! If you make this recipe, let us know how you like it! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff!

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Chicken Enchilada Skillet

  • Serves:  6
  • Prep Time:  15 min
  • Cook Time:  35 min
  • Calories:  445

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small yellow onion, diced
  • 4 cups cooked shredded chicken
  • 1 Tbsp taco season, homemade or store bought
  • 1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies, mild
  • 1 (19 oz) can red enchilada sauce, mild
  • 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into 1 x 3 inch strips
  • 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
  • Cilantro leaves, optional
  • Sour cream, optional

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack fitted in the center of the oven.

  2. In a large oven-proof skillet, set over medium heat, heat the olive oil until glistening. Add in the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.

  3. Add chicken, taco seasoning, green chilies and enchilada sauce to the skillet, stir to combine. Add the tortilla strips. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce and allow to simmer until the tortilla strips are softened, about 2 minutes. Try to separate the tortilla strips as best as possible. Turn off the heat.

  4. Top with cheese and bake on the center rack until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling, about 25 minutes.

  5. Top with cilantro and sour cream if desired.

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories 445
  • Protein 25 g
  • Carbohydrates 36 g
  • Total Fat 17 g
  • Dietary Fiber 4 g
  • Cholesterol 104 mg
  • sodium 335 mg
  • Total Sugars 5 g

Chicken Enchilada Skillet

Questions & Reviews

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  • Eva

    Is the chicken already cooked like remains of oven cooked chicken. ?

    Yes, cooked shredded chicken. You can click the shredded chicken link in the ingredient list and follow those instructions or use shredded rotisserie chicken would work as well. Basically just cooked chicken breast, shredded. Hope you enjoy!

  • ML

    I need a larger amount for a party. How does the recipe change for a 13” x 9” casserole dish?

    I would personally do a 1 1/2 times recipe in a 9x13. So depending on how much you need to make, you might need two 9x13s. You will have to make on the stovetop in a skillet and then transfer to a baking dish before baking.

  • Christine

    Hi. Can you recommend which enchiladas sauce? I can’t find red sauce anywhere. I wonder if there is a shortage?

    Sorry to hear you can't find any! Hatch, La Victoria & Old El Paso all make some. You could try amazon? Hope you can find some! This would also be delicious with green enchilada sauce if you can find that. Good luck Christine!

  • Cam

    Could you freeze this after cooking? Looking for make ahead meals.

    Definitely!

  • M

    Is it 330 calories for entire skillet or 330 for 1 of 6 servings?

    Per serving.

  • Emily

    These ladies never miss! So quick and easy and the leftovers are just as good! I usually add a can of drained black beans and an undrained can of fire roasted tomatoes. I bet corn would be great too! Their recipes come together so quick and can usually be made with stuff already in your house.

    Thanks Emily, we are so glad you loved it!

  • Debbie

    We loved it! So quick and easy. My husband raves about it! Great when time is short. I used ground turkey breast to try it and it was good too!

    Thanks Debbie, we are so happy you both enjoyed it!

  • Emily

    I made this last night and it was so good! I made my own enchilada sauce, Cookie + Katie has a great one that’s super easy. I made my own taco seasoning like suggested, used rotisserie chicken and added black beans and black olives. Next time I’ll add fire roasted corn. You know it’s good when your partner takes a first bite and all you hear is him moaning, “that’s good”.

    HAHA! So glad you both enjoyed it!

  • Hannah

    WOW! This is so delicious and so so easy to make. I didn’t have a rotisserie chicken, so I just boiled 3 breasts and shredded them instead. This will for sure be in our weekly rotation of meals!

    This is so great to hear Hannah! We are so glad you love it and will be adding it to your rotation. Thanks so much for trying it out and letting us know how it went!

  • Kay

    I love this recipe so much. I make this meal probably every 2 weeks from memory. It’s easy and fast and so comforting. Yummy! I use poached chicken or rotisserie depending on what I have. So good!

    Thank you Kay! We are so happy that you love it so much. Love to hear you have it memorized!