If you like it hot, these Chicken and Chorizo Enchiladas are for you! Spicy, delicious, and smothered with the creamiest Chipotle Crema Sauce. They will knock your socks off!
It’s Hispanic Heritage Month! Despite popular assumption, we Brazilians do not identify as Hispanic, as we were colonized by Portugal and not Spain. But that doesn’t mean I’m not happy to celebrate this wonderful culture! I love all my Hispanic friends – Mexicans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, you name it. Such warm, lively people. Life is always a party when I’m around them! And the food? Oh my god, the food is amazing! If you want to eat well, befriend a Latino and manage to get invited to eat at their home. I promise you, you won’t regret it! So to honor this month and my Hispanic friends, I’m sharing a chicken and chorizo enchilada recipe today. I’m not claiming authenticity, since I kinda went with flavors I like, but I’m definitely claiming deliciousness. So easy to make and perfect for busy weeknights!
What are enchiladas?
Enchiladas are corn (or flour) tortillas rolled around a savory filling (beef, chicken, seafood, cheese, you name it!), then topped with sauce and baked until hot and bubbly. The word “enchiladas” in Spanish is the past participle of the word “enchilar”, which means “to season with chili.” They originated in Mexico, and the practice of rolling tortillas around other food goes as far back as Mayan times. In Mexico, they are a popular street food and quite different from the kind you get at Mexican restaurants in the United States. They are more of a snack food than a meal, usually filled with cheese. Unlike the Tex-Mex version that involves rolling the flour tortillas around the filling, smothering in sauce, and baking, the Mexican enchilada is first dipped in a spicy chile sauce, and then fried. My version is more like the Tex-Mex variant, only I’m skipping the traditional enchilada sauce and going with a creamy Chipotle sauce.
How to make chicken and chorizo enchiladas
Y’all, this recipe is super easy! Plus, you get to use leftover shredded chicken, or buy a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, if you’re not feeling like cooking chicken breasts. All that is involved is sautéing the onion, garlic, and chorizo, until the chorizo is cooked. Then, we mix that with the shredded chicken and use all that goodness to fill the flour tortillas (but you can use corn, if you want!). The Chipotle Crema Sauce is made by making a roux with butter and flour, and adding chicken broth. It is then cooked until thickened, taken out of the stove, and mixed with Mexican Crema blended with Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce. Easy peasy! We then arrange the enchiladas in a baking dish and pour the creamy sauce over them. Top with cheese and bake until bubbly and golden brown. My favorite products to make this are Cacique®’s Pork Chorizo and Crema Mexicana. I also top my enchiladas with Cacique® Cotija cheese and their sour cream. Cacique® is my go-to brand for great quality Mexican products because they make it easy to savor the tastes and flavors of Mexican food without spending a long time in the kitchen.
To cheese or not to cheese, that is the question!
The first time I made these chicken and chorizo enchiladas, I poured the sauce over the enchiladas and was on my way to get them into the oven when I stopped and decided to add cheese. It wasn’t part of my original plan, but I really think that it elevates the dish and balances the spiciness of the sauce. You can use whatever melty cheese you’d like, like Mexican Manchego, Cheddar, or even Mozzarella. I also like to add crumbled Cotija before serving, for a little tang.
You will notice that I did not add salt or any extra seasonings, as I think that there is plenty of flavor from the chorizo and the Chipotle sauce. However, feel free to season as you’d like and/or to adapt the spiciness of this dish to your liking. I’m a bit of a spicy wimp and this sauce is quite hot to me. However, my guests thought it was pretty mild, so you might want to start with 1 or 2 peppers and then add more if you can handle it! I like to serve these chicken and chorizo enchiladas with rice and beans, but they are also great on their own or with a side salad. Enjoy! :)
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
