Authentic Mexican Recipe: Enchiladas Verdes

Experience authentic Mexican flavor with this award-winning recipe. A family favorite created by my mother, Enchiladas Verdes explodes in your mouth with just the right amount of spice and tang.

This is my favorite Mexican dish and it’s sure to become yours too. Most green enchilada recipes are tomatillo based and include canned green chili, cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup. You won’t find any of these in this recipe. It’s the real deal.

If you live in El Paso, you can purchase the “secret ingredient,” Suero de Sal from Licon Dairy, or substitute with buttermilk. (To make your own buttermilk, add one tablespoon of lemon or vinegar to one cup of milk.)

Our family prefers our enchiladas stacked, but if you are cooking for a lot of people, oven style is the way to go. Stacked or oven style, with or without chicken, you’ll find yourself making this recipe again and again.

Enchiladas Verdes
4 to 6 servings

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
12 Anaheim green chili peppers
1/2 cup canola oil for frying
1 quart Suero de Sal (whey) OR buttermilk can be used as a substitute
2 tablespoons flour
1 medium white onion, diced
12 to 18 corn tortillas, preferably white corn
1 1/2 cups white shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, Azadero or Muenster)
1/4 queso fresco, crumbled
1/2 cup crema or sour cream (for sauce and topping)
Salt (to taste)
Water (if needed)

Directions

Roast Chili Peppers
Preheat broiler. Select firm, meaty peppers without wrinkles for roasting. Wash thoroughly. Place peppers evenly in a single layer on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Place under broiler. Watch them closely as the skin will blister and turn black within minutes. Turn the peppers after 5 minutes to blister all sides evenly. When done, the pepper skins should be evenly blistered and mostly black. Place roasted peppers in a plastic bag, cover with a kitchen towel and when cool, rub off blackened skin. Tear open and pull out the seed pod and stem.

Sauce
In a blender combine the peppers, flour, and half of the suero or buttermilk and blend until creamy. Pour mixture into medium skillet and set over medium-low heat to warm. Add additional suero or buttermilk and stir. Taste and season with salt, usually about 2 teaspoons. If the sauce is too spicy, add 1/4 cup of crema or sour cream and stir. If the sauce is too thick, add water until desired consistency is reached.

Chicken (Optional)
In a pot with enough water to cover, boil chicken breasts 25 minutes or until juices run clear. Drain, cool, and shred. Optional time-saver: shred a store bought rotisserie chicken.

Stacked Style
Fry tortillas in hot oil until softened. Drain on paper towels. Soften tortillas by soaking in sauce one at a time. Place softened tortillas on individual serving plates. Layer with cooked chicken, cheese, and onion. Repeat process for a total of 3 tortillas for each serving.

Oven Style
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1 cup of the sauce in an ungreased 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Fry tortillas in hot oil just until softened. Drain on paper towels. Fill with cooked chicken, cheese, and onion. Roll, placing seam side down.

Pour 2 cups of the sauce over enchiladas. Sprinkle with crumbled queso fresco and bake until warm, about 15 minutes. Serve with a dollop of crema or sour cream and your favorite side dish.

Yvette Marquez–Sharpnack was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and she now lives in Colorado and is a wife and mother who is proud of her Mexican cultural background. Yvette was inspired to celebrate her culture, celebrate her grandmother and celebrate her mother by preserving the generations of tradition en la cocina. And so, she set forth to design a beautifully colored cookbook with delicious recipes from her grandmother and mother to ensure these dishes were recorded for future generations to enjoy. This compilation has evolved into a three-generation cookbook with authentic Mexican flavor.

(Images: Jeanine Thurston)