Easy sour cream chicken enchiladas are filled with tender chicken and cheese, then covered with a simple homemade sour cream sauce, more cheese, and baked until golden.
A scalable recipe—make the full 8-serving recipe for the family or a smaller half recipe, perfect for two with leftovers.
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Featured Comment by Judy:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"It's awesome. Fairly quick and easy and tastes great! Where's the margaritas??"
🤔 TL;DR — Recipe Summary
What: An easy sour cream chicken enchiladas recipe with chicken and cheese, topped with homemade sour cream sauce and more cheese.
Why: A simple, scalable recipe—make a full batch or a half batch for two with leftovers.
How: Cook the chicken and onion, roll with cheese in tortillas, cover with sour cream sauce, and bake about 20 minutes.
🐓 Ingredients
- Chicken — breast meat, diced or shredded; rotisserie works too.
- Tortillas — flour, 8-inch size rolls best.
- Cheese — Monterey Jack for smooth melt; Pepper Jack for spice.
- Sour Cream — adds the signature creamy flavor to the sauce.
- Onion — diced and cooked with the chicken.
- Green Chiles — canned, mild or hot, stirred into the sauce.
- Pantry Staples — butter, flour, chicken broth, oil, salt, pepper.
👨🍳 Quick Overview: How to Make Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
1. Dice the chicken and onion, then sauté until the chicken is cooked through.
2. Add chicken and cheese to the tortillas, roll tightly, and place seam-side down in a greased baking dish.
3. Make a roux with butter and flour, whisk in broth, and cook until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream and green chiles.
4. Pour the sauce over the rolled tortillas and top with more cheese.
5. Bake for 20 minutes at 400°F (or 375°F convection) until golden, bubbly, and 165°F inside.
👇 Scroll down for the printable recipe card and complete step-by-step photo instructions—or keep reading for tips and serving ideas.
💡 Tips & Variations
- Cheese swap — Pepper Jack adds a little spice.
- Spice boost — add some cumin, chili powder, or extra green chiles to the sour cream sauce for a deeper, Tex-Mex flavor.
- Tortillas — flour holds up best, but corn works if briefly fried to prevent soggy rolls.
- Precooked chicken — Rotisserie or leftover chicken may be used. Shred the meat, then sauté the onion until it starts to clear. Add the chicken just long enough to warm through before rolling. About 1 pound of raw chicken equals roughly 3 cups of shredded cooked chicken.
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↕️ Scaling the Recipe Size
This recipe makes 8 servings in a 9×13 baking dish. For a smaller meal, make a half recipe in an 8×8 dish for 4 servings—perfect for two with leftovers.
- Half recipe: Use half of all ingredients. Bake at the same temperature, but check a few minutes early.
- Scaling the ingredients: In the recipe card, change the number of servings. Use the amounts in the ingredient list; the instructions do not adjust.
🍽️ Serving
Serve sour cream chicken enchiladas with guacamole and toppings like chopped lettuce, diced tomatoes, or salsa. For a larger meal, add Mexican rice or refried beans.
❄️ Make Ahead and Storage
- Make ahead: Roll the enchiladas and refrigerate covered. Make the sauce separately and refrigerate, then warm it before assembling and baking.
- Refrigerate: Store cooked leftovers covered for 2–3 days.
- Freeze: Freeze cooked or uncooked enchiladas, tightly wrapped, for 3–4 months.
❓ FAQs
Yes, but full-fat sour cream and cheese give the creamiest texture and best flavor.
Tortillas absorb sauce as they bake. Warm them before rolling, or briefly fry them in a lightly oiled skillet to help prevent soggy enchiladas.
Some recipes use canned soup, but this recipe uses a simple homemade sour cream sauce instead.
📖 More Mexican Chicken Recipes
📖The Recipe Card
Easy Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1½ lb chicken breast - diced or shredded
- 1 onion - medium
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 8 flour tortillas - 8 inch each
- 2 cups Monterey Jack cheese - shredded
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 can 15 oz. chicken broth
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 ounce chopped green chilis
- salt and pepper to taste
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (375° convection).
- Trim and dice about 1½ pounds of skinless, boneless chicken breast into pieces about ½ inch or smaller. Dice one medium onion.
- Add one tablespoon oil to a large frypan over medium-high heat, and when hot, add chicken and onion together. Cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
- Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Microwave 8 tortillas for 15–20 seconds to soften. Add about ¼ cup chicken mixture and 2 tablespoons cheese to each tortilla. Roll tightly and place seam-side down in the baking dish.
- Roll the short end over the filling tightly. Place them seam-side down in the baking pan. Repeat until done.
- Melt ¼ cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in ¼ cup flour and cook for a few minutes. Add 15 ounces chicken broth, whisking continuously until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
- Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup sour cream and 4 ounces chopped green chiles.
- Pour the sauce over the enchiladas and top with the remaining 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese.
- Bake until golden and bubbling, about 20 minutes. Check that the center reaches 165°F; if needed, cover with foil and continue baking until it does.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
Use 1–2 pounds of diced or shredded chicken; 1½ pounds is preferred. Precooked or rotisserie chicken also works. The tortillas will be much more flexible if warmed slightly in the microwave. The base recipe is mild, so feel free to spice it up — see post for options. I like the Monterey Jack cheese here, but use what you want. After cooking, store refrigerated for 2–3 days or frozen for 3–4 months. Can be frozen uncooked for 3–4 months. To refrigerate uncooked, assemble the enchiladas but add the sauce and cheese just before cooking. See the full post for detailed tips, photos, and scaling options.Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You can adjust the number of servings above; however, only the amount in the ingredient list is adjusted, not the instructions.
Nutrition Estimate (may vary)
Based on a Food.com Simple Sour Cream Enchiladas recipe.
Originally published April 6, 2014. Updated for more options and clarifications.
Jon steiger says
What is the chicken broth used in? It is not in the recipe directions
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
In the white sauce after making the roux. Instruction #7,
Dan
Patti says
This looks like a familiar soup recipe I make often. I’d rather make the sauce from scratch, but it was already a last minute choice for dinner.
One thing I’ve done for the past several years, after my husband had quadruple bypass surgery, is to substitute nonfat Greek Yogurt, preferably Fage. Their yogurt is very thick and tasty. No one has been able to tell the difference, lol!
Have you heard of anyone trying this? I’ve done this for over 10 years, even with my enchiladas.
Linda Hansen says
I made this tonight. While it had a really good flavor overall, it didn't have quite the "heat" I was anticipating although I added Pepper Jack cheese (which I shredded) and a Hot Cheese from Kroger along with the Monterey Jack cheese called for in the recipe. The next time I make this, I will be adding in some "mild" jalapeno peppers and ground red pepper to add heat. I also think the roue was a bit thicker than it should have been, so I will be adding some milk to make the sauce creamier.
Terrese Norman says
I cut the recipe in half. It was very good. Next time I will make a few changes like adding green verde salsa so that the sauce is not so thick. I also used pepper jack cheese.
Robin says
This just looks so delicious. Putting the ingredients on the grocery list! I so appreciate your pictures of all the steps. Most sites don't do that, lots of pics of the finished product though. It helps ensure that readers can turn out the recipe as you made it, so I really appreciate that and the smaller recipes. Everything I've made from you has turned out wonderfully, thank you.
Leslie Koury says
I visit your site frequently as I cook for a household of ONE...not easy to do. Your tips and suggestions are very helpful and your recipes very good. I have a recipe very similar to this one but I have a secret weapon to make it fabulous...fresh, roasted chili or frozen green chili! I am fortunate enough to be able to purchase roasted Hatch chili, in season, at roadside stands. I know it's unavailable in many parts of the country but ask your grocer if it can be ordered for you. If you have chili-lovin' friends, order a case and share it out. Your grocer might be more willing to get it in for you if he doesn't have to sit on inventory that won't sell. Or, buy fresh if available and roast in oven or grill. Once you taste fresh green chili, you'll never be able to go back to canned.
Leah says
Dr Dan
I started out looking for something to do with my Freezer burned chicken. Found your recipe!! Wow! The wonderful smells coming out of the chicken. And that was only doing the first part. This morning got up, shredded the chicken added all the seasonings. My husband couldn’t wait so we sampled it on tortilla chips with cheese and a jalapeño- chicken nachos. Then tonight I used the chicken in your sour cream chicken enchiladas- I just skipped down to the sauce. It made a great combo. There’s enough chicken left over so we are thinking chicken tacos later this week. So glad I found your blog!! Can’t wait to try some more of your recipes. Thank you.
Suzanne says
Has anyone frozen this particular recipe? I need to know! This is in my make list in a couple days if I can freeze and would I freeze before I bake or after I bake? Thx!!!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Suzanne,
Welcome to the blog.
This is not something I have done but it should be fine frozen. I would freeze before cooking.
I have done lasagna, where I will cook at 350 covered with foil for about one hour, uncover and cook until browned nicely. I suspect it would be about the same here but this is thinner. So less time covered.
One rule of thumb I have heard in the past is to add about 20 minutes to the cooking time. Not covered. I would normally cook the lasagna about 40 minutes covered and then uncover until browned. So that seems about right.
Dan
Judy Uhl says
Forgot to come back and rate this recipe! It's awesome. Fairly quick and easy and tastes great! Where's the margaritas??
Jill M says
Hi Dan: Made this last night and it turned out really good. This is the first time that I made enchiladas that did not fall apart. Very Tasty. The only problem that I had was that the bottoms got a little overdone, and I apparently rolled them a little too tight and some of the tortillas were a little doughy and not completely done. We have 4 left and I want to have them again tomorrow night with the yellow rice that I prepared and wondered it I should put them back in the oven and cook them a little longer. If so, how? Thanks. Love the dogs.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Jill,
I would reheat them in the oven. I would put them higher the oven so the bottom doesn't cook much. The doughy tortillas won't do well in a microwave.
Dan
mark b says
As always Doc, you have a lot of amazingly simple recipes that are easier and better tasting than the so called "pros". Thanks again.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Mark,
Glad you enjoyed it. It is very tasty.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Kim says
I’ve recently started cooking several chicken breasts each week (with salt, pepper, onion powder, minced garlic, and olive oil) to use with multiple meals, and this is my FAVORITE recipe to use it in! I love that I can assemble it in the morning to save time in the crazy evening hours too. My 15 month old and five year old both love it, and my husband eats multiple helpings with salsa to add a little heat. Thanks for a great recipe!
DrDan says
Hi Kim,
Welcome to the blog.
I do love simple recipes like this that can be made ahead. And since it is not a "spicy" Mexican, even the kids will love it. Glad you enjoy it.
Thanks for the note.
Dan