Hatch Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
Authentic Mexican enchiladas verdes de pollo are great, but for a few weeks out of the year, a New Mexico harvest can really ramp up the flavor. Fresh Hatch chiles are swapped into the salsa verde base for this recipe, and the flavor they add is simply amazing. I love making these with fresh, flame-roasted Hatch chiles, but you can find canned or jarred chiles year-round as well.
Ingredients
The Chicken
- 1-2 split chicken breasts, or 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ½ white onion
- 2 cloves garlic , smashed
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
The Sauce
- 7-8 Hatch Chiles
- 4-5 to tomatillos, husks removed and washed
- 1 jalapeno , optional
- ½ white onion
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup chicken stock , reserved
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons oil
The Enchiladas
- 8-12 white corn tortillas, depending on size
- 1-2 cups Oaxaca cheese , shredded
- Oil for frying
Toppings
- White onion , diced
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges
- Mexican table cream
- Queso fresco , crumbled
Directions
The Chicken
- Start by poaching the chicken, if you’re using a rotisserie, skip ahead to the salsa.
- Place your chicken breasts into a large pot along with the onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt, and peppercorns (optionally you can toss some fresh cilantro in as well). Add enough water to cover the chicken and bring to a soft boil. Once boiling, lower the temperature enough to maintain a simmer and cook until the chicken registers about 165°F, 15-20 minutes.
- Once the chicken is done, remove from the pot and allow it to rest until cool enough to handle. Reserve a ½ cup of the stock as well. Remove the skin and pull the meat off the bones if using split breasts. Now shred the chicken with your hands, two forks, or a stand mixer on low speed. Optionally season with salt and pepper, then set aside.
The Sauce
- While the chicken is cooking, roast your ingredients. Remove the husks from the tomatillos and wash them. Remove the skin from the onion but leave the skin on the garlic (protects it from burning). Cut the tomatillos and jalapeno (if using) in half. Place on a foil lined baking sheet cut side up and drizzle with olive oil, then flip cut side down and make sure everything gets a coating in the oil. Place under a broiler on low for 5-7 minutes, until slightly charred, remove and allow to cool.
- For the Hatch chiles, I love roasting them over an open flame on a gas stove, but this can be time consuming with 8 chilies to go through. Alternatively, place them on the same foil lined baking sheet, uncut, and broil on high heat, turning occasionally until heavily charred. Once charred, toss into a zipper lock back and seal, or a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let them steam at least 5 minutes, then remove.
- The blackened skin should peel off easily after steaming. Once the skin is removed, you can open a slit down the side of the chile and pull the top off where most of the seeds are. A quick dip in a bowl of water will remove almost every remaining seed quickly and easily.
- Place all the ingredients, including the salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, and a ¼ cup of reserved chicken stock into a blender. Remember to squeeze the roasted garlic out of their skins. Blend until you have a mostly smooth salsa verde or leave slightly chunky if you prefer.
- In a saucepan, heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil over medium heat and then add your salsa. Cook until warm, 3-4 minutes, and set aside.
The Enchiladas
- Preheat your oven to 350°F / 180°C.
- Heat a small skillet over medium heat with enough oil in it to shallow fry the corn tortillas. Once hot, fry one tortilla at a time for about 10-15 seconds on each side and place on a paper-towel lined plate. This makes the tortillas more pliable for wrapping, as well as helping to prevent them getting soggy while cooking.
- Once you have everything ready (the chicken, the salsa, and the tortillas), setup a quick assembly line next to a 13x9 baking dish. Add some of the salsa to the bottom of the baking dish to help prevent sticking, about ½ a cup or so. Quickly dip a tortilla into the salsa on both sides, then fill with chicken and roll it up. Place the rolled tortilla seam side down into the baking dish. Continue this process until the baking dish is full or you run out of chicken.
- Add the remaining salsa over top of the enchiladas and cover with cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes until the chicken is heated through and the cheese has melted. Optionally, switch to broil for 2-3 minutes at the end if you want to brown the cheese more.
- Remove from the oven and you can garnish it directly in the baking dish. Alternatively, let them cool and serve it in plates and allow people to garnish their own.
Notes
1) Chicken – I like split chicken breasts for this because the skin and bones can help keep the chicken from getting dry, but boneless, skinless breasts will work fine. If you want to save time and make things easy, use a rotisserie chicken instead. You’ll want roughly two cups worth of shredded chicken.
2) Salsa Verde – For a regular enchiladas verde de pollo, you could get away with also using a store-bought green enchilada sauce, or a jar of salsa verde. For this recipe however, you’ll want to make your own. Fresh Hatch chiles can be difficult to find since they’re only available for a few weeks at the end of summer and may not be available at all depending on where you live. There are a few brands that sell jarred, fire roasted Hatch chiles year-round though, and you could mix that with a green enchilada sauce if you wanted to or follow the recipe and replace the fresh Hatch with the jarred.
3) Enchiladas – There are tons of ways to make enchiladas and its mostly down to how your family made them or personal preference. In this recipe I keep the filling simple with just the shredded chicken, but you could also add cheese with it, or mix the chicken with cheese and the salsa and use little to no cheese on top.
4) Cheese – I covered these with about 2 cups of cheese, which was probably too much and makes it hard to see the rolled tortillas underneath, but I’m pretty sure “too much” and “cheese” are things never said together. If you want to see the tortillas underneath for presentation, cut back to 1 cup of cheese and keep it towards the center of the enchiladas.
In the recipe I used Oaxaca cheese, which is similar to mozzarella and a great Mexican melting cheese, but feel free to use other cheeses like mozzarella, jack, cheddar, Chihuahua, etc.
4) Toppings – Use as many toppings or as few as you like. I list several popular options and show them together in the photos, but the toppings can be as basic or loaded up as you wish. You also have the option of garnishing the whole batch and serving family style or serve portions and place various toppings on the table for people to choose from.
Nutrition
Serving: 3enchiladasCalories: 624kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 32gFat: 34gSaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 1195mgPotassium: 519mgFiber: 9gSugar: 7gCalcium: 167mgIron: 2mg
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