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These slow cooker chicken enchiladas are made casserole-style, with shredded chicken, corn, beans, and corn tortillas all mixed in a flavorful enchilada sauce. Topped with cheese, they’re an easy and delicious weeknight meal.
Enchiladas are one of my favorite foods to cook, but I find they’re so much easier to prep ahead when you can make them in a slow cooker.
I serve this slow cooker enchilada casserole with my Spanish brown rice and top it with fresh avocado and sliced jalapeños. It is a huge hit with the whole family. Serving this with mozzarella queso and chips would also be amazing.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas
For this crockpot chicken enchiladas recipe, I wanted something easy I could make on weeknights that I could prep ahead. Bonus points if it would keep well for a few days for meal prep. You’ll love them because they’re:
- Easy – Everything can be made in one dish and it’s great for beginner cooks because the slow cooker does all the work for you.
- Make ahead – This is a great recipe to prep in the morning to have ready when you get home. Or if you forget, you could start this by the early afternoon and still have it ready for dinner.
- Packed with vegetables – From corn to beans, this is great casserole that’s filling and packed with both protein and fiber.
- Delicious – It’s tough to turn down any cheesy casserole – it’s so warm and cozy.
If you want a recipe you don’t have to make ahead try this ground turkey enchilada casserole!
Ingredients
- Chicken – I used raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts here, but I would also recommend boneless, skinless chicken thighs as well.
- Enchilada sauce – Often I will make my own, but you could use store-bought as well. I like to use either this recipe from my healthy beef enchiladas, or La Preferida Red Enchilada Sauce. I also love to use salsa verde sometimes for a variation – either Tacodeli or the homemade salsa verde from these instant pot steak tacos.
- Black beans – Low sodium black beans, drained and rinsed.
- Frozen corn – Fresh or canned corn would also work here, I just like frozen corn for the flavor and texture. I use Trader Joe’s frozen roasted corn.
- Bell pepper – Red, yellow, or orange bell peppers are my preference for these slow cooker chicken enchiladas.
- Corn tortillas – Corn tortillas usually have the best flavor for this dish, but flour would also work here. I buy mine freshly made from Central Market!
- Cheese – I recommend a good, melty cheese here like good quality American cheese, oaxaca, mozzarella, or monterey jack. I usually just use whatever I have on hand.
- Spices – Shallot, smoked paprika, and garlic powder add a boost of flavor. But if I’m ever too tired, I completely skip the spices and just rely on a flavorful enchilada sauce.
Cilantro, radish, avocado, green onion, extra cheese, and sour cream or blended cottage cheese all make great toppings.
Recipe Variations
- Shallot – If you’re not following HYH, you can use half of a small yellow onion instead of shallot. I prefer the shallot flavor, but both work!
- HYH – If you’re following the Heal Your Headache diet, use my recipe for enchilada sauce from my Dizzy Cook Cookbook or healthy beef enchiladas. Keep the recipe the same and do not add avocado. You can use blended cottage cheese for a sour cream substitute.
- Gluten free – Use gluten free corn tortillas (most are naturally gluten free).
- Dairy free – Omit the cheese added on top!
How to Make Chicken Enchiladas in a Slow Cooker
Step 1: Add chicken and spices – Add the chicken and spices, along with the enchilada sauce, coating the chicken on all sides.
Step 2: Add the vegetables – Pour in the drained and rinsed black beans, frozen corn, shallots, and peppers.
Step 3: Cook – Slow cook for 2.5-3 hours on high or 5-8 hours on low heat, depending on the speed of your slow cooker. Mine tends to run a little bit warm so it cooks fast. You will know the chicken is done when it shreds easily with a fork.
Step 4: Shred the chicken – Use two forks to shred the chicken into bite sized pieces.
Step 5: Add the tortillas – Once the chicken has been shredded, add the tortillas and top with shredded cheese. You can either stir in the tortillas so the mixture is a little more thick, or just leave them on top. Cover with the slow cooker lid, allowing the cheese to melt, for about 15-30 minutes.
Scoop the chicken enchiladas into a bowl and serve with your favorite toppings.
Recipe Tip
Rolled slow cooker chicken enchiladas – For a more traditional version of chicken enchiladas in the slow cooker, remove the shredded chicken and vegetable filling from the slow cooker and roll it up into tortillas.
Place the tortillas back into the crockpot on low (with a little extra enchilada sauce on the bottom and top). Cover with cheese and let that melt on top for about 15-30 minutes.
Serving Suggestions
These chicken enchiladas go well with many different dishes. Here are a few of my favorites to pair with them.
- Mozzarella Queso Dip
- Spanish Brown Rice
- Apple coleslaw
- Guacamole/Avocado
- Sour cream/Whipped cottage cheese
- Butter lettuce salad
Storage
Refrigerator – Crockpot chicken enchiladas can be stored in the fridge for up to 3-5 days depending on how fresh your ingredients are to start. The flavors even get better on the second day!
Freezer – If you have leftovers, you can freeze them for up to 6 months. Reheat in the microwave after defrosting, or cover and place them in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30-40 minutes from frozen, or 15-20 minutes defrosted.
I like to make this chicken enchilada casserole or ground turkey enchilada casserole for for friends who need a meal when they just had a baby or are sick. I’ll try to keep the layers all together by scooping it carefully into a pan for transport.
Enchilada Recipes
For more recipes like these slow cooker enchiladas, see these posts. And don’t miss this super creamy crockpot mac and cheese with cream cheese.
Soup
Green Chicken Enchilada Soup with Rotisserie Chicken
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 review in the recipe card! Don’t forget to tag me @thedizzycook on Facebook and Instagram, and follow along on Pinterest for more great recipes!
Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 shallot, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
- 12 ounces enchilada sauce (red or green)
- 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/4 cup frozen yellow corn
- 5-6 corn tortillas, cut into 1 inch strips
- 1 cup shredded cheese (white american cheese, mozzarella, monterey jack)
Instructions
- Add the chicken breasts, spices, shallot, and 8oz enchilada sauce (reserve the other 4oz for later) to the slow cooker. Pour in black beans, bell pepper, and corn. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours until chicken shreds easily with a fork.
For a casserole:
- Shred the chicken and mix in the rest of the enchilada sauce. Top with corn tortilla strips and cheese. Cover and slow cook another 20-30 minutes, or until cheese has melted.
For rolled enchiladas:
- Shred the chicken and remove it all from the slow cooker. Pour a little bit of the enchilada sauce at the bottom of the slow cooker. Roll the filling inside the tortillas and place them seam side down into the slow cooker. Top with the rest of the enchilada sauce and cheese. Cover and slow cook another 20-30 minutes, or until cheese has melted.
- Serve over rice, if desired, or with your favorite toppings.
Notes
- I like to use La Preferida red enchilada sauce, Tacodeli for salsa verde, or my homemade enchilada sauce (HYH).
- Flour tortillas or corn tortillas can be used.
- Boneless, skinless chicken thighs can be substituted for chicken breast.
- Vegetables can easily be substituted with another that you like. Shallot can be substituted with yellow onion (not HYH). Try to always replace and not omit, otherwise the filling could be more soupy and less thick.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So easy to make and the chicken is so tender. I made the homemade enchilada sauce and loved the combined flavors.
Thank you, Karen!
We loved this! I also used your enchiladas sauce recipe as I haven’t found a ready made one I like. This recipe was easy to put together and came out so nice. I can see how you could customize it as well depending what veggies you have on hand that you’d like to use up. Delicious, this will be in our slow cooker recipe rotation this fall and winter.
Thank you so much!
Just made this tonight for the first time and it was delicious! I had it over diced sweet potato and my kids enjoyed it over rice. Both ways work great. Thanks for some many headache free recipes.
I bet it’s great over sweet potatoes! I often like it over slaw for more veggies.
Another great Dizzy Cook recipe! I made the enchilada sauce that Alicia linked to as well. It all comes together pretty quickly which is my kind of recipe! I pulled some frozen chicken out of the freezer and threw it all into the crock pot for a few hours. I thought it was looking like more of a soup when I added the tortilla strips and the cheese, but they soak up the extra sauce and it comes out nice and tasty. We served it over a bit of rice. Will definitely make this again!
Thanks so much, Katie. Glad you all enjoyed. Yes the tortillas do soak up the sauce more once added!
Tasty and delicious! Our favorite weeknight dinner.
Happy to hear that!