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Everyone has that “thing” they always order at certain restaurants. For my boyfriend, every time we go to Mexican restaurants, it’s pretty much always going to be enchiladas. The thing is, recently we have been going out to eat too much – and he now blames me for “making him fat” so we decided to make enchiladas at home! This Homemade Mexican Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce was super delicious and we LOVED it.

Shout out to Simply Recipe‘s version of this recipe.  It definitely inspired me to make my own version of Mexican Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce, but mine does have some changes and includes some optional tweaks to make it gluten free or paleo friendly.

Also, just in case you were wondering, this recipe definitely has a kick to it! I’m not saying it’s insanely spicy, just that it is spicy so if you’re not in to that… maybe this isn’t the recipe for you.

Can You Make Paleo Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce?

With a few ingredient changes, you can! Here’s what you will need to change up:

Tortillas – make sure to buy or make paleo friendly tortilla! Here’s a couple paleo tortilla recipes to try:

3 Ingredient Coconut Flour Wrap

Paleo Tortillas Or Wraps {Gluten-Free}

Soft Paleo Flour Tortillas

If you’re thinking of just purchasing, there’s a few different paleo friendly brands you can find in whole foods, trader joes, sprouts, and similar grocery stores. And actually also on Amazon – for example: Julian Bakery’s Paleo Wraps.

Cornstarch – Corn is not paleo, so you can substitute this with arrowroot flour.

Ingredients

Enchilada Sauce:

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp Mexican chili powder
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne powder
• 1 can (12 oz) tomato paste
• 3 cups water
• 2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon ground oregano
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbsp of corn starch mixed in with 6 Tbsp of water

The rest:

• 8-10 large tortillas (about 10-12 inches), depending on how much chicken you want to fill yours up with.
• 3 cups of cooked chicken, shredded – I love using rotisserie chicken breast for this! A whole rotisserie chicken is only $4.99 at Costco – so well worth it! BTW, do you know the best way to shred that rotisserie chicken or cooked chicken? Just take two forks and start ripping it apart.
• 2 cups shredded cheese – I recommend using Mexican cheese blend

Optional Things That Go With The Enchiladas

• Red onion, chopped
• Shredded iceberg lettuce
• 1 Avocado or Guacamole
• Tomatoes, diced

Instructions

Enchilada Sauce

First things first, preparing the sauce. Yes you’re right, you COULD just go buy the enchilada sauce, but WHAT’s the fun in that! So, first heat up some olive oil in a sauce pan on medium heat.

Add chili powder and cayenne, and stir it around in the oil for about a minute (don’t want to do this too long or else it’s going to burn and be gross), and then add the water and tomato paste and swirl it all around.

Add garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and cornstarch/water mix. Simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce thickens, and then and remove from heat and wait for it to cool down before you start making the actual enchiladas unless you have a thing for burning yourself.

Enchiladas

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Mix in 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce with the shredded chicken.

Now it’s time to assemble the enchiladas:

1. Dip a tortilla in the enchilada sauce
2. Line up about 5-6 tablespoons of shredded chicken in each tortilla
3. Sprinkle some cheese.
4. Roll the tortilla up and place it in the baking dish.

Repeat this steps 1-4 for the rest of your enchiladas you wanted to make. By the way – if you run out of space you are allowed to stack them… We ran out of space and did that, and it totally cooks just fine. If you’redoing this, sprinkle the first/bottom layer with cheese and pour some enchilada sauce prior to stacking on the second layer.

After they’re all in your baking dish, cover the enchilada with the remaining enchilada sauce and then sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Pop the baking dish in to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. While this is happening, prepare the ‘things that go with the enchiladas! Really this is all up to you.

My boy friend hates vegetables so he really only wanted a bit of shredded iceberg lettuce, but I chopped up some tomatoes and avocado. Sometimes I make my easy Guacamole with Bacon, Tomato and Cilantro.

Finale

That is it, remove enchiladas and serve… Now you can just serve as is… but I like to add all those delicious things I mentioned earlier too.

After enchiladas are baked, take them out, and then add all the things that go with the enchiladas and serve!

Pin for later!

How about a delicious Mexican Soup to go with that? This one gives you the option to use Rotisserie chicken too! Check it out here!

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