I love, love, love enchiladas. I’m not sure if I’ve discussed this before but I was a bit of a…picky eater as a child? So I liked tacos, but I only liked them if they were made in our home, with stale (why were they always stale!) Ortega crunch taco shells, ground beef, and some lettuce. I think I was in high school before I dared order a soft taco supreme at Taco Bell. Adventurous I was not.

At some point I started getting enchiladas at Mexican restaurants, and now I love them the most. Chicken, vegetable, cheese, mushrooms and goat cheese, black bean…or any combination thereof. I love them. But I rarely attempted them at home because I couldn’t find a recipe that made me all that excited to eat them.

UNTIL NOW.

I found this Skinnytaste recipe online and decided to try it, even though I never find the “skinny” version of anything to be all that great – they tend to be pale imitations of whatever food it is really supposed to be. And trust me, I am not the person to look to for “authentic” enchiladas, but if you, like me, are a fan of the type of enchiladas you will find in most Mexican restaurants located in the US, then I can recommend this recipe for sure.

First, the sauce: I didn’t make any changes here. You can vary the spice with the number of chilis in adobo sauce that you use, or by adding more or less of the chipotle chili powder. (I use this one and my recommendation to you would be to NOT SLEEP ON CHIPOTLE CHILI POWDER. Do yourself a favor and own some.) Other than that, I recommend making it as directed.

For the filling I have gone two different ways: One, poaching and shredding chicken breasts (toss the breasts in a saucepan, add a bay leaf, half a white onion, and a few smashed cloves of garlic; cover with water, bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through) and tearing apart a rotisserie chicken, which I prefer. I don’t make any other variations.

I’ve used both white flour tortillas and the whole wheat version the recipe recommends; either is fine. I do spray the baking dish with Everbake rather than putting enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan; I also do not dip the tortillas in the sauce prior to assembling as some recipes dictate. You can do whatever!

I use shredded Mexican blend cheese but I think you could also just use Monterey Jack, cheddar, or a combination of both. Lots of scallions and cilantro for topping. I also serve this with cilantro-lime rice if I want to stretch it into two nights’ worth of dinner.