White chicken enchiladas
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We’re back! I feel like the two week hiatus between PW Wednesdays are like one long commercial break and we need an announcer in the background saying “stay tuned for what crazy (loaded with cream, butter and other fat) kind of dish will they will be making next!”

Well, the wait is over. We’ve got white chicken enchiladas on the menu today thanks to Tina.

White chicken enchiladas from Pioneer Woman

Honestly, this dish was a bitch to make. Good thing it was tasty. Super tasty. Like really good even after sitting around for 6 hours tasty (welcome to the life of a food blogger forever chasing natural light and making husbands eat mushy food hours later). It’s one of those dishes that leaves your kitchen a disaster zone no matter how much you try to clean as you go.

Step 1: make and shred chicken (30 minutes in and of itself)

Step 2: roast peppers, suffocate them in a plastic bag, peel their skins off and chop them (another 45 minutes)

Step 3: make the filling and sauce (15 minutes or so)

Step 4: bake (25 minutes)

See what I mean? It’s a time consuming bitch.

I even made the chicken and roasted the peppers the day before I made this to save some time and it was still time consuming and transformed my kitchen into a hot mess.

Per usual, Ree’s ingredient quantities are totally overkill. To feed 8, it calls for no less than 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 stick of butter and 2 1/2 cups of cheese.

Also per usual, I didn’t follow directions. It’s a recurring theme in my life.

I halved the recipe and then even further reduced certain items and/or substituted them entirely (mostly those fatty ones above). The result was a super spicy (I used serrano peppers in my mix which are a bit hotter than your typical jalapeno), perfectly creamy (without being overkill) and cheesy chicken enchilada. Besides my beloved carnitas, this is probably my favorite recipe we’ve done so far.

Cheesy white chicken enchiladas

I’m learning to look at this book as more of a guideline than an actual recipe because it’s got some great ideas, it’s just that the execution is usually either off or not my cup of tea (read excessively fattening).

Although, one thing I’ve got to hand it to Ree on is making incredibly photogenic dishes. I swear her food just “pops” on the screen and usually makes me (like right now) wish I was eating it again even though it’s 11pm at night and I’m still stuffed from dinner.

Grab the recipe for these enchiladas here.

And for other tasty recounts click away below!

Julie- Table for Two
Megan- Wanna be a Country Cleaver
Rachel- Baked by Rachel

Missed some of the previous PW Wednesday posts? Search no more…

Breakfast Pizza
Carnitas Pizza
Mushroom Swiss Sliders
Fried Chicken Tacos

Founder and Writer at Running to the Kitchen | About

Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.

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49 Comments

  1. Wow…those are some seriously heavy ingredients. Sounds like you made great substitutions. This would probably be good to make and maybe freeze and then just thaw and bake for dinner one night. Hmmm….I love making enchiladas. You can really just be so creative with them!

  2. yum! i looove chicken enchiladas! and that baking dish is adorable. i love it!

  3. You lost me at “it’s a bitch to make”… hahaha. I’ll check back tomorrow for an easier meal to replicate :)

    1. haha, yeah these posts are more of sharing an “experience” than a “go run out and make it right now” kind of thing ;) Especially this one!

  4. I agree way too time consuming for a week night meal. Maybe something for a special Sunday. Well maybe Saturday, so you can spend all day Sunday at the gym!

  5. Hi Gina- Love your amazing white chicken enchilada, and the pretty blue casserole dish!
    I pinned it, and also tweeted it, and I’m following you on twitter, now!

  6. Yum!! We love Mexican food here, but I am all about cutting out all that cream and sour cream. Can’t say that even the creamy enchiladas I have made has ever called for cream. Definitely going to have to give these a try!

  7. Where did you get that blue baking dish? I just bought a plate at Anthro yesterday! that’s very similar but it’s a plate and can’t bake anything in it…oh I want your dish!

    1. My mom actually got it for me and I’m pretty sure it was Homegoods (like every kitchen prop/dish I own :))

  8. Whoa! The original recipe sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen… I have made enchiladas before and like your version, it turned out just as great without all the excessiveness. Your enchiladas look amazing. How in the world did you keep your tortillas together, everytime I make enchiladas, mine always fall apart. They taste good, just not pretty. :(

    1. haha, it took a lot of careful extraction from the dish to get them to stay together!

  9. All i’m craving these days is Mexican food! This looks awesome, even if it was a bit – er – difficult to make ;)