Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas

This simple, Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas casserole comes together quickly and tastes rich and savory, bursting with flavor! 

If you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat (@tidymom) you may have seen that we recently moved our youngest, Allison, into her college apartment……a fourth-floor apartment, with no elevator and 90+ degree heat!!  This will be her first year away from home.

Last year we had a change of plans and she decided to stay home and attend community college.  As I write this post, she has been gone for a week now, and today is her first day of classes at Mizzou.  This is the “first day of school” I’ve ever missed ;(

It’s also the first time in almost 28 years my husband and I have had an empty house to ourselves {sniff sniff}.  Is it strange that I miss the messes?

I miss my “mini me”?  Heather usually comes over on Sunday’s, but it still feels odd only being 3 of us instead of 4.  But I know she’s already enjoying it and good things are in store for this exciting time in her life!

Another first was this fabulous Chicken and Spinach Enchilada recipe that made its way into our lives recently!

I never realized what we miss out on, living in Missouri.  A few years ago during a trip to Texas, I had some of the most incredible Mexican food.  After that, I realized……we don’t have “real” Mexican restaurants here in Missouri.  So when I’m craving good Mexican or Tex-Mex food, we have to make it.

A few days before we moved Allison to school, she and Heather were invited to an “end of the summer” pool party and dinner at their friend Lori’s house.  They couldn’t stop talking about the white chicken enchiladas they had and even brought home some leftovers for me.  After one bite of the cheesy creamy goodness, I knew I needed the recipe.

For the chicken in this enchilada recipe, you can cook it in the crockpot with a little water, salt, pepper, and cumin. The chicken becomes so tender and moist and incredibly easy to shred. Alternatively, you can poach or bake the chicken or use rotisserie chicken.

Quick Tip:  Place cooked chicken in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.  Turn mixer on low for about 30-60 seconds, and you will have shredded chicken in 1 minute or less!

For the spinach, Lori’s mom said she has used fresh spinach but prefers the frozen chopped spinach, as it gives the sauce a florentine look and eliminates big hunks of spinach in the sauce.

Quick Tip:  if you forget to thaw your spinach ahead of time, like I did, and your microwave has a quick thaw setting (usually for 1 pound of ground beef) it works perfectly to quickly thaw the box of frozen spinach.

Once you have cooked chicken, this dish comes together in about 15-20 minutes, depending on how quickly you fill and roll your tortillas 😉

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You can serve topped with chopped tomatoes and/or guacamole if you’d like.

Cleaning up

There are so many great things about casseroles for dinner, not only can most of them be made ahead of time, but if you cook and serve, you can use the time that your Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas are in the oven to clean up the kitchen, so there’s less to do after dinner.

My ‘go-to’ tools for cleanup are my Scotch-Brite Extreme Scrub Sponge and Stay Clean Dishwand.

I had never used a dishwand until a few years ago.  Truth be told, they kind of grossed me out.  Heather, my oldest has always used a dish wand in her kitchen and convinced me I needed one since I tend to skip a sink of soapy water and wash one item at a time.  She told me I was wasting so much soap, and if I use a dishwand, I could keep my hands out of the water a little more.  I’ve been using the Stay Clean Dishwand ever since.  They have a long-lasting, durable scrubbing surface for non-scratch cleaning and they are guaranteed not to trap food!  Even eggs or cheese won’t stick to this sponge.  The head is removable and replaceable.  I like to remove the head and toss it in the dishwasher to keep it extra clean, and once I’ve worn it out, I just replace it with a new head.

For the Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas, I used my cast iron dutch oven to sauté the onions and mushrooms and cook the sauce. Once it was time to clean the pot, I used hot water and my Extreme Scrub Sponge to remove the stubborn, stuck-on areas inside the pot, then my dishwand filled with soap to give it a good cleaning.  I did the same the next day with the casserole dish. Clean-up made easy……every day!

Since Allison would be moving, I knew a dishwand would be perfect for her first apartment.  Passing the “torch” I put together a little basket of some tools I knew she would use while away at college; microfiber cloths,  sponges, lint roller and of course…. a dishwand.

Good news!! When she called Sunday evening, she had cleaned the apartment and she said all of the tools were put to good use!  ……..I think she’s learning, clean feels good 😉  #myjobisdone

Now excuse me while I go wipe my tears 😉

Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas Recipe

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Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas

Yield: 8-10 servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

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This simple, Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas casserole comes together quickly and tastes rich and savory, bursting with flavor! 

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 1 diced large yellow onion
• dash of nutmeg
• 1- 10 ounce box of frozen chopped spinach - thawed*
• 3 cups sour cream
• 1/4 cup half & half
• 4 oz can chopped green chiles
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• salt & cayenne pepper to taste
• 10- flour tortillas
• 8 oz grated Monterey Jack Cheese (I used a 4 cheese Mexican Blend)

Instructions

1. Grease a 9 x 13 casserole pan with cooking spray or butter, preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Sauté onion and mushrooms in butter, season with salt and dash of nutmeg
3. Add spinach, sour cream, half and half, chiles, cumin, salt & cayenne.  Simmer for about 3 -5 minutes.
4. Pour half of the sauce into a medium-sized bowl, then add cooked chicken to the other half of the sauce.
5. Fill tortillas with chicken and sauce mixture (about 1/4 - 1/3 of a cup each), roll and lay seam side down in casserole dish
6. Layer half the cheese on top of the tortillas
7. Spread the rest of the sauce on top of the cheese
8. Top with remaining cheese
9. Place, uncovered in center of oven for 30-35 mins or until bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro and serve with desired toppings, such as diced tomatoes and guacamole.

   

Notes

• To quickly shred cooked chicken:  place chicken in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.  Mix on low for about a minute, or until chicken is shredded
• You can use fresh spinach, but frozen chopped spinach will give the sauce a florentine look and eliminate large chunks of spinach.

Disclosure:  I have a working relationship with Scotch-Brite Brand, but as always, all views, opinions……and my love of a clean home are all my own.  Thank you for supporting the brands that support TidyMom.