Chicken Enchiladas with Fire Roasted Poblano Peppers are made with creamy slow cooked pull-apart chicken, fire roasted poblano peppers rolled up in a lightly grilled soft tortilla. Topped in a delicious creamy poblano and spinach sauce and baked to perfection - these are soon to be your favorite Tex Mex dinner idea. 
Oh yeah this is one dish that is going to make your family and friends smile from ear to ear. You are going to seriously love how balanced this dish is. It is just mildly spicy and creamy and oh so good.
In addition, we have hidden something very healthy in this dish and no one will ever know. You will have to keep reading to find out the hidden ingredient.
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How to Grill Flour Tortillas
Chicken Enchiladas with Fire Roasted Poblano Peppers are made with low-carb soft tortillas. However, you could certainly use gluten-free tortillas, corn tortillas or even the super soft flour tortillas.
We love grilling them right on top of the electric grill. Don't you just love the circle marks. (smiling)
You could also grill tortillas in a grill pan. Grilling the soft tortillas gives them another dimension of toasty flavor. In addition, it helps them hold up when they are stuffed with the creamy and delicious chicken poblano mixture.
Stove Top Cooking
We made our chicken using the same concept as our Stove Top Chicken Fajitas Sliders. However, you could also pop the chicken and ingredients in the crock pot and let it simmer on low. If you are pressed for time, you can purchase a roasted chicken from the deli and cut your work in half. (I promise, I won't tell a soul)
The only reason we did not use our crock pot is we did not want to listen to our dog whine and beg all day long. Seriously! It is maddening listening to their pathetic whining and looking at their - please feed me eyes - all day long. 
How to Roast Poblano Peppers
We fire roasted the poblano peppers directly on top of the burner until blackened and blistered on all sides. Then, popped them in a bowl and covered with cling wrap. We let the fire roasted poblanos sit for about 10 minutes and then peeled them.
By all means, you do not HAVE to fire roast your poblano peppers BUT you will be sorry if you DON"T. This is one step that adds a delicious layer of flavor to the dish and is so simple to do.
Secret Ingredient
Drum Roll...SPINACH.
Yes iron rich, high oxidant spinach! We added it to the creamy chicken and poblano mixture. In addition, we also put several handfuls of it in the delicious fire roasted poblano cream topping and it can even be found in our salsa verde for tamales. When a dish is this flavorful, you could hide all kinds of healthy things inside and way more vegetables. You can also hide loads of healthy vegetables in our Carnitas Burritos.
Just look how vibrant and deep green the poblano cream sauce is!!! Just tell your family you used ALOT of Poblanos peppers. Shhh. it will be just our little secret. If you are poblano lover like us, you are going to love our Shrimp Burritos with Creamy Poblano Sauce.
How to Assemble
I know this recipes has a few more ingredients and a few more steps. However, they are all simple ones. Here is a little step by step collage photo for the recipe...
Vegan Options
To make Chicken Enchiladas with Fire Roasted Poblano Peppers dish vegan, substitute the chicken with mushrooms, use vegan cream cheese and vegan cheddar style shreds. If you need to keep your dishes dairy-free, vegan cream cheese and vegan grated cheese is also a good option.
Every once and awhile our family craves Tex-Mex, how about yours? If you are craving a bit of healthy Tex-Mex be sure to check out our Chili Taco Salad Bowls, Baked Skinny Tex Mex Fish or our Stove Top Chicken Fajitas Sliders
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Chicken Enchiladas with Fire Roasted Poblano Peppers
Equipment
- baking dish 9 x11
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts skinless and boneless
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1.5 teaspoons garlic powder
(1 teaspoon for chicken mixture and 0.5 teaspoons for the poblano cream mixture) - 1 teaspoon oregano
- salt and pepper
to taste - 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups chicken broth
or just enough to almost cover the tops of the chicken - 3 poblano peppers
medium sized whole and washed and dried - 4 tablespoons cream cheese
(can use vegan cream cheese if dairy intolerant) - 3 cups spinach fresh washed (1.5 cups for the chicken enchilada mixture and 1.5 cups for the roasted poblano pepper sauce)
- ¼ cup chicken broth
or water - 8 soft tortillas
low carb (can also use gluten-free, corn tortillas) - 8 ounces cheddar cheese
(can use vegan cheese if need to stay dairy-free) - ½ bell pepper
garnish optional (½ red, chopped finely) - 1 avocado
garnish optional 1 chopped - ½ cup cilantro garnish optional- handful roughly chopped
Instructions
- Skip to step 2 if you are going to use a whole pre-roasted from the market. If making the chicken at home from scratch you can do this either on the stove top or in a crock pot.
- a) If preparing chicken on the stove top, season the chicken on both sides with cumin, garlic powder, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Place the olive oil in your pan and gently sear your chicken for about 1 minute on each side on medium heat. Add the chicken broth to almost cover the chicken with just the edges peaking through(the amount is dependent upon the size of your pan). Cover your pan with a lid and turn down the heat on your burner to a simmer. Simmer slowly for about an hour or until the chicken pulls apart easily with a fork and the juices run clear. (If your chicken has run out of broth in the pan and needs more time to cook, just add a little more broth and continue to simmer until the chicken is tender.)
- B) If you want to cook the chicken in the crock pot, then omit the olive oil, season the chicken with cumin, garlic powder, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Add only 1 cup of chicken broth to your slow cooker, put the lid on and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours or on high for 2-3 hours or until the chicken pulls apart easily and the juices run clear or the internal temperature is at least 165 degrees F.
- Roast the poblano peppers: Roast your poblano peppers directly on top of our electric or gas cooktop turning often so they are black and charred on all sides. Immediately place in a bowl and cover with either a tea towel or plastic wrap to initiate the steaming process. Allow your pepper to steam covered for about 10 minutes. Peel your peppers, remove the seeds and chop and set aside. Divide the pepper portion in half as half will go in the chicken enchilada mixture and half will go into the creamy poblano pepper sauce.
- Make the Roasted poblano pepper sauce. In a food processor add ½ of the roasted chopped poblano peppers , 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese, 1.5 cups of spinach, ¼ cup water or chicken broth, ½ teaspoon of garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Mix until smooth. Set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (or 176 degrees C).
- Make your chicken enchilada filling. Once your chicken is cooked and pulls apart easily, use 2 forks and shred your chicken, add 2 tablespoons of cream cheese, spinach, salt and pepper to taste and heat just gently until the cream cheese melts and the spinach begins to wilt. Set Aside.
- Spray a 9 x 11 baking pan with oil. Individually grill each of your soft tortillas about 1 minute on each side. (this step is not required but it really helps the tortillas to hold up to the enchilada filling) We grilled ours directly on the electric burner... you could also do this in a grill pan or in a frying pan.
- Assemble your chicken enchiladas. Take one grilled flour tortilla and place about ¼- ½ cup of the chicken enchilada chicken mixture on one edge of the tortilla. Next, add about 1 tablespoon of cheddar cheese (you could exchange and use any of the Mexican cheeses you love, we only had cheddar in the refrigerator) Roll up your tortilla. Place your rolled up Chicken enchilada in the 9 x 11 pan. Repeat with the remaining 8 tortillas.
- Pour the fire roasted poblano sauce on top of your prepared chicken enchiladas. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the enchiladas with the fire roasted poblano sauce and bake for about 10-15 minutes or just until the cheese is all melty. Remove your chicken enchiladas from the oven.
- Step 9 Garnish your chicken enchiladas with fire roasted poblano sauce with chopped red pepper, avocado, and cilantro if desired and enjoy!
Mimi Rippee says
These are lovely enchiladas. I have some frozen roasted hatch chiles in my freezer I need to use. This is a perfect recipe for them!
HWC Magazine says
Hi there Mimi and thank you! Hatch chilis sounds like a super delicious substitution for the poblano peppers in this chicken enchilada recipe. We are all about using what you have on hand. Take Care
Dana says
Can’t wait to try this