Enchiladas Rojas (Red Chile Chicken Enchiladas)
Corn tortillas rolled around shredded chicken and baked in a smooth red sauce of toasted guajillo chiles and tomatoes, finished with melted Chihuahua cheese, raw onion rings and cilantro.
An enchilada is, by the Royal Spanish Academy's definition as Wikipedia quotes it, a rolled corn tortilla with meat and a tomato and chile sauce; the word is the past participle of the Mexican Spanish verb enchilar, "to add chili pepper to". Wikipedia says the habit of rolling tortillas around food is thousands of years old (people of the Valley of Mexico rolled them around small fish) and that enchiladas appear in print in El cocinero mexicano (1831), described as the first Mexican cookbook, and in Mariano Galván Rivera's Diccionario de Cocina (1845).
Spanish Wikipedia defines enchiladas rojas as tortillas in a red sauce made from tomato or from dried chiles such as guajillo. This version, from Rick Bayless, uses both: toasted guajillos blended with canned tomatoes, then fried down to a paste and simmered with broth. It is the baseline for the whole hub. Everything America later did to the enchilada, from chili powder gravy to sour cream, starts from a plate like this.
🇲🇽 The original
Corn tortillas rolled around shredded chicken and baked in a smooth red sauce of toasted guajillo chiles and tomatoes, finished with melted Chihuahua cheese, raw onion rings and cilantro.
🇺🇸 The American version
Texas rolled them around yellow cheese and onion, smothered them in a cumin-heavy chili gravy and more melted cheese, and baked them in a pan. See the Tex-Mex Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Gravy recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Frying the sauce
Cooking the blended chile and tomato in hot oil until it is as thick as paste concentrates and toasts it, so the finished sauce tastes deep and round instead of raw.
Oiled, oven-softened tortillas
A light coat of oil and a few minutes in the oven make the tortillas pliable enough to roll without cracking, with far less oil than frying each one.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Toast the chile pieces a few at a time, pressing them flat with a spatula, about 10 seconds a side, until fragrant and a shade lighter underneath; pull them if they smoke more than a wisp. Put them in a blender.
- Step 2
Add the garlic, the tomatoes with their juice, the cumin and the pepper, and blend until as smooth as possible, about 1 minute.
- Step 3
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a 5- to 6-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Press the sauce through a medium-mesh strainer into the pan, then stir constantly 5 to 7 minutes, until it is as thick as tomato paste. Add the broth, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes. Season with the salt and sugar; thin with broth if it is thicker than a light cream soup.
- Step 4
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375°F. Brush the tortillas lightly with oil on both sides, lay them on a baking sheet in overlapping pairs and bake about 3 minutes, until soft and pliable. Stack them under a towel.
- Step 5
Spread 1/2 cup sauce over the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Stir another 1/2 cup sauce into the chicken. Fill each tortilla with a line of chicken, roll it up and lay it seam side down in the dish.
- Step 6
Ladle the rest of the sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until the cheese starts to brown and the center of the middle enchilada reads 165°F.
- Step 7
Scatter the onion rings and cilantro over the top and serve right away.
Enchiladas Rojas (Red Chile Chicken Enchiladas)
Serves 4 · 12 enchiladas · 1 hr total
Sauce
- 4 medium dried guajillo chiles (about 1 oz), stemmed, seeded and torn into flat pieces
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
- 1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes in juice, preferably fire-roasted
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 cups chicken broth, plus a little more if needed
- About 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
Enchiladas
- 12 corn tortillas
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil, for the tortillas
- 2 generous cups (8 oz) shredded cooked chicken (about half a large rotisserie chicken)
- 1 cup (4 oz) shredded Chihuahua cheese (or Monterey Jack or mild cheddar)
- 1 small white onion, cut into thin rings
- Cilantro sprigs
Method
- Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Toast the chile pieces a few at a time, pressing them flat with a spatula, about 10 seconds a side, until fragrant and a shade lighter underneath; pull them if they smoke more than a wisp. Put them in a blender.
- Add the garlic, the tomatoes with their juice, the cumin and the pepper, and blend until as smooth as possible, about 1 minute.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a 5- to 6-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Press the sauce through a medium-mesh strainer into the pan, then stir constantly 5 to 7 minutes, until it is as thick as tomato paste. Add the broth, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes. Season with the salt and sugar; thin with broth if it is thicker than a light cream soup.
- Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375°F. Brush the tortillas lightly with oil on both sides, lay them on a baking sheet in overlapping pairs and bake about 3 minutes, until soft and pliable. Stack them under a towel.
- Spread 1/2 cup sauce over the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Stir another 1/2 cup sauce into the chicken. Fill each tortilla with a line of chicken, roll it up and lay it seam side down in the dish.
- Ladle the rest of the sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until the cheese starts to brown and the center of the middle enchilada reads 165°F.
- Scatter the onion rings and cilantro over the top and serve right away.
Adapted from Rick Bayless, "Red Chile Enchiladas with Chicken and Melted Cheese (Enchiladas Rojas de Pollo con Queso Derretido)". We follow its amounts for 12 enchiladas (4 guajillos, a 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, 2 cups broth, about 8 ounces chicken, 1 cup cheese), its 10-second chile toast, its 5 to 7 minute reduction and 10 minute simmer, and its oiled, oven-softened tortillas. Bayless gives no oven temperature; our 375°F, and the 165°F check at the end, are ours. rickbayless.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Bayless allows Monterey Jack, brick or mild cheddar if you can't find a Mexican melting cheese such as Chihuahua, quesadilla or asadero.
- Strain the sauce: guajillo skins are tough and won't blend smooth.
- The sauce keeps several days in the refrigerator; make it ahead and the dish comes together in 25 minutes.
- Leftover enchiladas reheat best covered, in a 350°F oven, until the center reads 165°F.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- "Enchilada" means chilied. Documented: Wikipedia, from the verb enchilar.
- Real red enchiladas have no tomato. Disputed: Spanish Wikipedia says the red sauce can be made from tomato or from dried chiles; English Wikipedia describes a chile-only red sauce and a tomato-based variation; Bayless blends both.
- Tomato-only sauce makes them entomatadas, not enchiladas. Documented as Spanish Wikipedia's naming.
- Enchiladas are thousands of years old. Disputed: Wikipedia says rolling tortillas around food is that old, but the dish appears in print only in 1831.
- Fry the tortillas, don't bake them. Folklore: Bayless softens them with a brush of oil in the oven; Serious Eats fries them for its Tex-Mex enchiladas (see Tex-Mex Restaurant-Style Cheese Enchiladas). Both work.
Every other enchilada
Enchiladas Verdes (Green Tomatillo Chicken Enchiladas)
Corn tortillas passed through hot oil, rolled around shredded chicken and baked under a tart green sauce of simmered tomatillos, serranos and cilantro, then finished with crema, queso fresco and raw onion.
Enchiladas Suizas (Creamy Green Chicken Enchiladas)
Chicken enchiladas baked in a broiled tomatillo and serrano sauce enriched with cream, under a blanket of melted cheese, Mexico City's famous "Swiss" enchiladas.
Enchiladas Potosinas (Red Chile Masa Enchiladas from San Luis Potosí)
Small tortillas made from masa dyed red with ancho chile, folded around a cheesy tomatillo and chile filling, rested overnight, then fried crisp and served with crema, onion and guacamole.
Enchiladas Mineras (Guanajuato Miners' Enchiladas)
Tortillas dipped in guajillo chile sauce and fried, rolled around fresh cheese and onion, then buried under fried potatoes and carrots, lettuce and pickled jalapeños, with chicken and a tomato salsa on the side.
Enfrijoladas (Tortillas in Black Bean Sauce with Chorizo)
Warm corn tortillas dipped in a smooth black bean sauce, folded into quarters and topped with crumbled chorizo, salsa verde, fresh cheese, parsley and onion: Mexico's fast, comforting bean enchilada.
Enmoladas with Mole Coloradito (Mole Chicken Enchiladas)
Corn tortillas dipped in a brick-red Oaxacan mole of ancho chiles, roasted tomatoes, sesame, almonds, raisins, spices and Mexican chocolate, rolled around shredded chicken and sauced at the table.
Tex-Mex Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Gravy
Corn tortillas rolled around Monterey Jack, cheddar and raw onion, baked under a smooth brown chili gravy of toasted ancho, cumin, garlic and oregano thickened with a roux: the classic Texas enchilada.
New Mexico Stacked Red Chile Enchiladas with a Fried Egg
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Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chile
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King Ranch Chicken (Texas Layered Enchilada Casserole)
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30-Minute Skillet Beef Enchiladas
Fried corn tortilla strips simmered in one skillet with ground beef, onion and red enchilada sauce, then topped with Colby Jack, black olives and scallions and served with sour cream, on the table in 30 minutes.
Tex-Mex Restaurant-Style Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Con Carne Gravy
Restaurant style, not any one restaurant's recipe: fried corn tortillas dipped in a beefy red chile gravy of ancho, guajillo and arbol chiles, rolled around cheddar and onion and baked under more gravy and cheese, the way Texas combination plates serve them.
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