Creamy Green Enchiladas made with leftover Chili Verde. This Mexican casserole is sure to be a new family favorite! Serve this tasty green enchilada casserole with some Mexican rice and pickled carrots for an authentic Mexican meal.
You're going to love this easy Mexican meal that you can make with your leftover Chile verde! It's quick, delicious, and sure to be a new family favorite!
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🧐 Why This Recipe Works
Sure, Chili Verde is amazing on its own and a definite crowd-pleaser. But it never fails, I always end up with a few days worth of leftovers.
I've learned to repurpose leftovers in a way that transforms them into an exciting new meal, instead of serving the same meal a few nights in a row.
Since Chili Verde is already served with corn tortillas, cheese, salsa, and sour cream, why not combine all those ingredients to make a totally new dish like this green enchilada casserole? Genius, right?
🔖 What You Need For This Recipe
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Chili Verde: Chicken or pork chili verde
- Corn Tortillas: 16 corn tortillas
- Shredded Cheese: You'll need approximately 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese or Monterey Jack cheese.
- Sour Cream
- Corn: Fresh, frozen, or canned.
- Green Salsa: Homemade green chili salsa, or bottled Salsa verde.
🌮 How to Make This Recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 1: Spray a 9" x 6" baking dish with cooking spray, then add approximately ¼ cup of chili verde (avoiding larger meat chunks) into it.
Pro Tip: If there are large chunks of meat in the chili verde, break them up so that the meat is more evenly distributed.
Step 2: Add ¼ cup of sour cream and corn kernels into the chili verde and mix until thoroughly combined.
Step 3: Place 4 tortillas into the baking dish, overlapping, as necessary.
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Step 4: Top tortillas with one cup of chili Verde mixture then add ½ cup of shredded cheese. Repeat until you have the last layer of tortillas.
Step 5: Mix any remaining chili Verde with the green salsa (or hot sauce) and the remaining sour cream. Pour the mixture over the enchiladas.
Step 6: Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese and bake for an additional ten minutes.
Pro Tip: If you like the top browned, broil on low for a few minutes.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Allow the green enchilada casserole to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Green Enchiladas can be served with any of the following:
- Mexican Rice
- Refried Beans, Chorizo Beans, or Black Beans
- Mexican Pickled Carrots
- Salsa Ranchera or green tomato salsa and don't forget the tortilla chips!
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
Enchilada sauce can be compared to hot sauce. It's usually mostly liquid with a few, random chunks of chilis. Canned enchilada sauce comes in mild and spicy options.
Although enchilada sauce can be used to make enchiladas, it should not be substituted for tomatillo salsa or salsa verde when making chili Verde.
Salsa Verde (or green salsa) is made with tomatillos, chilis, garlic, onion, and spices. It is more chunky than enchilada sauce and can be served with corn chips like most salsas.
It can also be used as the simmering sauce for pork, as a short-cut to making your own tomatillo salsa to use in chili Verde.
Corn tortillas are the preferred tortillas for making traditional enchiladas. One option is to fry the tortillas in hot oil for a short amount of time before using them in the enchiladas.
This is done to enhance the flavor of the tortillas. Be sure not to overcook the tortillas, so that they are still pliable enough to fold.
Another option is to dip the corn tortillas into the enchilada sauce before using them. This adds flavor, without the added fat.
Flour tortillas can also be used to make enchiladas. Although it's not as traditional as using corn tortillas, it still works in a pinch.
How do you keep the tortillas from soaking up too much liquid, and in turn causing the enchiladas to become too soggy?
The best way to accomplish this is to fry the tortillas in oil first. This extra step seals the tortillas and does not allow them to soak up an excessive amount of liquid. Although it's more fattening, it's definitely a tastier option.
Another way to keep the enchiladas from getting too soggy is to use less enchilada sauce. Too much liquid will definitely make them soggier.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- If you don't have enough sauce left, feel free to use jarred salsa Verde, such as Herdez.
- You can also use jarred salsa Verde to make chili Verde if tomatillos are not in season, or unavailable.
- Another way to assemble the enchiladas is to divide the chili Verde between the corn tortillas and roll them up then place them seam-side down into the baking dish to make traditional-looking enchiladas.
- Feel free to leave out the corn, or add other mixins such as sliced black olives, diced chilis, jalapenos, scallions, or fresh cilantro.
- If you don't mind the extra calories, I recommend briefly frying the corn tortillas before using them to assemble the enchiladas.
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📖 Recipe
Green Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 4 cups chili Verde
- 16 corn tortillas
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
- ½ cup sour cream (divided)
- ¼ cup corn kernels
- ½ cup favorite green salsa or hot sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray a 9" x 6" baking dish with cooking spray, then add approximately ¼ cup of chili verde (avoiding larger meat chunks) into it.
- Add ¼ cup of sour cream and corn kernels into the chili verde and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Place 4 tortillas into the baking dish, overlapping, as necessary.
- Top tortillas with one cup of chili Verde mixture then add ½ cup of shredded cheese. Repeat until you have the last layer of tortillas.
- Mix any remaining chili Verde with the green salsa (or hot sauce) and the remaining sour cream. Pour the mixture over the enchiladas.
- Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese and bake for an additional ten minutes.
- Allow the green enchilada casserole to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
- If you don't have enough sauce left, feel free to use jarred salsa Verde, such as Herdez.
- You can also use jarred salsa Verde to make chili Verde if tomatillos are not in season, or unavailable.
- If there are large chunks of meat in the chili verde, break them up so that the meat is more evenly distributed.
- Another way to assemble the enchiladas is to divide the chili Verde between the corn tortillas and roll them up to make traditional-looking enchiladas.
- Feel free to leave out the corn, or add other mixins such as sliced black olives, diced chilis, jalapenos, scallions, or fresh cilantro.
- If you don't mind the extra calories, I recommend briefly frying the corn tortillas before using them to assemble the enchiladas.
- If you like the top browned, broil on low for a few minutes.
Tommy says
The recipe is not clear regarding placing the green chile in the pan and then adding the sour cream to the chile in the bowl. Is the ground layer in the pan the chile or the tortilla's?
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Tommy,
Not sure if you looked at the step by step pictures in the body of the post, but you should find that helpful. In step one it states to add 1/4 cup Chile to the baking dish. The next step states adding sour cream and corn to the chili. After that, you layer. So the pan should have chili then tortillas. I hope that answers your question!
Tommy says
That totally helps. Thank you for the quick response. Making it now. So great to have something to make with our leftover green chile. Just for your reference and if anyone else has the same issue, my confusion was in Step 2 with the photo. It says to add the corn and the sour cream to the same bowl but shows it with the green chile but doesn't say to add the green chile. But I have it now. Here we go!
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks for clarifying, I can definitely reword that. Good luck, I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Kelly Methey says
Delicious!!!!! So easy and a nice way to make leftovers new.
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Kelly! I'm glad you enjoyed it. 🙂