Every Friday night my husband and I sit in the living room and I ask him what he wants for dinner the next week. We try to come up with a menu together and then I tweak it based on the sales ads as well as what I can find recipes for. It usually takes us quite a while to come up with 6 days worth of dinners because we like a mix of our favorites and new recipes.

The recipe for these Chicken Enchilada Bowls came out of a request for chicken enchiladas. While I love enchiladas I felt like the soft tortillas and all of that cheese would add a ton of calories to our meal. My suggestion was to simply make the sauce, then chicken, and put it all over rice and that was my plan.

However things started evolving through the week. At first I was just going to use a can of sauce but after speaking with my husband we both agreed that my homemade enchilada sauce is half the reason why we love enchiladas so much so I decided to make my own.

After that my husband wasn’t sure about just serving it over rice so I asked how he would feel about adding tortilla chips as a compromise. This seemed to satisfy both of us and so I began making this dish.

It was all going well and I had the chicken cooking on the stove. I had the tortilla chips in the bowl when I just felt like something was missing. I thought about it while I was cooking and looked in the refrigerator for some lettuce. I had some in there so I added shredded lettuce to the bowls as well. I then put the rice on top of that with the chicken and cheese on top of that.

The end result wasn’t what I had planned on but it was actually really good. We used some of the tortilla chips to scoop up some of the lettuce, rice, and chicken then used our forks for the rest of it. The enchilada sauce is definitely my favorite part. You just can’t get sauce like that in a can and it is just about perfect! We were both really pleased with how these turned out and I would make them again in a minute!

Pro Tips & Substitutions:

Yield: serves 4

Chicken Enchilada Bowls

Shredded chicken mixed with homemade enchilada sauce served on top of tortillas, lettuce, and rice then sprinkled with cheese and sour cream.

Ingredients

For the Enchilada Sauce:

1 T. olive oil
1 T. flour
1 T. chili powder
1 t. paprika
1 t. oregano
1 t. cumin
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 oz. green chilies
1 c. chicken broth
2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce

For the chicken:

1 c. chicken broth
1 lb. boneless chicken breasts, cut in half
1 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 oz. green chilies, chopped
4 garlic cloves
enchilada sauce from above

For the bowls

1 c. tortilla chips, broken
2 c. lettuce, shredded
2 c. cooked rice
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
sour cream

Instructions

Place the olive oil in a sauce pan. Heat over medium heat.
Add the flour and saute for one minute.
Stir in the chili powder, paprika, oregano, cumin, garlic cloves, and green chilies. Mix well and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Slowly whisk in the chicken broth until well combined.
Add the tomato sauce and mix well. Simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
To make the chicken place the chicken broth in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 15 minutes or until it's cooked through. Remove from pan and shred. Discard chicken broth.
In the same skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat then add the onion, green chilies, and garlic and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the enchilada sauce and the shredded chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes.
To make the bowls place 1/4 of the tortilla chips in each bowl or on each plate then top with a quarter of the lettuce and a quarter of the rice.
Top each bowl with a generous amount of the enchilada chicken. Sprinkle with cheese and then dollop with sour cream.