These creamy Poblano Enchiladas can be made with chicken or roasted cauliflower (or both). Flavorful and tangy with a subtle, lovely heat, they are filled with corn, cilantro, lime zest, coriander and cumin and bathed in the most flavorful poblano sauce.
Poblano Enchiladas with CAULIFLOWER! | Video
How to roast Poblano Peppers!
- On the Stovetop: If you have a gas stovetop, place directly over a medium-low flame, turning often, for about 5 minutes until blistered and blackened. The easiest, fastest way.
- Broiled In the oven: turning until they blister, about 10- 15 minutes. If you don’t have a broil setting, you can still roast in a very hot oven, but it will take a little longer for the skins to blister.
How to make Roasted Poblano EnchiladaS
Step one: Make the creamy poblano sauce using roasted poblanos or canned chilies.
If making this with chicken, use leftover rotisserie chicken, baked chicken breast, shredded chicken, or even this chicken carnitas recipe.
For this recipe, I used 8-inch tortillas that were flour.
Roll them up and place seam side down in a greased 9×13 baking dish.
Cover with the remaining poblano sauce and the remaining cheese.
What to serve with Poblano Enchiladas:
- Mexican Slaw with Cilantro and Lime
- Mexican Pinto Beans
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Refried Beans! | Instant Pot or Stove Top
- Guacamole
- Fermented Hot Sauce!
Creamy Poblano Enchiladas
- Prep Time: 35 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Yield: 8 enchiladas 1x
- Category: Main, vegetarian
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Mexican,
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Ingredients
Filling ingredients:
- 3 cups cooked shredded chicken – see notes (or sub 3 cups roasted cauliflower – see notes)
- 1 cup corn – fresh or frozen, or sub spinach, sauteed bell pepper, sautéed mushroom or onion
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 scallions, sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
Poblano Sauce Ingredients:
- 1 large fresh poblano chili roasted, peeled and finely chopped (use half) or sub-4-ounce can green chilies (use half)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 1 shallot, chopped (or half an onion, finely diced)
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/4 cups chicken broth or stock (or veggie broth)
- 3/4 cup Sour Cream
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper
Enchilada Ingredients:
- 8 x 8-inch flour tortillas
- 2 1/2 cups queso fresco cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Make the Filling: Prepare chicken (or cauliflower/spinach) see notes, and place in a bowl. Add corn. Mix with cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, scallions, fresh cilantro and lime zest. Set aside.
- Roast the poblano (or use canned green chilies) directly over a gas flame on the stove or grill (or place on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler) turning regularly, until the skins have blackened and blistered. Place in a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let cool. Under running water rub off the blackened skin, carefully tear open and pull out the seed pod and stem and rinse all the seeds away. Dice finely. (If pressed for time, you can skip this step entirely by substituting 1 small can of green chiles-don’t use jalapeños)
- Make the Poblano Sauce: In a medium pot, over medium heat oil or butter, and saute shallot until golden and fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Add the flour, and toast, stirring 2 minutes on med-low heat. Whisk in the broth a little at a time, bring to a simmer, and once thickened turn off the heat. Let cool 5 minutes. Stir in the sour cream, and whisk until smooth. If using canned chilies, add ½ of the can now, along with coriander, salt and pepper. Save the remaining chilies and add to the filling. Alternatively, if using the poblano, add a cautious 1/3 of the diced poblanos to start, tasting for heat. (Most are mild, but some, very occasionally are hot!) Then, according to your heat tolerance, add the remaining poblanos to taste. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Add some to the filling if you want.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Warm the tortillas to make them pliable (over a gas flame on the stovetop, in the microwave covered for a few seconds, or warmed in the oven) and wrap in a kitchen towel.
- Assemble: Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan. Create an assembly line with warm tortillas, filling, cheese and sauce. Add 3 tablespoons of cheese to the center of each tortilla, 2 tablespoons of sauce, and 1/2 cup of filling and roll them up. Place them seam-side down in the pan. Pour the remaining sauce over top and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Place in 350 F oven for 20-25 minutes, uncovered until golden and edges are crispy.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro and scallions.
Notes
Use leftover rotisserie chicken, or make this simple baked chicken and shred, or this Chicken Carnitas recipe.
If subbing cauliflower/spinach: Preheat oven to 425 F. Chop one head of cauliflower into very small bite-size pieces, toss with olive oil to coat, and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon coriander and toss to coat well. Roast on a parchment-lined sheet pan until tender, and edges are slightly crispy. Wilt Spinach: Heat a little olive oil in a skillet, saute 1/2 cup diced onion until tender, add 2-3 handfuls of baby spinach and stir or toss until spinach is just barely wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the cauliflower and spinach in a bowl, mix in cilantro, scallions and lime zest. Add corn if you like, and taste for salt and pepper, adjusting. Use this to stuff the enchiladas.
If making ahead, either bake and reheat, or assemble ahead, leaving the sauce off the top until baking time.
Cotija cheese, a Mexican style cheese is much saltier than queso fresco, so make sure to use queso fresco, not cotija….the packages look similar, but there is a big difference.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: one enchilada - chicken and cheese
- Calories: 309
- Sugar: 2.7 g
- Sodium: 1591 mg
- Fat: 9.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 33.8 g
- Fiber: 1.8 g
- Protein: 22.9 g
- Cholesterol: 35.6 mg
I’m a newcomer to your site and couldn’t be more delighted with the success I had with this recipe! We love roasted Poblano chili’s but I had just over a cup of previously roasted Hatch chili’s (frozen) which I felt the urge to use! Additionally, I added both roasted cauliflower AND chicken- the result was magnificent! My thanks to you Sylvia.
Im so glad ou enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!
Would it be crazy spicy using two poblanos?
no I don’t think so!
I made these tonight and they were good. I didnt add anything extra but i will next time i make them.
Oh. My. Gosh! I made these tonight with organic chicken breast, and exactly as you have stated above, and only added some salsa on the dish when serving. My hubs and I like it spicy so we added some sauce:) It was a HIT with my family!! I added some mozz cheese to my queso fresco (lessened the queso fresco and added shredded mozz cheese at the end). The only thing is, I couldn’t get my tortillas dad crispy even after the 10 min @ 400 so I added more time then sat them under broil for a few min to get them just right. Super yummy, perfect blend of flavors. My daughter, who rarely eats meat, ate 1 and 1/2!! Thank you thank you thank you!!
Oh thanks Lisa! Appreciate you sharing and so happy your family like it. I will review the recipe!!
Thanks!! Glad you liked it.
These are wonderful. The only changes I made were to add some diced portabella mushrooms that were needing to be used and adding a bit of goat’s milk cheddar cheese that we didn’t care for standing alone.
So delicious. First time roasting poblano peppers. My son (homeschooled) asked to have his extra piano practice subbed for a cooking lesson. We had a great time together roasting the peppers and chopping and taste testing!
Thank you for the recipe and great photos.
I made these yesterday using pork for the filling and roasted peppers from the farmers’ market. Delicious!
Yes, but I would leave the sauce off.
How spicy are these? My son does not do well when I eat things with much heat.
Medium Spicy.
What kind of dishes did you use for the individual portions? I love the size!
What kind of baking dish is that for the individual servings? I love the size and tall sides!
The store didn’t have poblanos, so I subbed with pasillas… they turned out great! I don’t often find a recipe that makes EVERYONE in the family happy, but this one did the trick.Thanks for the delicious recipe.
Yay! Im glad they liked it, and i will try it with Pasillas too!
I made these yesterday night for dinner and they were a home run! My boyfriend and his Dad loved them and I heard they were talking about them with their friends at work. I will definitely be sharing this recipe with my friends… I added spinach and they looked beautiful and tasted delicious!
Oh good!!
I made these for my boyfriend and his father yesterday for dinner, and it was an all around home run! I added spinach to them and they looked beautiful and tasted delicious… I am going to pass this recipe around my circle of friends. Thanks!
These look wonderful. I love that you used roasted poblanos. I really like poblanos but I feel like I don’t use them in my cooking enough.
Now you have a good excuse!
I’m making these in a few hours! Trawling the net for a great enchilada recipe to use up some sour cream and found these stunners. Tough to get poblanos down here in Australia, I’ve tracked down some canned ones for poblano roasted corn chowder but have some left luckily! I am sure the canned ones won’t be near as good as the roasted ones but ill give it a shot – let you know how they go!
Let me know how it turned out!
Did it with cauliflower tonight and my non-veg husband had no idea it was vegetarian. Thank you for sharing this!
These look, just, scrumptious! And I love that you provide an option for both the meat-eaters and the vegetarians – right up my alley.
These look amazing! Love that creamy sauce. Totally need to make these!
Looks oh-so-creamy! I may just have to make this for dinner tonight!
Oh my gosh, these enchiladas should be in my casserole dish every night of the week! They’re gorgeous and look like they taste heavenly!
This sounds great and I love that you have a vegetarian option for the filling, but about the sauce? I see that you use chicken stock. Would vegetable stock work well as a substitute? Thanks!
Oops…yes, of course! Veggie Stock. I forgot to add it as substitute…thanks for pointing it out!
It would be pretty close to same amount of time. Bake for 10 minutes to crisp them up, then pour the sauce and cheese over top and bake for another 15 minutes.
I can’t wait to make these! I love cooking with poblano peppers-sometimes I will roast them and stuff them with a chicken/veggie filling and then bake. I made your white chicken lasagna last weekend-also quite delicious. I really liked using egg wrappers-brilliant!Always look forward to your posts-Kate
Thanks Kate!
ohhhhh baby. These looks completely delicious. The light in these photos is wonderful. And thankyou for the hot tip on how to get crispier enchiladas! That one is a keeper.