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These Thai Chicken Enchiladas are everything I love about Thai food. The chicken and vegetable filling is fresh, sweet, spicy, and flavorful!
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These Thai Chicken Enchiladas are everything you love about Thai food, wrapped with up in warm tortillas. My daughter, Kelsey, made these delicious Thai enchiladas for her dinner group at college and everyone raved about how good they were. I talked her into making them for me recently and I couldn’t get enough. The sweet, spicy chicken mixture is so flavorful in a sweet Thai chili sauce, with fresh veggies and spices. You’ll love the alternative to traditional enchilada sauce in this easy recipe.
Ingredients in Thai Chicken Enchiladas
These sweet and spicy enchiladas are such a hit, your family will love them! Such unique flavors, but all made with easy to find ingredients. Here’s what you need:
- Flour tortillas – this recipe calls for 8-10 flour tortillas. I prefer using raw tortillas, which I cook right before I make the enchiladas. But you can use any of your favorite flour tortillas you like. Wrap a damp paper towel around a few tortillas at a time and microwave until softened.
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts – about three large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded. You can use a store bought rotisserie chicken too! So yummy.
- Peanut oil – a little goes a long way with this oil, so start with just one tablespoon. It’s very potent and flavorful. If you can’t find peanut oil, you can use canola oil and a tablespoon of peanut butter for flavor.
- Sweet onion – I use about half of a large onion, finely diced.
- Shredded carrots – about two cups or so.
- Shredded cabbage – use either purple or white or a mixture of both.
- Garlic cloves – four large cloves, minced.
- Salt – one teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- Pepper – about a quarter teaspoon pepper, or more to taste
- Green onions – four or five long stalks, finely sliced
- Chopped peanuts – you’ll use some of the peanuts for the enchiladas, and some additional peanuts as a garnish on top of the enchiladas.
- Fresh cilantro – chopped. Save a couple of tablespoons as a garnish.
- Light coconut milk – two and a half cups. Find coconut milk in the Asian foods aisle or near the milk alternatives in your grocery store.
- Sweet chili sauce – Chili sauce mix can also be found in the Asian foods aisle in the grocery store. It’s a popular dipping sauce and marinade.
Additional Ingredients/Optional Add-ins
While these Thai Chicken Enchiladas are filling and delicious, you may find yourself with a few ingredients that you can absolutely add in! Try some of these ideas:
- Red pepper
- Orange pepper
- Fresh ginger
- Green bell peppers
- Lime juice
- Avoado slices
- Cauliflower
How To Keep Chicken Moist
There are two methods I use for perfectly moist chicken when making these enchiladas, or another recipe that calls for diced or shredded chicken.
- The first is the crock pot method. Place up to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot and cover with ½ cup chicken broth. For more than 4 chicken breasts, add ⅛ cup more chicken broth per breast. Cook on high for 3 to 3/12 hours. Remove from crock pot and shred with two forks.
- When I don’t have time for the crock pot method, I use the stovetop method. Place boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a saucepan large enough to hold them and the liquid with room to spare. Cover the chicken with water or chicken broth (which adds more flavor). Heat on medium-high until the liquid begins to boil. Reduce heat and cover pan. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is 170 degrees F and no longer pink. Drain the liquid and save for broth, and then shred the chicken using two forks. The chicken can be prepared up to three days earlier, which makes these enchiladas even easier to throw together on a busy night. Many thanks to Kelsey for sharing this recipe with me! She adapted the recipe from howsweeteats.com.
Assembling the Enchiladas
Once you have your chicken mixture ingredients gathered and cooked, it’s so easy to assemble these Thai enchiladas:
- Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray.
- Evenly coat each tortilla with the sweet chili sauce and coconut milk mixture, then spread the chicken and veggie mixture into the center of each tortilla.
- Add a thin layer of coconut milk and sweet chili sauce mixture to the bottom of the pan.
- Wrap each tortilla and tuck into the baking dish.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until hot and bubbly.
- Garnish with extra peanuts and fresh cilantro, and more sauce, if desired.
Questions about Thai Chicken Enchiladas
A soft, not soggy tortilla is the secret to a great enchilada. Quickly soften flour tortillas in the microwave in a damp paper towel for a few seconds. Or if you’re cooking raw tortillas, fry in some oil for about ten seconds on each side.
It depends on what kind of enchiladas you’re making. Corn tortillas are traditional for Mexican enchiladas, but for these I like using flour so they can hold more filling and won’t tear as easily.
Generally speaking, bake enchiladas uncovered so they can get hot and bubbly on top.
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If you love Thai food, check out these delicious recipes!
How To Make Thai Chicken Enchiladas
Thai Chicken Enchiladas
Equipment
- 9×13 inch pan
Ingredients
- 10 flour tortillas I prefer using raw tortillas. I cook them up right before I make the enchiladas.
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and shredded
- 1 tbsp peanut oil
- 1/2 sweet onion chopped
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 4 green onions sliced
- 1 cup chopped peanuts divided
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro divided
- 2 1/2 cups light coconut milk
- 1 cup sweet chili sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- If using raw tortillas, preheat a non-stick pan to medium heat (400 degrees) and cook according to package directions.
- Preheat a large skillet to medium heat. Add peanut oil and sauté sweet onions, cabbage, carrots, and garlic for 6-8 minutes, or until veggies are soft.
- Add shredded chicken, green onions, ½ cup of the peanuts, ¼ cup cilantro, salt, and pepper. Mix well and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Whisk ¾ cup coconut milk and ½ cup sweet chili sauce together. Pour onto the chicken and veggies and mix until they are well coated with the sauce. Turn off heat.
- Whisk together remaining coconut milk and sweet chili sauce. Pour ½ cup of mixture on the bottom of sprayed 9×13 pan.
- Evenly spread chicken/veggie mixture on each of the 10 tortillas and place in 9×13 pan. Evenly coat each enchilada with remaining coconut milk and sweet chili sauce mixture.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until heated thoroughly. Take pan from oven and spoon sauce from bottom of pan over enchiladas. Add remaining cilantro and peanuts as a garnish to top of enchiladas.
Notes
Preparing Perfectly Moist Chicken
-
- Crock Pot Method: Place up to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot and cover with ½ cup chicken broth. For more than 4 chicken breasts, add ⅛ cup more chicken broth per breast. Cook on high for 3 to 3/12 hours. Remove from crock pot and shred with two forks.
- Stovetop Method: Place boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a saucepan large enough to hold them and the liquid with room to spare. Cover the chicken with water or chicken broth (which adds more flavor). Heat on medium-high until the liquid begins to boil. Reduce heat and cover pan. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is 170 degrees F and no longer pink. Drain the liquid and save for broth, and then shred the chicken using two forks. The chicken can be prepared up to three days ahead.
Nutrition Information
I loved this twist on traditional enchiladas! Definitely a new favorite!
I love Thai Flavors! I would have never thought to put them inside a tortilla like this. Yum!
I have never heard of raw tortillas……do you mean taking them out of the package and just heating/crisping them? Thanks
Holy cow! This was delicious! I have a big family from ages 6-46. Everyon loved it. My husband said it was top tier👍 I will be making this again. Thank you for sharing
Sooooo good! Easy to put together. Quick. Sweet and savory. A little too much heat for children, but perfect for adults. About a 6 out of 10 heat rating. Did I say they were yummy? 🙂
These were delicious and unique! I used less of the coconut milk/chili sauce mixture over the enchiladas because I didn’t want to open a second can of coconut milk, and it worked great. Thank you for sharing this.
I have never been able to eat Thai food because of severe allergies.. would it still be good with out the peanuts and could I replace coconut milk with regular milk?
No peanuts would be fine, but milk for coconut milk wouldn’t work. Coconut milk is much thicker. Maybe try half and half or heavy cream?
where on earth can you get raw torrillas?
You can get raw tortillas at almost any local grocery store and at Costco. They are in the refrigerated section. I like the Tortilla Land brand. Thanks for asking!
What do you serve with these? I’ve made them a couple of times (delish!!) but can never figure out equally creative sides.
Thank you for asking! I’ve had the same dilemma. Here are a few sides that are delicious with these enchiladas:
Mickey’s Curried Garbanzo Beans
Broccoli Slaw with some Peanuts with our Easy Creamy Thai Peanut Dressing
Asian Cucumber Salad
During the summer, I have also served it with a fresh cucumber and tomato salad or slices of watermelon.
What kind of sweet chili sauce do you use?
We usually use the Mae Ploy kind but any kind will work
im so excited to make these, they look delicious! Do you use purple or green cabbage?
I use green cabbage when I make this recipe. Thanks for asking! You are going to love them!
I’ve made this recipe a half-dozen times now and it is always a hit. It is such a fantastic combination of flavors and an awesome change from traditional enchiladas. Thanks so much for sharing!
I’m happy to hear you love them as much as we do! I have made these for many special events and I don’t ever get tired of them. Thank you for sharing your success!
I love Thai food and can’t wait to make this. What do you mean by “raw” tortillas?
You can purchase uncooked flour tortillas in the refrigerated section of most grocery stores. We get ours at Costco.
This looks amazing. I’m always looking for new chicken recipes. Thanks so much!!