Smoked Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
On August 31, 2022 (Updated October 24, 2023)
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These smoked green chile chicken enchiladas are the ultimate creamy chicken enchiladas with a kiss of smoky flavor. From the spiced and smoked chicken to the rich and cheesy filling, you’ll keep coming back for more.
Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas on the Smoker
These green chile chicken enchiladas are cooked on the smoker, but you can also cook these in your oven if you desire. As I mentioned, the name of the game for these is that they are straightforward and EASY, so feel free to cook them wherever works best for you.
To keep things simple, you can smoke the enchiladas at the same temperature you cooked your chicken (275 degrees F) for extra yummy smoky flavor. If you go this route, you’ll want to broil your pan in the oven for a minute or two to crisp up the top of your cheese. And if you really want to save on time, you can make these enchiladas with leftover chicken!
Ingredients for Smoked Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
The awesome thing about these enchiladas is that they don’t require too many ingredients, and they’re relatively easy to make. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe.
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 4 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Fiesta Rub
- 10 flour tortillas
- 1 28-ounce can green enchilada sauce
- 2 cups shredded colby jack cheese
- 8 ounces softened cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 can diced green chiles
My favorite brand of enchilada sauce is Las Palmas. (This recommendation is not sponsored or anything, I’ve just tried them all, and I feel this one is the best). I buy the medium spice and all my kids eat it happily, but if you’re super nervous about the heat, go for mild.
Fiesta Rub can be purchased directly from the Hey Grill Hey Store. If you don’t have any on hand when you a ready to make this recipe, you can make a similar seasoning using my recipe for Homemade Fiesta Rub.
How to Make Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
Once you have all your ingredients assembled, you’re ready to make these chicken enchiladas! Here’s how to make green chile chicken enchiladas.
- Season the chicken. Season the chicken on all sides with Hey Grill Hey Fiesta Rub.
- Cook the chicken. With your smoker (or oven) preheated to 275 degrees F, place the chicken on the grates, close the lid, and smoke for around 30 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F as read by an instant-read meat thermometer.
- Make the chicken filling. Place the chicken and filling ingredients (scroll to the printable recipe card below for a full list and ingredient amounts) in a bowl and mix to combine and shred the chicken.
- Make the enchiladas. Pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Spoon 1/3 cup of chicken filling into each tortilla, roll tightly, and place it seam side down into the enchilada sauce in the baking dish. Repeat for all 10 enchiladas. Top with remaining sauce and 1 cup of shredded cheese.
- Cook the enchiladas. Place the enchiladas back on the smoker and bake for 1 hour or until the cheese is melted. For crispier cheese, place the enchiladas in the oven under the broiler for 1-2 minutes.
- Serve. Dish up! I like to serve these green chile chicken enchiladas with sour cream, cilantro, and fresh lime wedges.
Quick note: You can cook the whole dish in the oven if you prefer preheated to the same temperature. It’ll still taste great, you’ll just miss the smoky flavor.
Tips for Making Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
Before you dive into making these enchiladas, I’ve added a few fun tips for you to help you make the best-tasting green chile chicken enchiladas around!
- Buy the soft taco sized flour tortillas. They hold the perfect amount of filling and fit beautifully in a 9×13 pan.
- Use a hand mixer. Shred your chicken and mix your filling ingredients in seconds by using the low-speed setting on your electric hand mixer to blend everything together. Just take care that you don’t mix it for too long and break your chicken down too far.
- Roast the chiles from scratch. If it’s hatch green chile season, you can roast two whole chiles over direct flame, scrape the skin and seeds and dice them up to use in place of the can of green chiles.
More Mexican-Inspired BBQ Recipes
If you’ve got a hankering for Tex-Mex or Mexican-inspired BBQ, Hey Grill Hey has a plethora of delicious recipes cooked on your grill or smoker. They’re packed with flavor and easy to make! Check them out at the links below.
Smoked Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Recipe
Making some epic BBQ should be easy, and Hey Grill Hey is here to help! Join my members-only group The Grill Squad today for access to my master classes, podcasts, and so much more. It’s an amazing community of grillers that will help support you and increase your confidence of all things BBQ.
Smoked Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 4 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Fiesta Rub divided use, recipe in notes section
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 cups shredded colby jack cheese divided use
- 1 can diced green chiles
- 1 28-ounce can green enchilada sauce divided use
- 10 soft taco flour tortillas
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat your smoker to 275 degrees F.
- Season. Season the chicken on all sides with 2 Tablespoons of the Hey Grill Hey Fiesta Rub.
- Smoke the chicken. Place the seasoned chicken directly on the grates, close the lid, and smoke for approximately 30-45 minutes, or until the chicken thighs read 165 degrees F. Remove the chicken from the smoker to a large mixing bowl.
- Mix ingredients with chicken. To the bowl of chicken, add the cream cheese, sour cream, 1 cup shredded cheese, diced green chiles, and about 8 ounces of the enchilada sauce. Use a hand mixer to shred the chicken and combine the filling ingredients.
- Make the chicken enchiladas. Pour 1/2 cup enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the filling mixture into each tortilla, roll tightly, and place each enchilada seam side down in the baking dish. You'll have to squeeze, but you should be able to fit all 10 enchiladas in the dish and use all of your filling.
- Add cheese and sauce. Top the rolled enchiladas with the remaining sauce and 1 cup of shredded cheese.
- Smoke the enchiladas. Return your enchiladas to the smoker and cook for about 1 hour, or until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly. If you want your cheese to crisp and brown, place it in your oven under the broiler for 1-2 minutes. Watch closely!
- Enjoy. Remove the enchiladas from the smoker (or oven). Serve them with sour cream, cilantro, and lime wedges.
Notes
- Purchase it from the store HERE: Fiesta Rub
- Make it from scratch using this RECIPE: Homemade Fiesta Rub
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are going into regular rotation for us. We made them with leftover smoked turkey from Thanksgiving. Total winner.
Best enchiladas I have ever had!
The recipe calls for 4 tablespoons of fiesta rub, divided. It says to season the chicken with 2 tablespoons. When do you use the other 2 tablespoons?
So sorry! It goes in the filling. We’ll fix it.
Instant family favorite. The smoke flavor came through perfectly. My kids now request these each Sunday BBQ night.
I love these, they are my new favorite enchilada. The recipe makes way more filling than needed. The recipe calls for 1/3 c for each of ten tortillas, or 3.3 cups total. The sour cream, plus cream cheese, plus Colby jack add up to 3.5 cups–and that is before you add the 8 chicken thighs.
Don’t think we will eat enchiladas any other way again! These are absolutely delicious! Great combination of creamy smokiness. Prepared them on my Rec-Tec 700.
Great recipe, these enchiladas are fantastic! Ours stuck real bad to the bottom and sides. Will spritz with cooking spray for next time.