Craving traditional barbecue flavors but want to wrap it up in something that’s easy to handle and easy to reheat? These pulled chicken barbecue enchiladas are delicious, flavorful, and only take about 10 minutes to assemble and 30 minutes to bake.
So, truth be told, I wrestled a lot with what to call these. Because they’re far from anything that approaches authentic Mexican cuisine or deserving of the same name. But let me also say that if you’re expecting authentic Mexican cuisine from a Swedish Californian transplanted to Florida, we need to manage your expectations – the only thing I can do with any kind of authenticity is the blend of flavors and techniques my family and I like.
Anyway, back to the good stuff. These enchiladas. I didn’t want to just call them barbecue wraps, especially since I was loosely inspired by enchiladas suisas. But are they really enchiladas?
So here’s the quick version (again, Swedish girl from California, so correct me if I’m wrong) on the different Mexican wraps we all enjoy whenever we go out for delicious cuisine:
- Burrito – a burrito is a flour tortilla that you wrap around single or multiple ingredients, with various regional differences
- Enchilada – an enchilada is a filling wrapped with small tortillas, usually eaten with a fork and smothered in sauce.
- Chimichanga – a chimichanga is kind of like a small deep fried burrito, often with generous servings of cheese, sauce, and guacamole.
So…here, I have a filling wrapped with small tortillas, smothered in sauce, and eaten with a fork. So let’s go with enchiladas, even if the fillings are completely Southern barbecue inspired and not at all Mexican.
Let me tell you, a barbecue enchilada by any other name still tastes freaking fantastic, and the entire family asks for these again and again.
So what all do you need for this?
- 3 chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp taco seasoning (mine is here)
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup cream cheese
- 1 cup brown sugar baked beans, warmed
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce, divided
- 1/2 cup grated Colby Jack cheese (or your preference)
- 12 small flour tortillas
You can make these enchiladas with chicken prepared in a number of different ways, but my favorite for this is to make pulled chicken in my slow-cooker. For that, I place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker, pour in the chicken broth, sprinkle the taco spice over the chicken, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours. You can cook things faster, but low and slow is best.
At about an hour to 30 minutes before the crock pot is set to finish, I take the chicken out, put it on a plate or in a dish, and shred it up with a couple of forks. Then I put it back in the broth and juice in the slow cooker, let it warm through, and let it get nice and juicy.
At some point, this chicken will probably become its own separate recipe, just because you can do so much with it. Kind of like my Crock-Pot Cider Pulled Pork, you can service it up in sandwiches with some tangy slaw – or as we’ve been enjoying lately, variations on my Apple and Brie Chicken Panini – or in tacos, burritos, lasagna rolls, soups and chilis, and more!
Or, you know, these Pulled Chicken Barbecue Enchiladas I’m going to tell you how to make here. Because they’re pretty awesome. All you need to do to prep the chicken for this is stir in a couple tablespoons of your favorite barbecue sauce to make sure the flavor is throughout.
I start by preheating my oven to 350F and spraying a little olive oil into my baking dish – in this case a 7×11 inch baking dish.
To make the enchiladas, I spread out the tortillas (fajita and soft taco sizes seem to work best for these) and layer in the filling. I start by spreading a spoonful of cream cheese on the bottom, spoon in baked beans, add shredded chicken, and top with shredded Colby Jack cheese and a little bit of barbecue sauce.
Then I tuck the sides of the enchilada, roll it up nice and tight, and tuck it into my baking dish. I use 12 soft taco size tortillas and bake them in two batches, since my baking dish fits six enchiladas easily.
Before baking, I drizzle barbecue sauce over the top of the tortillas generously, and add plenty of shredded cheese. Also generously.
Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, until the enchiladas are hot and the cheese and barbecue sauce are hot and slightly bubbly.
Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. These go great with cole slaw, corn, and other great barbecue sides!
Here’s the recipe card:
Pulled Chicken Barbecue Enchiladas
Equipment
- 1 Crock-Pot or other slow cooker
- 1 7x11 or 9x11 baking dish
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp taco spice
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup cream cheese
- 1 cup brown sugar baked beans
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce divided
- 1 cup Colby Jack cheese grated
- 12 flour tortillas small
Instructions
- Start by placing the chicken breasts in the slow cooker. Pour in the chicken broth, sprinkle the taco spice over the chicken, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours.
- At 1 hour to 30 minutes before the slow-cooker is set to finish, take the chicken out and shred with two forks. Replace in the broth and let it finish cooking.
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray olive oil into a baking dish (7x11 recommended for soft taco size enchiladas).
- Spread out the tortillas. Layer in the filling, starting with cream cheese, adding baked beans, shredded chicken, shredded Colby Jack, and top with barbecue sauce, filling proportions to your preference.
- Tuck in the sides of the enchiladas and roll tightly. Tuck into baking dish with seam side down.
- When you have placed all the enchiladas, drizzle with barbecue sauce generously and sprinkle with more shredded Colby Jack cheese.
- Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, or until the enchiladas are hot and the cheese and barbecue sauce are hot and slightly bubbly.
- Let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.
So let me know – what would you call these? If you tried the recipe, please let me know what you thought of it!
