Annie's Cheesy Chicken "Benchiladas"

I've been putting off any sort of real grocery trip, so we've been trying to use up what we have around the house. I actually have an enchilada recipe that we love, but didn't have all the ingredients for it on hand. I did, however, have the ingredients for these "Benchiladas" (from one of my favorite blogs) so it was time to see how our favorite recipe compared to her husband's favorite.

All that is needed is shown below: Cheese, tortillas, cooked chicken, a mix of sour cream and ranch dressing (1/2 c. of each), and salsa. (We halved the recipe since we were working with limited ingredients and we only needed 3 servings.)

Add half of the ranch/sour cream mixture to a separate bowl, then combine it with the shredded chicken breast.

We had no cheese in our house aside from a package of jack cheese cubes. A lot of our cooking requires improvising and working with what we have, hence the chopped cheese below, but if you so happen to have a stocked fridge with a Mexican cheese blend in it, by all means, use that.

Assemble your enchilada: Start by spreading about 1 Tbsp. of the remaining sour cream/ranch mix on a tortilla. Top it with some of the chicken mixture, then some salsa and cheese, and then roll it up. Place it seam-side down in a pan. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

I like to fill mine a little bit fuller so I only eat one enchilada, but that's just a personal preference. The recipe states that it should make about 5-7 enchiladas halved and we ended up with 4. 

Bake it at 375° for 25-30 minutes. Let stand for a couple minutes before serving.

And the verdict: I may be biased, but I really didn't think these held a candle to our usual enchilada recipe. Nate and I both thought they were okay, but were a little bit on the bland side. However, a lot of people have made them and loved them based on the comments on Annie's blog, so it may just be a personal preference. I'll plan to post our enchilada recipe sometime this month so you can try those as well and decide which better suits your taste.

Annie's Cheesy Chicken "Benchiladas"

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 8 oz. reduced fat sour cream
• 8 oz. Ranch salad dressing
• flour tortillas (10-15) – we like Azteca, packs of 10
• jar of salsa
• shredded mexican cheese (Annie usually uses close to 4 cups)

Directions:
Cook chicken breasts by preferred cooking method until cooked through. Set aside to cool a bit.
While chicken is cooling, mix up the sauce. In a large mixing bowl, combine half of the sour cream and half of the Ranch dressing. In a small bowl, combine the rest of the sour cream and Ranch dressing. Stir both until well combined. Shred or chop the cooked chicken and add to the large mixing bowl. Mix well with sauce.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a 9 x 13″ pan (and possibly another, smaller pan if needed). Take one tortilla and top with a little less than 1 tbsp. of the sauce from the small bowl. Spread over the tortilla in an even layer. Add some of the chicken mixture to the center of the tortilla. Top with salsa to taste. Sprinkle with shredded cheese, to taste. Roll up tortilla and place, seam side down, in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining ingredients (usually makes 10-15 enchiladas).

Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (30 for a crispier tortilla). Allow to cool a few minutes before serving.

Source: Annie's Eats