These homemade Instant Pot Chicken Enchiladas are so delicious and thanks to the Instant Pot, a snap to make. The chicken and homemade enchilada sauce are prepared in the Instant Pot, then the enchiladas are assembled and baked in the oven. One of the features I love on my Instant Pot is the sauté feature. It’s so convenient to sauté the garlic, onion and jalapeño right in the pot, then add the chicken broth, tomato sauce, spices and chicken to cook. Once the chicken is cooked, remove and shred and you have all the ingredients to assemble the best chicken enchiladas you have ever had. So easy, you will never go back to store bought enchilada sauce again. This enchilada sauce tastes so fresh and flavorful next to canned enchilada sauce, there is really no comparison! I’ve also included a note in the recipe to convert these to slow cooker chicken enchiladas if you prefer.
Start by sautéing the onions, garlic and jalapeño in the Instant Pot. Next, add the chicken broth, tomato sauce, spice, salt and pepper, and a small amount of sugar to brighten the flavor of the tomato sauce along with the chicken breast. Cook chicken breasts and sauce for 10 minutes on high pressure, then Quick Release the pressure.
Carefully remove lid and chicken breasts and set aside to cool. Once the chicken has cooled it will shred easily to assemble enchiladas.
Assemble the enchiladas with shredded chicken, cheese and sauce.
Then cover with remaining enchilada sauce.
Top with shredded cheese and bake covered for 20-30 minutes.
I like my cheese to be super melty and soft, so I don’t bake them uncovered. If you prefer the cheese to toast slightly, remove the foil for the last 5-10 minutes of baking.
Homemade chicken enchiladas, these are seriously so delicious!
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil plus additional for toasting tortillas
- 1 cup of finely diced onion
- 4 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 jalapeno seeds removed, minced
- 1 cup of low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 8 oz cans of good quality tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons of chili powder
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of cumin
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and several turns of freshly ground pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts about 3 medium sized breasts
- 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro plus more for garnish
- 12 corn tortillas
- 8 oz of sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 8 oz of monterey jack cheese shredded
- sour cream for serving
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Set Instant Pot to Saute and add 1 tablespoon of oil.
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Saute onions, garlic and jalapeño until onions start to soften and turn translucent, 2-3 minutes.
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Add chicken broth, tomato sauce, chili powder, sugar, cumin, salt and pepper to Instant Pot and stir to combine.
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Add chicken breasts to Instant Pot, close lid and set pressure release valve to Sealing.
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Set Instant Pot to High Pressure via Manual Mode for 10 minutes.
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Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure, then will countdown from 10 minutes.
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While chicken breasts and sauce are cooking, shred cheese and combine and prepare tortillas.
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To prepare tortillas, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
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Brush tortillas lightly with vegetable oil, spread on a baking sheet and heat in oven for about 5 minutes, just until soft and pliable.
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Once Instant Pot has completed 10 minute countdown, it will beep and switch to Keep Warm function.
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Carefully turn preesure release valve to venting to Quick Release pressure.
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Remove chicken breasts and set aside to cool, then shred.
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Stir 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro into enchilada sauce.
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Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non stick cookings spray.
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Use 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce from the Instant Pot to spread on bottom of baking dish.
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To assemble enchiladas, evenly divide 1/2 of enchiladas sauce, 1/2 of shredded cheese and all of the shredded chicken among the 12 corn tortillas, roll and place seam side down in baking dish.
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Pour remaining enchilada sauce over rolled enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.
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Cover dish with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until heated through and hot and bubbly.
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Sprinkle with additional fresh cilantro and serve with sour cream.
To convert recipe to slow cooker, sauté onions, garlic and jalapeño on stove top, then transfer to slow cooker. Add chicken broth, tomato sauce and spices along with chicken breasts to slow cooker and cook on high 3-4 hours. Follow assembly instructions above.
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If you like this recipe, you may also like some of my recent favorites:
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese
Slow Cooker Chicken French Dip Sandwiches
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- Quick to make
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- and...most important...absolutely DELICIOUS
Alvina
January 31, 2018 at 1:00 pmIs the chicken all cooked after the initial 10 minutes on manual mode?
Melissa
January 31, 2018 at 4:25 pmYes, you can use a meat thermometer to confirm chicken has reached 165.
Robin
February 7, 2018 at 11:12 amThis was great! I wasn’t sure not using enchilada sauce but my husband and I loved this. I used low carb flour tortillas and they came out perfect. Thank you!
Eric
February 20, 2018 at 10:22 amThis recipe has so far ruined my pressure cooker experience. This was the first recipe that I made and I have not had a better dish since. Chicken Enchiladas are my go-to whenever we dine out so I had to try this and I can tell you this was fantastic – better than any restaurant. Thank you for sharing!
Stephanie
February 23, 2018 at 4:49 pmRarely do any recipes I try ever turn out as planned, but this was fantastic. I managed to pull it off while juggling a toddler with the flu and his big sister while their dad was working late. Thank you for such a wonderful and easy dish that even my 6-year-old devoured. It turned out perfect.
Karina
March 1, 2018 at 4:08 amI tried this last night and it was gorgeous! I used frozen chicken and put it on the Chicken mode for 25 minutes – SO YUM! Thank you!
Ryan Henson Creighton
March 2, 2018 at 6:39 amVery, very good. Took a while to make, tbh, and the tortillas are a little tough to roll when they’re slightly toasty (i didn’t want to go nuts with the oil), but my family quite enjoyed the results. This is about the third enchiladas recipe i’ve followed, and i think they all like this one the best.
(We skipped the cilantro, because that stuff is unmitigated trash 😉 )
Suzanne
April 24, 2018 at 7:13 amWe made this last night and it was AWESOME! The chicken breasts I had were huge so I added 5 minutes to the cook time and they were perfect. My husband asked if I could make more lol. Thanks for a great recipe!
Melissa
April 24, 2018 at 11:48 amI’m so glad! Thank you!
Diana
May 3, 2018 at 1:44 pmI love how this cooks my chicken and makes a delicious sauce. Saves a bit of time and money. You can’t get away from rolling the filling in the tortillas, but that effort is worth the final result. Thank you for the recipe!
Lolly
May 30, 2018 at 7:06 amI grew tired of rolling my enchiladas….and now I layer my sauce, tortillas, and filling like I would layer a lasagna. It’s my lazy version of enchiladas. Lol!
Melissa
May 31, 2018 at 2:47 pmAwesome! Love this tip. Thank you!
Linda
June 2, 2018 at 10:52 amOr you can tear the tortillas up in bite size pieces for an enchilada casserole.
Melissa
June 2, 2018 at 1:36 pmSounds great too!
Rebecca Deryckx
October 19, 2018 at 9:42 pmLollly- how many tortillas do you use? 12 like recipe or more?
Nicole Rall
May 12, 2018 at 6:18 pmThis was fantastic. Excellent flavor and I am hard to please! Nicely done!
Sally
May 29, 2018 at 8:43 amCan you make these beef instead? I love these chicken enchiladas though, serious comfort food craving satisfied.
Melissa
May 31, 2018 at 2:51 pmBeef sounds great! You would just need to adjust the cooking time depending on what kind of cut you are using.
Libby Spence
July 18, 2018 at 1:17 pmProbably a crazy question but I would love to make the Chicken Enchiladas and I’m unable to have spicy foods..I don’t want to mess the recipe up for my family ..But could I use half the jalapeno and half the chili powder..Or do you have any suggestions as to a substitute that would still make the recipe work?
THANK YOU!!
Melissa
July 18, 2018 at 4:38 pmHi Libby!
I think you could skip the jalapeños or just use half and cut the chili powder in half and still have good flavor. I hope that helps!
Jennifer
July 19, 2018 at 7:43 pmSo good! I think we will use habaneros next time as we like it extra spicy but even right out of the oven without hot sauce or sour cream it was delicious.
Carla
July 23, 2018 at 8:45 amExcited to try this! Do you think it would be OK to prepare and refergierate it to be baked later? I wanted to pre-prep a few meals.
Melissa
July 23, 2018 at 5:06 pmYes! That would be fine!
Diane Z.
July 28, 2018 at 5:03 pmThis is by far the best recipe for Enchilada’s! So happy I don’t have to buy the canned sauce anymore! I follow your recipe exactly, except that my son like dark meat chicken & I used a few slices of the jarred jalapeno’s. I just made it tonight for the second time!! Will have to try some of your other recipes also.
steph
July 31, 2018 at 4:11 amThis was SO good for how easy it was. My other enchilada recipe takes way longer and more ingredients, but this was actually tastier and super easy! Only changes I made were doubled seeded jalepeno for spice and used flour tortillas (skip tortilla steps). Thanks!
Audrey
August 29, 2018 at 8:36 pmOmg this was SO a good!!! We had these tonight for dinner and they are the best homemade enchiladas EVER! And SO EASY too! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Nora
September 11, 2018 at 9:20 amThese are THE BEST enchiladas. The sauce is so amazing, I could practically drink it. Better enchiladas than I have gotten in any restaurants too.
Thinking of doubling recipe for a group of family coming for a visit. Would I just double all ingredients and keep same timing?
Love your recipes. Lots of flavor and quite easy. Thank you!
Julie
September 17, 2018 at 6:38 amThank you for that recipe, it was a huge success ! We had some chicken leftover for lungh the day after and I skipped the process of preheating the tortillas. It was as good as the night before. Next time, because there will be a next time :-), I think we will skirt some fresh lime juice just before servng, along with the fresh cilantro. Thanks again !!
Olivia
October 7, 2018 at 3:53 pmThese were to die for! Seriously such good flavor in the sauce and everything meshed so well together! Thank you for such a good recipe! I’ll definitely be making it again!
Kristin Binder
October 22, 2018 at 6:24 pmI just got my instant pot the other day, and was intimidated by the settings and directions. This was my first recipe to attempt, and it was delicious! This will be going in our regular dinner rotation for sure.
Fran
December 15, 2018 at 3:53 pmQuick, easy and delicious! But how do you keep the tortillas from turning to mush after baking?
Todd
December 21, 2018 at 7:25 amI’m a picky eater, and these are fantastic. Full of flavor. I halved the recipe for my 3 quart instant pot and wish I had made more sauce. Overall a keeper!!
I also used flour tortikllas instead of corn and they still turned out great.
Laura
December 21, 2018 at 5:21 pmMy first recipe using the insta pot i got today. My picky eater loved it! I didn’t have jalapenos and it was great without. I’m bookmarking the recipe. Highly recommended! Thanks so much!
Carrie
December 30, 2018 at 2:55 pmThis recipe is great! Made twice already. Thanks!
Franny
January 25, 2019 at 12:52 pmThese chicken enchiladas were SO GOOD! Thank you for this great recipe. I used a pastry brush to “paint” the corn tortillas with sauce then placed them in the over to warm – that worked for me!
Amy Burke
January 28, 2019 at 6:45 pmThis recipe was amazing! I had mostly defrosted chicken breasts but added a few more minutes to the cook time. Kids loved it! Will replace the usual chicken enchilada recipe in the rotation! Thanks!
Pam
January 30, 2019 at 4:47 pmThey are delicious but too much for 2 people. Has anyone ever put them in 2 pans, one to bake now & one to put in the freezer for another meal?
Elayne
February 7, 2019 at 12:23 pmThese were FANTASTIC!! Better than any we’ve had in a restaurant. I did use whole wheat flour tortillas but I’m sure they would be equally delicious with the corn.
Farrel
February 16, 2019 at 11:08 amI made these enchiladas last night for dinner and we both loved them. I already had flour tortillas on hand that needed to be used, but other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. I will definitely make these again.
Valerie
March 18, 2019 at 8:26 pmOmg! My husband says he’s never had a better enchilada. I doubled the amount of chicken and increased the time to 15 minutes. We used canned sauce but still added the spices. Great taste. The corn tortillas were a little mushy. Any suggestions so they don’t get like that?
Susan
March 21, 2019 at 6:18 amJust had to stop by and tell you how fabulous this recipe is!! We loved it! It will definitely be put in my favorite recipe folder. We used flour tortillas because we don’t care for corn and they were absolutely delicious! Thanks for such a great recipe!
Jessica T Thornburgh
March 21, 2019 at 9:07 amMy chicken breasts were partially frozen and they weren’t cooked after 10 mins but I shredded the cooked parts and removed any super raw parts. I continued with the recipe and they were frankly awesome. This recipe is now added to my permanent file.
Jennifer Wagner
March 30, 2019 at 2:04 pmThis. Was. Amazing! Super easy and allowed me to enjoy the evening. My boyfriend gave it a resounding 5 stars and a “keep this one for sure.”
Great recipe! Thank you!!
Angela
April 26, 2019 at 9:43 amI’d like to try this, but I’m not sure what you mean by “tomato sauce” as I’m in the UK and that’s what we call ketchup. I’m guessing you don’t mean that! Is it some sort of ready made fajita sauce, or passata, or something like that? Would be grateful for a translation!
Melissa
May 2, 2019 at 11:20 amHi Angela! I tried to do some research for you, but I couldn’t find a clear answer on a good UK sub. Some info said passata is a good sub, but from what I can see passata is made with uncooked tomatoes. American canned tomato sauce is a cooked tomato puree usually lightly flavored with red peppers and spices.
Shellie Fortner
May 14, 2019 at 3:21 pmOn the chicken enchalada recipe, can you use canned sauce instead of homemade