If you like tortillas, cheese and a creamy green sauce, you’ll definitely like this dish- Enchiladas Suizas! The translation of ‘Swiss Enchiladas’ refers to the amount of dairy in this dish- lots of cheese and cream!
This dish supposedly originated in 1950 at Sanborn’s Cafe’ in Mexico City. The Green Sauce is made with tomatillos, which taste like a cross between tomatoes and plums. If you don’t have access to fresh tomatillos, then you can use canned ones.
To make the green sauce, the tomatillos are first simmered in water along with a serrano chili pepper (or jalapeno pepper), then blended with garlic, onion, cilantro and cream. If you don’t have access to Mexican crema, you can substitute with heavy cream. The result is a nice creamy sauce, full of flavor!
To assemble the dish, each tortilla is filled with cooked shredded chicken, then rolled up and placed inside a baking dish. The sauce is then poured on top, followed by shredded cheese; the dish is then baked in the oven until the cheese is melted.
It took me three attempts at getting this dish just right. I had to bake the first two batches to get the flavors just right, then a third attempt to get some suitable photos. Now I have 18 Enchiladas Suizas in my fridge, just waiting to be eaten!
Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Place the tomatillos and serrano chile pepper in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a low boil- cook for about 10 minutes until the tomatillos soften. Drain and set aside. Place a little oil in a fry pan and soften the chopped onion and garlic over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Transfer the cooked tomatillos, serrano chile, onions, garlic and fresh cilantro to a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer the ingredients to a fry pan, add the chicken stock, crema and salt to taste. Let simmer for 15 minutes until sauce thickens a little; the consistency should be a little thinner than spaghetti sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more chicken stock. Add 1 cup of the sauce to the shredded chicken breast and season with salt; set aside. Heat about ½ cup vegetable oil in a skillet and fry each tortilla over medium high-heat until it is golden but still pliable- about 10 seconds each side. Add more oil if required; transfer to paper towel to drain; repeat with the remaining tortillas. Arrange the tortillas on a work surface. Fill each tortilla with some shredded chicken and roll up like a cigar. Place each tortilla in a rectangular baking dish with the seam facing down, fitting snugly with the other tortillas. Spoon the remaining sauce on top, add the grated cheese and heat in the oven for about 10minutes until the cheese browns a little on top. Serve immediately. To prepare the chicken breast, you can either use a 'rotisserie chicken' purchased at a supermarket or poach the chicken breast in water until tender (this is the method that I used).Enchiladas Suizas
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9 Comments
John / Kitchen Riffs
January 24, 2019 at 5:56 amLooks like a terrific dish, and definitely worth doing 3 times to get it right. Please now you have all those yummy leftovers. 🙂
David
January 24, 2019 at 10:40 pmThe sauce sounds incredible, Fran – I can think of all sorts of uses for it!
mimi rippee
January 25, 2019 at 8:37 amThis is fabulous, and they look so creamy. My husband doesn’t like straight tomatillos, so I add at least 50% green chiles. He thinks they’re too tart. Oh well.
Juliana
January 29, 2019 at 4:14 amCan you believe that I have never made enchiladas? Well, you sure tempted me to try…the sauce sounds incredible delicious…creamy and loaded with flavors. You made it three times? Now that you perfected the recipe I do not have an excuse to not try…thanks Fran!
Have a wonderful week…
Mae
February 3, 2019 at 10:30 pmGreat idea! A recipe for Enchiladas Suizas was in the 1970s Sunset Mexican Cookbook. which taught me a lot about making Mexican style food at home. I haven’t made them in ages — should go back to that recipe!
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Raymund
February 4, 2019 at 6:00 pmI made one of these before and I love it. Cheesy Creamy Spicy Delicious
Jeff the Chef
February 7, 2019 at 4:04 pmGood LORD that looks tasty. I don’t think I’ve ever come across enchiladas suizas in a restaurant, so I’ve never had it. I’ve GOT to make it! Thanks for the recipe!
Fran Flint
February 8, 2019 at 2:44 amThanks Jeff. My local Mexican restaurant serves this dish, so I order it almost every time! Hope you can try it!
marie johson
February 5, 2020 at 5:57 pmThat looks delicious and impressing <3 Love how you present it so beautifully 🙂 Thankyou