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Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with cornbread crepe chicken enchiladas. That's right, instead of using tortillas, we're making crepes with a cornbread batter that only takes minutes to put together. And then we'll wrap those around the easiest shredded chicken filling ever, which together made what my wife Michelle called the best chicken enchiladas she's ever had. So with that, let's go ahead and get started with this super simple filling. Which begins by adding two jars of green salsa to a saucepan. And then we'll rinse those jars out with some chicken broth and add that as well. And when you pick this out, you want to make sure the first two ingredients include tomatillos and green chilies or
green chilies and tomatillos. And yes, your favorite green enchilada sauce would also work. Since it's basically made out of the same stuff. And then to that, we will add some boneless skinless chicken thighs. And we will poke those down in and set our heat to medium-high. And while we're waiting for this to start to simmer, we can add our salt. Oh, and do me a favor. Don't try to use chicken breast for this. I mean, you can and it will work, but it's not going to be nearly as good. But anyway, once that starts to simmer, we'll reduce our heat to low. And we will cook this for about an hour and 15 minutes. Or until our chicken is falling apart tender.
Okay, we're going to be shredding this. So make sure you're simmering it long enough. And once that happens, we'll remove the chicken to a bowl. Letting as much sauce drain back into the pan as possible. And once that's been accomplished, we'll set the chicken aside. And we'll crank our heat to high. Since I think we want to reduce this sauce for about five or six minutes. Just to thicken it a bit and concentrate the flavors. And once we feel like that's happened and our sauce is looking a little something like this. We'll turn our heat to low.
And then we'll ladle out about a cup and a half of the sauce. Which we will eventually use it top our enchiladas. And then the sauce that's left in the pan, we'll use to mix with our shredded chicken, which is going to be the next step. And to do that, we'll grab a couple forks, and we will start shredding, and we will continue shredding until that chicken is very shredded. And for me, the finer the better, since that's going to absorb the most sauce, and I think produce the best texture. But if you want your chicken left in bigger pieces, go ahead. I mean, you are after all the Larry of your bird. But in any event, we'll go ahead and transfer that into our sauce, and give everything a nice stir.
And then we'll simply keep that on low heat until we're ready to use it. And yes, you can definitely make this ahead, and it will probably be even better the next day. But anyway, once our chicken sets, we'll make our cornbread crepes, which could not be any easier. Since all we need is one egg, a little bit of sugar, a little bit of salt, some baking powder, and of course a few shakes of cayenne for good luck. And what we'll do is give this a very quick whisk for about 20 seconds before we add the rest of the ingredients, which is going to be some cornmeal, and I'm using a medium grind, but fine would also be fine. And then we'll also need some all-purpose flour, as well as some milk. And that's it, we'll simply whisk this together.
And the great news about this crepe batter is that once it's mixed, we only have to let it sit for a couple minutes before we use it. So by the time you heat your pan over medium-high heat, and brush it with a little bit of melted butter, that batter is going to be ready to use. And what we'll do is transfer in about a quarter cup of batter for each crepe. And as usual, we'll swirl the pan around so it coats the bottom. Oh, and pro tip, since that cornmeal tends to settle a little bit in the batter, make sure you give it a little bit of a whisk before each portioning. And then we'll cook that first side for about a minute or so, or until the
batter on the top of the crepe stops looking wet. And we'll go ahead and give that a flip. And we'll cook the other side for about a minute or so. Or until very lightly browned. And by the way, once you get rolling, you could probably reduce the heat down a little bit closer to medium. So these don't get too dark. And that's it. Once done, we'll transfer that onto a plate. And then just like when we're making corn tortillas, we'll go ahead and cover that with a towel. Which is going to hold in the heat and finish the cooking process. And our crepes will stay nice and soft and supple. And we'll continue cooking and stacking and covering until our batter's gone. And we only need six crepes for the recipe. Although the batter probably
will make about seven. Which is why this last one looks a little ragged around the edges. Since I scraped all the excess batter from the bowl around the edge of the crepe. And once those are done, we'll simply let those steam under the towel for a few minutes. While we prep our pan. And since this was an experiment, and I wasn't quite sure if I had enough sauce, I did add a little more sauce to the marinade to what we took out of the pan. Although in hindsight, I'm not sure if I actually needed it. But anyway, what we'll do is take a casserole pan or a baking dish. And we'll lay down some of that sauce in the bottom and spread it out evenly. At which point we can roll up our enchiladas. Which we'll start with our
crepe, of course. On which we will transfer some pepper jack cheese. Or of course, the cheese of your choice. And we don't need too much. A couple tablespoons is plenty. And that's it. We'll divide our filling into six equal portions. And yes, I did use a scale to get it exact. But you can just eye it if you don't care. And you're not taking contractually obligated pictures. And yes, these are going to be huge. But believe you me, when you eat one of these, you're going to be very glad they're as big as they are. And then once rolled, we'll place that seam side down in our pan. And we will continue on until it's filled. And when something like this is going to be a tight fit, I always like to finish by squeezing one in the middle
instead of on the end. Although I'm pretty sure that makes no difference at all. And then we will grab our sauce and we'll ladle some over the top. But do not, under any circumstances, cover the entire enchilada. Okay, these aren't real enchiladas where their tortillas fried first and dipped in sauce and they're made to order. All right, this is a big casserole style. So we just want to mostly sauce down the middle so that at least half of the surface area is exposed. Since I just think that's going to look nicer and we're going to have a better texture when this bakes. And then we'll finish up with a generous scattering of cheese right over the sauce. At which point these are ready to pop into the upper center of a 425° oven
for about 10 to 15 minutes or until our cheese is melted, our filling's hot, and they hopefully look like this. Oh, yeah, those are beautiful. But let's make them a little more beautiful by spooning some red chili sauce down the middle. All right, not too much. Just basically like a racing stripe, which is going to provide a flavor and visual contrast. Especially if we're going to drizzle some sour cream over the top, which I definitely am. And then I finished up with some torn cilantro leaves. And my cornbread crepe chicken enchiladas were ready to enjoy. So I grabbed not one but two spatulas and I served up.
Yes, you know you're dealing with an oversized enchilada when you need two spatulas. And then I could have enjoyed this as is, but I decided to add a little more of the sauces as well as some sour cream, plus one more pinch of torn cilantro. And then I grabbed a fork and dug in to what Michelle and I agreed were some of the best chicken enchiladas we've ever had. In fact, as I said in the intro, Michelle said these were literally the best chicken enchiladas she's ever had. And while the flavors will be similar to enchiladas made with regular corn tortillas, these wraps really did taste like thin pieces of cornbread, which I thought was a perfect pairing with our green chili chicken. And while these crepes were more than
sturdy enough to hold the filling, they were much more soft and tender and supple than your typical tortilla, which is one of the main reasons I think you guys are going to enjoy these so much. Not to mention, these crepes are very versatile. Since if you're not making enchiladas, you could use them to wrap around fresh fruit as a dessert, or serve them like a flatbread, which we did with our reverse barbecue chicken. Having said that, I am hoping you do use them to make enchiladas, since these were truly amazing, and I really do hope you give this a try soon. So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, [snorts] a printable
written recipe and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy.
