Marsha's Amazing Chicken Enchiladas (Crock-Pot)

So, I had this fun idea for how to make homemade enchiladas, and it turned out GREAT!  The meat was so moist and flavorful! Scott has requested that I make them weekly now.  Ha, ha!  I actually have always loved restaurant enchiladas, but had yet to really experience home-made ones that seemed as tasty to me.  So, it all started with trying to find a good sauce. The sauce I finally tried that I thought worked very nicely was... drum roll... Old El Paso.

So, this is what I did. (My tips are at the bottom for making a better enchilada...)

Marsha's Amazing Chicken Enchiladas (Crock-Pot) 

2 cans enchilada sauce (your favorite kind)
1 package raw chicken tenders
shredded cheese (I like the cheddar/monterey jack blend... you know, the white and yellow cheese mix)
large flour tortillas (approximately 8)

Place chicken tenders in the Crock-Pot and cover with one can of enchilada sauce.  Cook on low all day. Remove chicken from Crock-Pot, but reserve the sauce on low heat.  Let chicken cool until it can be handled, and then shred.  Return chicken to Crock-Pot and stir into sauce.  If your proportions are right, the shredded chicken should absorb the sauce nicely. 

Preheat oven to 350-425 degrees (depending on how quickly you want your enchiladas to heat through). Spray a glass baking dish with non-stick spray. Pour some of your second can of enchilada sauce into the bottom of your baking dish to cover the bottom.   

Take a tortilla, place several spoonfuls of chicken down the center, sprinkle with cheese, roll up and place in your baking dish.  Repeat. Top the enchiladas with the rest of your can of sauce, additional cheese, and cover with tinfoil to bake.

Place in a heated oven until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.  Remove tinfoil and bake an additional few minutes to slightly brown the top.  Enjoy!

Tips: If your tortillas are too cold or stiff to roll easily, place them in the microwave for a few seconds to heat and soften.

It is important to have some sauce in the bottom of your baking dish because it keeps the bottom of your enchiladas moist.  Otherwise, the direct heat on the bottom of the pan during baking can make them crispy.

How much chicken and sauce you use in the Crock-Pot totally depends on how many enchiladas you want to make.  I used one package of raw tenders, which was probably eight or ten nice sized chicken tenders or so. It made approximately 8 enchiladas using large flour tortillas, and filled my baking dish.  I used a 15x10 glass baking dish, which allowed me to fill the pan with five enchiladas going the long way, and three going the short way. The large tortillas are too long for a standard 9x13 pan going the short way.

It is important to also make sure that the top of every tortilla is coated in sauce.  Dry tortilla surfaces will only dry out further in the oven, making them crunchy in the end.  So, cover with sauce and cheese liberally.  In my house, the more cheese, the better!  If you find you do not have enough sauce... either open another can to supplement, or else you can try rolling your tortillas around in your pan to use some of the sauce that you placed in the bottom.

I find it is best to make sure your enchiladas fill the pan pretty completely, reducing the amount of sauce you need to cover and to keep them from unrolling or loosing all their filling during the baking process.

Also, I am rather picky about lots of popular veggies... but if you are into green chilies, peppers, onions, etc. feel free to dump those things into your Crock-Pot with your meat.