This is the best post I have ever written. My husband just told me to say that because this post is about him. And the best ever chicken enchiladas. These are the enchiladas:

And here is the husband, best husband ever, picture taken at our wedding.

It's about time I posted about my appreciation for my #1 fan/supporter/taste tester/prop builder/dish washer/hand model/IT department aka my amazing husband.

My husband, Bob, is really an amazing man and I am so lucky to have him. No really, I am. He is the biggest supporter of my blog, always encouraging me when I am discouraged, helps me in any way he can from taking the kids on a bike ride so I can get pictures done, to washing dishes, to helping build props ( really any excuse to use power tools he is all for) and to taste test everything. I think he was a goat in a past life, there really isn't any food he won't eat. At least not so far.

Here he is: my crab fisherman after a trip to the Oregon coast when we lived there (the crab was amazing and he also went clam digging for cockles, a type of clam, that I made some pretty killer chowder with), sifting flour to make my birthday cupcakes. We always make each others birthday cakes and he is actually a really good baker. Except for that one time he filled the pan up way too full. Oops.  He is also my own personal dishwasher and our girls love to help. "Help" I should say. And he is also an amazing father. I mean look how well he pays attention to our chicks...

He also would sit and watch cooking shows with me when we used to have TV service. One of which was Top Chef Master's where we discovered Rick Bayless and his amazing Mexican cuisine recipes. We immediately bought several of his cookbooks and this recipe I am sharing today is slightly adapted from one in his book, "Mexican Everyday". It is a well loved book in our house. So many favorite recipes.

Here we are all dolled up for a date night and we never take anything in life too serious so this pretty much sums us up

Here he is securing boards to our car from Lowes to take home to cut into sections, sand and make blog ready.

I knew when I was going to write a post about my awesome husband that I would make his fave enchiladas from the Rick Bayless cookbook. One of our favorite things to do together is cook a meal! I know, it is so cliché, but we really do love spending time together in the kitchen. He is actually a better cook than I am. But we have a rule - if you cook you don't have to wash dishes. I HATE washing dishes. So I do most of the cooking just to get out of washing dishes.

I really do appreciate my husband so much, he's the best. 

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Yield: 10-12

Best Ever Chicken Enchiladas {Appreciation Post}

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Best Ever Chicken Enchiladas Adapted from Rick Bayless Makes 20 enchiladas

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the Enchilada Sauce

• 10 dried Guajillo pepper pods
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 1 28oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground ancho chili powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ⅓ c tomato paste
• 3 cups chicken broth (I used gluten free) More to thin sauce if needed

For the Enchiladas

• Olive oil
• 20 – 6” organic corn tortillas (gluten free)
• 3 generous cups coarsely shredded cooked chicken (Either grilled, poached or rotisserie)
• 1 ½ cups shredded jack cheese
• 1 small white onion cut into thin slices
• ½ cup loosely packed cilantro
• ⅔ c queso fresco
• 1-2 avocados sliced

Instructions

Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles. Heat up a skillet over medium heat and roast the garlic cloves a few minutes each side until soft. Set aside until cool enough to handle and peel. Using the same skillet toast the chiles, pressing flat with a spatula about 5-8 seconds a side. Once all the chiles are toasted place them in a blender with the fire roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, salt, ancho chili powder, cumin and pepper. Blend until it’s a fine puree. If you have a vitamix or blendtech you can puree super fine, if not you will want to strain the mixture since not all of the chile pods will be pureed fine enough to not notice them. To strain the mixture the best set a strainer over a bowl and pour in the sauce into the strainer scraping with a spatula until all the sauce is in and the chile pod pieces remain in the strainer in a thick paste ( If any is left). Make sure to scrape the outside of the strainer to get all of the sauce.

Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a stock pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Discard the remaining chile skins. Cook stirring until sauce thickens 10 min or so being careful as it will bubble up and spurt out of the pot. Add the chicken broth and tomato paste and stir well to combine. Reduce heat to medium low, place a lid on the pot leaving it slightly cracked and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering preheat your oven to 350 deg.

Lay out tortillas on a baking sheets, brush both sides with olive oil. Place in oven for about 1-2 minutes. Flip carefully and heat another minute until very pliable. Remove from the oven and keep warm stacked on a plate covered with a towel. Repeat with all the tortillas.

Taste the sauce and season with salt to your liking. Stir in more broth if the sauce has thickened again, up to ½ cup. Place the shredded chicken into a bowl and add ½-⅔ cups sauce and mix well to coat. Add in 1 cup of the shredded cheese and stir again. Add more sauce if all the chicken is coated.

Spread about ½ cup sauce over bottom of a 13X9 baking pan. Working with one tortilla at a time, keeping the others under the towel to stay hot, Spoon about 2-3 tablespoon of the chicken mixture towards one edge of the tortilla and roll up gently. Place seam side down in pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Once all the enchiladas are in the pan cover with the rest of the sauce and top with the remaining ½ cup of jack cheese. Bake for 10-15 min until cheese is melted.

Serve hot and top the enchiladas with the thinly sliced onion, chopped cilantro, crumbled cotija cheese and avocado slices.

Notes

You can find packs of the chile pods in any Mexican grocery store or Mexican section of a traditional grocery store.

Did you make this recipe?

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These really are the best enchiladas ever. Making the enchilada sauce from scratch doesn't take that long and makes it so worth it, it has amazing flavor.

AND thank you to my awesome hubby for whom I couldn't live this life without and being my 100% unconditional support system and for always believing in me. And thanks for your abs too. I mean great smile. Kidding I meant abs.