Now you can have Christmas all year round with these fun, two-toned red and green sauce enchiladas. Made with basic shredded chicken, salsa, and cheese, friends and family will be delighted with this Santa Fe inspired recipe.
If you have two small baking pans you can make one pan of each – one with red sauce and one with green sauce. This pleases picky eater kids and choosy family and friends.
A couple of years back my besties from my home town (Michigan) and I met up in Santa Fe, New Mexico for our annual girls trip. We had a great time in that magical city while fully embracing the prevalent chile culture. The delicious Latin cuisine is not to be missed, meshing Spanish, native-American, and Mexican food cultures. I noticed Christmas sauce on almost every menu. I was perplexed.
I’ve seen my share of red sauces and salsas living in California. The green sauce in Santa Fe was something special. In some places, the sauce was made up of green chiles while in other joints the green sauce consisted of tomatillos. We were given the choice of red sauce, green sauce, or, my favorite, both (a.k.a. Christmas sauce)!
Here is an example of what choosing to have both red and green chile sauce, also referred to as “Christmas chiles” in Santa Fe might look like:
Illustration of Christmas chile sauce served up at a Santa Fe restaurant. Note: typically there is not such a soupy amount!
What are Christmas Enchiladas?
- enchiladas made with both red sauce (or red salsa) and green sauce (or salsa)
- *enchiladas that have been adapted to a Santa Fe, New Mexican style of serving both red and green sauce
- visually stunning for home, guests, or a potluck
- clever, festive idea for Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner. If you like the idea of Mexican for Christmas dinner, be sure to also check out this post loaded with related ideas including a recipe for traditional Mexican rice.
Making this easy, at home rendition of Christmas Enchilada recipe for family and friends feels generous. The reality is that it is so, stupid easy. Let’s keep it our little secret how simple it is to offer variety both aesthetically and in taste.
It’s also fun to make red and green enchiladas in the same dish!
Here is what that looks like:
5 Reasons to Make Christmas Enchiladas
- appealing both visually and in taste – festive red and green
- nutritious, delicious and filling – lean chicken, whole wheat tortillas, light salsa for sauces
- easy, fast dinner – use precooked chicken and jar salsas for the sauces
- versatile – choose what you like inside, meat, beans, cheese, corn
- it has a cute and clever name!
How to Make Red and Green Enchiladas
- Start with cooked chicken (about 2 breasts or roughly 6 ounces). I don’t care how you come up with the cooked chicken – buy a pre-cooked roast chicken, Trader Joe’s Just Chicken, cook it in the Instant Pot, or on the stovetop or crockpot. I typically make shredded chicken in the Instant Pot. Here is an easy recipe for cooking chicken from fresh or frozen in an Instant Pot. Shredded chicken is easier to spread into the heart of the enchiladas and deal with.
- Split your 2 jars of salsa into thirds. One third will be for the bottom of the pan, one third will be for inside the enchiladas, and one third will go on top. Be sure to save some for the top!
- Next, take the cooked chicken mixture and separate it into two bowls.
- We are keeping things uber simple and using store-bought salsa for the sauce in this recipe. If you have a favorite enchilada sauce, by all means, feel free to use that.
- Add 1/3 of the jar of salsa or red enchilada sauce to the first bowl of shredded chicken. Add one-third of the green enchilada sauce or pureed green chiles to the other half in the 2nd bowl – again remember to save some salsas for the top!
- Add any other fillings of choice to the chicken mixture – we like black beans and corn when we have them.
- Soften the tortillas 2 at a time in the microwave for 10 to 12 seconds.
- Place a few spoonfuls of the chicken mixture along the center of the warmed tortilla and fold the ends up, overlapping the edges at the top and tucking the chicken filling in like a blanket.
- Place the enchiladas fold side down on the sauced and prepared pan.
- Pour the remaining red sauce over one-half of the wrapped tortillas in the baking dish.
- Pour the remaining green sauce over the other half of the wrapped-up enchiladas and spread it around.
- Here is what the baking dish will look like from a side angle. Red sauce on one side of your enchilada and red sauce on the other!
-
- Top with ample shredded cheese (we like light Mexican blend)
- Bake for about 25 minutes
- Top with cilantro, fresh salsa, avocado, lime juice, black olives (optional)
The following photo share is a flashback from when Bob took a trip down to southern California for work and coincidentally got Christmas sauce on his wet burrito – yum! Looks like the Santa Fe trend is catching on.
Bob’s burrito lunch from a taqueria in Santa Ana, an hour south of LA
Pin for later:
If you make this recipe Christmas Enchiladas please give it a star rating and leave us a comment. We love to hear from you.
By the end of that girl’s trip to Santa Fe, I realized that I had a preference for the green sauce. Even so, it sure was fun indulging in both the red and the green. One day I’d like to check out Santa Fe’s Wine and Chile Festival – it sounds like just my kind of thing and a great excuse to get back to that quaint, historic city.
Are you becoming a fan of Santa Fe inspired cooking? I know I am. If you are cutting down on carbs, you’ll love this recipe for Santa Fe Crockpot Turkey Meatloaf. If you love Mexican food as much as we do and can’t get enough enchiladas, check out the easy recipe for Skinny Crockpot Enchiladas. How about something healthy and Mexican for breakfast? If that sounds amazing, check out our recipe for Baked Chilaquiles.
*Disclaimer: Please note that authentic Santa Fe Christmas Enchiladas are made with red and green chiles, not salsa. I use salsa in this recipe as it’s easier to find in most demographics.
Peace & Hugs,
✨Bita
[mv_create key=”160″ thumbnail=”https://ovenhug.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/christmas-enchiladas-with-red-and-green-sauce.jpg” title=”Santa Fe Christmas Enchiladas” type=”recipe”]
Your recipe is not for native New Mexican enchiladas. In Sante Fe and the rest of the state we use actual hatch green and red chile (it’s so different we spell it chile). Yes we do Christmas but that is the only similarity. They have a completely different taste than salsa. We also used boiled chicken. I’m sure yours are good but they sound more like Tex Mex.
Hi Louis – clearly I am not a native of New Mexico. Thank you for the authentic and honest feedback. I added a note reflecting your advice and information at the end of the post. For authentic it is not salsa – note taken, thanks!! Tex Mex it is 😉