Instant Pot Chicken Enchiladas Casserole—an easy and flavorful way to make chicken enchiladas. Dig in to layers of cheese, tortillas, enchilada sauce and seasoned chicken.
Instant Pot Chicken Enchiladas Casserole
Chicken enchiladas are one of my favorite meals! So tasty with all those flavors and then the melty cheese on top. This casserole version makes chicken enchiladas super easy! You’re going to love how this recipe only has a handful of ingredients and how you don’t have to roll up the enchiladas.
Can I use rotisserie chicken? Yes! For a faster way of making this casserole use pre-cooked chicken like rotisserie chicken meat or canned chicken. Or I like to make my basic seasoned chicken and freeze for a recipe such as this one.
Can I use flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas? I’ve had mixed results with this. One reader said, “do NOT use flour tortillas. They get super soggy and gross in the moisture. Corn Only ALWAYS.” Louan made the king ranch chicken (which is a similar recipe) and said, “I made this tonight for my husband and I! I will be making this again. I only had flour shells but it’s still good!”
Why use a separate pot instead of just the instant pot? For casseroles like this one using the pot-in-pot (PIP) method is the only way to get satisfactory results. PIP allows you to pressure cook desserts, casseroles and other foods that don’t contain much liquid without them burning to the bottom.
What equipment do I need? A 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot*, a trivet with handles* and a pan* for pot-in-pot cooking.
What should I serve with Instant Pot chicken enchiladas casserole? Top with sour cream, diced avocados and cilantro. Serve alongside corn and roasted broccoli.
Can I make this low-carb? The tortillas are the carb culprit in this recipe. If you leave out the tortillas and add layers of sour cream and possibly riced cauliflower you could cut a lot of the carbs.
Try these other Instant Pot recipes…
Instant Pot 5 Ingredient Beef Enchiladas Casserole
Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
Instant Pot King Ranch Chicken
Instant Pot Chicken Enchiladas Casserole
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 33 minutes
- Total Time: 53 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
An easy and flavorful way to make chicken enchiladas. Dig in to layers of cheese, tortillas, enchilada sauce and seasoned chicken.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs (frozen is okay)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 3/4 cups enchilada sauce (I used hatch green chile enchilada sauce)
- 10 (6 inch) soft corn tortillas, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies (I used mild)
- 1 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
Instructions
- Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of Instant Pot. Add in the chicken. Cover the pot and make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 15 minutes for thawed chicken or 18 minutes for frozen chicken. When time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid. Discard the liquid.
- Add chicken to a bowl and shred the chicken. Stir the cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper into the chicken. Clean out the Instant Pot.
- In a pan that fits inside your Instant Pot* pour in ¼ cup of enchilada sauce. Then layer the following ingredients twice (ending with cheese): ½ of the chicken, ½ of the tortillas, ¾ cup enchilada sauce, ½ of the green chilies, ¾ cup of cheese
- Cover the pan with foil. Pour 1 cup of water into bottom of Instant Pot. Place pan on a trivet with handles*. Lower the pan into the Instant Pot.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 18 minutes. When time is up move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Remove the pan and uncover. Dig in with a spoon to scoop layers onto each plate. Eat and enjoy!
Notes
If you have pre-cooked chicken or canned chicken you can skip step 1.
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. Use in the 8 quart pot with no changes.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Can this be frozen after making and reheated in the oven? If so, how long?
Fantastic! I used your seasoned shredded chicken recipe I made & froze. Which made this recipe super quick, easy & DELICIOUS! I even used frozen corn tortillas & left them whole to make the layers. Added sauteed onions, cooked in 6 qt. After pressure cooking, air fried with the mealthy crisp lid at 350 for 10 minutes until cheese bubbly & browned just like in the oven. Will never have to roll another enchilada again. Thanks for another great recipe Karen!
★★★★★
Yum sounds like an awesome way to make this recipe!
This sounds amazing. Can this be made in a crock pot? I no longer have an instant pot.
★★★★★
Yes if you have cooked chicken ready to go. This is how I would make it:
Add chicken to a bowl. Stir the cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper into the chicken.
Pour in ¼ cup of enchilada sauce into bottom of slow cooker. Then layer the following ingredients twice (ending with cheese): ½ of the chicken, ½ of the tortillas, ¾ cup enchilada sauce, ½ of the green chilies, ¾ cup of cheese
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 4 hours
Uncover. Dig in with a spoon to scoop layers onto each plate. Eat and enjoy!
Thank you so much!! I will be making this very soon.
Great recipe. I did make some changes. I browned the chicken a bit in the IP prior to cooking. As a result I only pressure cooked chicken for 8-10 minutes on a trivet. Also mixed the green chiles, cooked onions, and cream cheese with the shredded chicken before layering. After using the PIP method, I did place under broiler to get a more browning of top. The family LOVED it. Served with yellow rice and green beans. Even my skeptic teenage son had two full helpings! Only had enough leftover for hubby to take for lunch. Thank you for sharing! It is going in my rotation of IP meals.
★★★★★
Mmm mmm! sounds great. Tell me more about your yellow rice? Is that a packaged product or something you make from scratch?
Hi Janice, In your reply to Karen, you posted that you put cream cheese in with the chicken. Was this a misprint for the grated sharp cheddar or did you really use cream cheese? Sounds interesting.
★★★★★
Question, haven’t tried this yet: I’m thinking about leaving the tortilla whole, and stacking everything in layers. Do you know if that has been tried successfully with this recipe?
Love that idea! I haven’t tried it myself.
Can’t I just use the pot that came with my instant pot?
You need to cook this pot in pot so that it doesn’t burn. “Why use a separate pot instead of just the instant pot? For casseroles like this one using the pot-in-pot (PIP) method is the only way to get satisfactory results. PIP allows you to pressure cook desserts, casseroles and other foods that don’t contain much liquid without them burning to the bottom.”
I’ve made this a few times and it’s always delicious. Curious if crunchy tostada shells would work in place of cut up tortillas? If not this recipe, any others you have that they might work with? I’ve got a bag of broken shells and am trying to find recipes to use them in.
Yes I think that would be great!
I am pretty new to the Insta pot but mine does not have an inner pot. Obviously I need to invest in one but in the meantime I’m assuming I could throw it into the oven in a casserole dish? After I cook the chicken of course in my Insta pot
Yes you could do that for sure!
For the love of all that is holy, do NOT use flour tortillas. They get super soggy and gross in the moisture. Corn Only ALWAYS.
Noted! Thanks for sharing your experience.
LOL!!!! I was thinking of trying flour tortillas. Thank you for saving me a big, fat soggy HEADACHE!! I will stick to the corn tortillas.
Turned out very good. I used 12 tortillas since mine were a bit smaller than 6″. Also sprayed the pan before adding the ingredients.
★★★★★
Glad you liked it Sharon!
This recipe was a BIG hit with my wife, who is NOT a chicken eater! Easy to make and VERY flavorful!
Thanks!
★★★★★
Oh I’m so happy to hear that your wife even liked it!
Could I use a 6″x3″ for the PIP?
Yes that should work!
Wow! This is as good of chicken enchiladas as I have ever had! Easy too! I had rotisserie chicken in the freezer, thawed, shredded some with 2 forks, added seasonings and mixed. Sprayed my foil with Pam so cheese wouldn’t stick but it did a little anyway. I used red medium enchilada sauce and will use mild next time. I will also sprinkle with green onions when serving. And I will be making this again and again!
★★★★★
Isn’t it the best when you find the rotisserie chicken in the freezer?!
How many cups of precooked chicken would I need?
I’d say about 3-4 cups chopped chicken
Can I use a Fat Daddio cheesecake pan for this recipe?
I think that would work just fine!
I’m so excited to try this tonight. This brings together some of my favorite things: an excuse to use the Instant Pot, pot in pot cooking, canned chicken from Costco, tex-mex food, and little cleanup!
Heck yes to all of that!
Karen, I cannot express how your recipes have changed so many of our meals, and only in the best way possible. I made your Chicken Enchilada Casserole last night, and now there is yet another of your recipes that has been added to my “make again” list. It was wonderful, and my only tweak was after plating, I added a generous dollop of sour cream, just to the side of the piping hot serving. If I can add 1 extra finding, it would be that I have discovered “low” pressure setting is my friend for some of my cooking. Just for cooking the chicken, I used low pressure for 10 minutes, and then after the 10 minutes of natural release, I found the chicken to be fully cooked and moist. The final cook for the layered casserole of course had me do high pressure for 18 minutes. Thank you again for your dedication to sharing so much.
★★★★★
Thank you so much for your kind words. I’d like to know what other foods you use low pressure for. I never use it but probably should figure out when I should use it!
Something you shared once about “zero minutes” recipes really resonated…I experimented one time with hard boiled eggs at LOW pressure for ZERO minutes, and then let the pressure naturally release before removing the lid. This is now the only way I make them.
Wow! Cool. I’ll try that next time and see how it goes 🙂
Excellent flavor combinations! We were happy with this served with some seasoned black beans alongside. Husband noted that he didn’t care for the texture of the corn tortillas after cooking, so we’ll make a change to served over crispy chips for the next try. Loved how easily it came together, and the ingredients are not complicated or hard to find. Nice recipe for any meals, and we’ll put it into our regular rotation. Thanks so much for these IP recipes – most any recipe can be easily tossed into a crock pot and cooked but quantities and methods are very different for the IP. We are grateful that you do the research and trials so we don’t have to! Thank you!
★★★★★
Thanks so much Debbie! I appreciate the kind words 😊
I was given an instant pot and a ninja for Christmas a year ago. I felt so intimidated by them it took me a whole year to touch them. I am now loving them but see all these recipes that call for other items 😪 Where do you get these other things such as the inner bowl and handle? Your recipes look amazing and thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Amazon! I link to the products I use typically.
https://amzn.to/2STGtEX
http://amzn.to/2EH7OR8
I was looking for something to go with the refried beans I had made on Wednesday. I had bought 4 rotesery chickens from Costco yesterday and I was peeling/shredding them up to freeze. I saw this post on Instagram and thought thats what tomorrows lunch will be (we have some people we feed lunch and dinner to when they cut and bail our alfalfa field) I used my crocpot. Set it up on low, cooked for 6 hours after I assembled it. (I obviously skipped the step of cooking the chicken. I just mixed the shredded chicken with spices) i just had to steal a bite about 20 min ago. It is so good. My favorite is the version I made just as stated here and I also made a version with canned red enchilada sause.
This is worth it. And why can’t people figure out how to adapt a IP recipe to a CP. It was so easy.
Thank you for the recipe!! It will be going into my rotation
★★★★★
So glad it was a dinner success for you!
★★★★★
You did not mention if is high or low pressure when cooking? Only minute time of cooking.
Looking forward to trying this!
It’s high pressure 😊
I’m also asking for a CP recipe since I don’t have an IP. Thank you
Can I make this in a 3 quart instant pot?
I don’t think so because it’s a pot in pot recipe and I don’t know that you could find a pan big enough for it to fit in.
It seems as though you no longer give versions of your IP recipes. Not everyone has an IP OR may want to just throw it into a CP. Could you please give both versions (i.e. French Onion Soup Rice)?
Thanks.
Hi there, when I can I try to include both IP and crockpot versions. Sometimes the recipes just aren’t crockpot friendly and sometimes I run out of time and can’t do both. I’ll try to do better.
In the future will you be able to publish the CP version of this Chicken Enchilada recipe? The recipe sounds awesome, would love to do it in my CP.
I think this is fantastic! I never thought to use the PIP method before, and this was the perfect chance to give it a try! Anyone looking for a slow cooker recipe can easily run a search in Google just like they could for this one. Please don’t listen to anyone rating this harshly simply because they don’t have the necessary kitchenware. This is awesome and thank you so much for taking the time out to test and post this!
★★★★★
Agreed. For those of you who want all life has to offer try this:
https://mycrazygoodlife.com/convert-instant-pot-recipes-crockpot/
& thanks for all you do Karen!
sorry, but I don’t think that you have any need to apologize!
This is your recipe page to publish any version of whatever recipe you desire.
If you don’t have an IP, then don’t look up IP recipes!
Can’t wait to try this one
It amazes me how people come on to person’s site then complain that the owner of the site, this being Karen, isn’t making the recipe as they want it made. People need to grow up and do a little work themselves. If you don’t own an Instant Pot you don’t get to complain about an Instant Pot recipe. It’s ridiculous.
Just to be sure, I’m agreeing with you! 😀
Karen, never apologize for this kind of stuff. It’s not up to you to make your recipes in different processes unless you want to. Adults should be able to figure out how to make them with their appliances. 😇