Chicken Enchiladas with Pumpkin Cream Sauce

This dish is such a delicious twist on regular enchiladas.  The corn tortillas are filled with a chicken and caramelized onion mixture, then topped with a pumpkin cream sauce and sprinkled with Queso Fresco. With the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg and cumin to the cream sauce give this dish flavors of fall, and the addition of Queso Fresco just puts it over the top.  There is nothing “spicy” about this dish, so my kids ate it right up.  This meal is quick to throw together, especially if the chicken has been pre-cooked in the crockpot!

Chicken Enchiladas with Pumpkin Cream Sauce

Author/Source:

Heather @ Onceamonthmom.com; adapted from Cheeky Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1.5 cup chicken, cooked and diced or shredded
• 0.5 cup pumpkin puree
• 0.5 cup heavy cream
• 0.5 cup chicken broth
• 0.25 teaspoon cinnamon
• 0.25 teaspoon nutmeg
• 0.25 teaspoon cumin
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 0.25 teaspoon pepper
• 8 medium corn tortillas
• 1 cup Queso Fresco **

**Queso Fresco is a  Mexican “fresh cheese” that is delicious crumbled on tacos, refried beans, enchiladas, pretty much everything else!  It can sometimes be hard to find, though.  Good substitutions are mozzarella, or a shredded Mexican style cheese blend.

Directions:

Ready for the oven or freezer. These enchiladas have a shredded cheese blend instead of the Queso Fresco.

Cook chicken in crock pot the night before and chop or shred.  In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion slices. Saute until brown and caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add chicken to pan, mix with onions and remove from heat. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, cream, broth, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, salt and pepper. Set aside. Spoon chicken mixture evenly into tortillas. Roll tortillas tightly, place seam side down in baking dish. Pour pumpkin cream sauce over enchiladas, and crumble Queso fresco over top. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes until cheese browns.

Freezing Directions:

Prepare as directed above, but do not pour cream sauce over enchiladas. Place pumpkin cream sauce in quart freezer bag. Place Queso Fresco in another quart freezer bag. Label baking dish, sauce bag and cheese bag. Freeze. To serve: Thaw. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pour sauce over chicken enchiladas, sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until top of cheese browns.

Servings: 4

**conversion chart image provided by Erik Spiekermann

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2012 at 8:30 am and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.