Unlike most of my recipes, this one isn’t made from scratch. But it IS a crowd-pleaser! Perfect for lingering Thanksgiving house guests, ladies’ luncheons, or a weeknight meal. Everyone loves these pavo enchiladas!
Pavo enchiladas are perfect for a party or for a day when you know you want to have some extra time before serving. You can have everything prepped ahead of time. Thirty-fourty minutes before meal time,you can pop these into the oven and have a little time to get yourself ready, to visit with guests, to tidy the house or to help kids with homework. Whatever your day requires! See what I mean?… Great for parties and weeknights alike!
What you’ll need
Baking dishes
- this recipe makes enough sauce for 3, 9×13 baking dishes, but you can use whatever assorted sizes you have.
Sauce
- I tend to use the “healthier” versions of each of these ingredients… avocado mayo, low sodium soup etc. I do plan create a from scratch version of this recipe soon so if you find you love these but, like me, wish they were healthier, be sure to check back!
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
2 cans evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
3 cans cream of chicken soup
5 tsp lemon juice
3 tsp cumin
Enchiladas
flour tortillas (about 30)
shredded turkey meat
canned whole green chilies, sliced into 1 in wide pieces (2-3cans)
monterrey jack cheese slices (about 12 oz)
paprika
How to make Pavo Enchiladas
Sauce
- This sauce can be made days in advance if you like. It also freezes really well! When I make pavo enchiladas, I often use half of the sauce and freeze the other half for another time!
Place all of the ingredients for the sauce into a pot and heat it up. Stir almost constantly until all of the ingredients have melted together, but be careful NOT to boil them! Trust me on this.
When everything is melted, taste the sauce for seasoning and adjust as needed. I find that, depending on the type of mayonnaise I may add more lemon juice or cumin.
When you are satisfied with your sauce, turn off the heat and let it sit while you roll the enchiladas.
Enchiladas
Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease 9x13in baking dishes with olive oil.
Set up your assembly station with all of the ingredients near you.
Rolling the enchilads is a great job for kids or for early guests who want to help. Place a slice of cheese, some turkey meat, and a slice of green chili into a tortilla and roll it up.
Then place the rolled enchilada, flap side down, into the baking dish and repeat until the pans are full.
- I can’t give you a number of enchiladas because the amount you end up with will depend on how full the tortillas are and how tightly they’re wrapped.
When all of your enchiladas are rolled and snugly placed into the baking dish, ladle the sauce generously over the enchiladas.
Last last step is a little garnish that does surprisingly make a significant difference. Sprinkle paprika over top of the enchiladas. (If you don’t have any, just skip this step. They’ll still be delicious!)
Bake for 25-30 minutes and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Make ahead/ leftovers
You can easily make these ahead of time, but I do have a few tricks…
First, this recipe makes a lot of enchiladas! If I am making these for my family I like to make the entire sauce recipe and either roll just enough enchiladas for my family and freeze the remaining sauce for later use, or to prepare the second half of the recipe as a freezer meal.
My preference is to roll the enchiladas and save the sauce separately, topping the enchiladas right before baking. That is what I would do if I were making these ahead of time for guests. However, I almost never save the sauce separately for myself. The only difference I find is that the tortillas don’t maintain their texture as well when they are stored already topped with sauce. It doesn’t bother me so I usually store mine ready for the oven.
Leftovers don’t usually last long. Its a treat to have these for lunch the next day! But if you do have an entire baking dish left over after a party or something, you can freeze them and then thaw and reheat at the same temperature and time.
Pavo Enchiladas
Ingredients
- Sauce:
- 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
- 2 cans evaporated milk
- 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 3 cans cream of chicken soup
- 5 tsp lemon juice
- 3 tsp cumin
- Enchiladas:
- flour tortillas (about 30)
- shredded turkey meat
- canned whole green chilies, sliced into 1 in wide pieces (2-3cans)
- monterrey jack cheese slices (about 12 oz)
- paprika
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients for the sauce into a pot and heat until melted together.
- DO NOT allow it to boil.
- Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
- Turn off the heat and let the sauce sit while you roll the enchiladas.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease 9x13in baking dishes with olive oil.
- Place a slice of cheese, some turkey meat, and a slice of green chili into a tortilla and roll it up.
- Place the rolled enchilada, flap side down, into the baking dish and repeat until the pans are full.
- Ladle sauce generously over the enchiladas.
- Sprinkle paprika on top of the enchiladas.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Other posts you might like
What to do with your Thanksgiving Leftovers
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