El Cholo’s Sonora-Style Enchiladas

Name: El Cholo’s Sonora-Style Enchiladas
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: mexican
Ingredients: 1 poblano chile, halved, seeded and finely chopped; 1 tomato, chopped; 1 tablespoon salt; 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano; 1 teaspoon ground white pepper; 1 garlic clove, chopped; 2 (packed) cups shredded cooked chicken (about 10 ounces); Minced fresh cilantro, to taste; 3 1/2 cups Red Enchilada Sauce, warmed; 3 cups Green Enchilada Sauce, warmed; Vegetable oil, as needed; 18 corn tortillas; 2 cups canned black beans; 10 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (about 4 cups); 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup); 6 large eggs; 1/2 cup sour cream, thinned with water until easy to drizzle; Sliced black olives, minced red bell pepper and sliced scallions, for garnish (optional)

Recipe from Ron Salisbury

Adapted by Kevin McKenna and Alexa Weibel

El Cholo’s Sonora-Style Enchiladas — Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Total Time: 1½ hours
Rating: 4(492)
Notes: Read community notes

These chicken-filled, Sonora-style enchiladas have been offered at El Cholo in Los Angeles since it began as the Sonora Café in 1923. They are based on the recipe of Rosa Borquez, who started the restaurant with her husband, Alejandro. Both were born in the Mexican state of Sonora. This dish, with stacked tortillas rather than rolled, is known in Sonora as “enchiladas chatas,” flat enchiladas. Adapted from “A Taste of History: With Authentic El Cholo Recipes” by Ron Salisbury (2020), this recipe includes a chicken stew base with tomatoes, poblano and white pepper, plus a classic red enchilada sauce with smoky dried chiles and a green enchilada sauce with verdant notes from tomatillos, fresh chiles and spinach. A fried egg crowns the top. —Kevin McKenna, Alexa Weibel

Featured in: How One Family Parlayed Mexican Food Into a Los Angeles Landmark

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings

For the Chicken Filling

1poblano chile, halved, seeded and finely chopped
1tomato, chopped
1tablespoon salt
1teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1teaspoon ground white pepper
1garlic clove, chopped
2(packed) cups shredded cooked chicken (about 10 ounces)
Minced fresh cilantro, to taste

For Assembly

3½cups Red Enchilada Sauce, warmed
3cups Green Enchilada Sauce, warmed
Vegetable oil, as needed
18corn tortillas
2cups canned black beans
10ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (about 4 cups)
½medium red onion, finely chopped (about ½ cup)
6large eggs
½cup sour cream, thinned with water until easy to drizzle
Sliced black olives, minced red bell pepper and sliced scallions, for garnish (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Prepare the chicken filling: In a medium saucepan, combine poblano, tomato, salt, oregano, white pepper and garlic with 3½ cups water. Bring to a boil over high, then cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Add chicken, cook for an additional 10 minutes, then stir in cilantro.
Step 2
While the filling cooks, prepare the red enchilada sauce and green enchilada sauce. (You also can prepare both sauces first and keep them warm over low heat.)
Step 3
When ready to assemble the enchiladas, heat the broiler and set an oven rack a few inches away from it. (It is tricky to assemble all six servings of enchiladas at once, but they can be assembled in batches or cooked off one or two at a time. The components all store well refrigerated for a few days.)
Step 4
Heat a medium skillet over medium. Add a layer of vegetable oil that is about the thickness of a corn tortilla and heat over medium-high. Using tongs, dip tortillas in hot oil, quickly cooking on both sides just until warmed without allowing tortillas to become crisp, about 20 seconds per side. Transfer warmed tortillas to a plate and continue until all are fried, adding oil as needed.
Step 5
Stack one serving of enchiladas at a time: Dip 1 tortilla in red sauce until fully coated and place on an ovenproof rimmed plate, bowl or baking dish that is slightly wider than the tortilla. Top with ⅓ cup of black beans and a sprinkling of the cheese.
Step 6
Dip a second tortilla into the red sauce, then place it on top. Top the second tortilla with ½ cup of chicken filling, spreading it in an even layer. Dip a third tortilla into the green sauce until fully coated, then set it on top of the chicken filling. Liberally top half of the top tortilla with red sauce and the other half with green sauce; sprinkle generously with cheese and red onion.
Step 7
Assemble remaining tortilla stacks.
Step 8
Heat the enchiladas under the broiler, working in batches, until cheese is well melted, 1 to 2 minutes. While cheese is melting, fry eggs in a skillet, in batches as needed.
Step 9
Top each serving with a fried egg; season the egg with salt. Drizzle each serving liberally with the loosened sour cream. Top with garnishes, as desired, and serve immediately.

Ratings

4 out of 5

492 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Kale?1 year ago

This would be so easy to make into a complete vegetarian meal simply by omitting the chicken. With the beans and eggs, it’s still a hearty meal.

Daniel1 year ago

After years of trying and failing to make rolled enchiladas (the corn tortillas would always break even after dipping in sauce) this method is my new standard. It's faster, easier and makes an impressive presentation.

Susan1 year ago

These are quite similar to the enchiladas served in New Mexico.

Doug In Arizona1 year ago

https://www.elcharrocafe.com/history/ Sonoran cuisine is also enshrined and in fact, started in, the Sonoran desert. It ranges from Mexico up thru Tucson. Los Angeles is not in the Sonoran desert El Charro, founded in 1922, is the goto for Sonoran Cuisine. I believe they invented Carne Asada, Carne Seca dried meats on their rooftop. As well as the Chimichanga. The flat tortilla is generally of the Sante Fe and New Mexico cuisine style. My wife has a version, she calls "Tortilla Delight"

marbsmama1 year ago

I think dipping the tortilla into oil is a matter of personal preference-it’s sufficient to drag them through the red or green sauce in assembly step. Love the idea of alternating red- and green-sauces tortillas! In New Mexico, we order these as ‘Christmas’ style!

Katie1 year ago

I learned to make these, sans chicken, from my mother some 70 years ago. She, in turn, picked up the recipe in New Mexico, where they go under the name "enchiladas montadas", presumably because they're topped with a fried egg. They make an excellent vegetarian meal just by themselves.

John Golden1 year ago

This is an extraordinary preparation. This a time consuming for starters. It is more of a restaurant prep rather than a standard effort for the home cook. Making both sauces enabled me to use a pile of pots and an incredibly difficult clean up. The directions and method were a jumble of directives not easily followed. Finally after hours making this I served it. It was delicious. I’d like to simplify this maybe with one sauce or at best to find a restaurant that does this style of cooking.

AnneM.1 year ago

This was dinner last night—and it was excellent, rich and flavorful. Took about two hours to put together and was worth it. Next time, I’ll reduce the liquid in the filling (mine was a bit soupy) and sub chicken stock for water when I do. I reduced quantities to feed two; left over sauce and filling will become nachos tomorrow for lunch.

BlueJay1 year ago

My mom always made "stacked" enchiladas for breakfast - cheese, onion and lots of NM red sauce with a fried egg on top. The perfect hangover food!

Stella G1 year ago

It's similar in construction to the enchiladas we have here in New Mexico, i.e, flat and smothered with chile. However we don't use a lot of poblanos. I've only seen them used in chiles en nogada. Maybe the very occasional relleno--at least here in the north. I'm going to give them a try!

bg1 year ago

poblanos are mildly spicy but you can switch to a green bell pepper for the filling. For the green sauce, omit the jalapeños. For the red sauce, leave out the arbol, consider using more california peppers instead of the guajillos.

This Was Goood1 year ago

inverted the proportions of green and red sauce (my red was too firey), and it came out amazing.

Jshan3 weeks ago

Always a hit. Made it vegetarian by omitting chicken. Sometimes I add sautéed veggies if I have it on hand. The sauces freeze nicely too.

Archdruid1 year ago

Mexican CREMA

Charles Pascual1 year ago

A straight-forward and easy-to-follow recipe, or rather, recipes. A lot of steps, none difficult. I found it fun to do. The sauces alone are good and can be used on other dishes. Yes, you use a lot of pots and implements but the cook times give you a lot of free time to clean up as you go. The results are well worth the effort. This is a delicious and filling dish. We'll make it again.

Theresa F1 year ago

I don't know why you would do one stack at a time. On a baking sheet, I put the first layer of all 6 stacks, then the 2nd layer on all, etc. I also used store-bought green and red enchilada sauce - still absolutely delicious! I used one rotisserie chicken.

Dan1 year ago

As the recipe notes, there’s a lot going on all at once at the end—tortilla frying, assembling, broiling, egg frying. It became a team effort with our guests and was fun and only mildly dangerous. And the presentation and taste were fantastic—every bite a little different. Great recipe.

Gloria1 year ago

Delicious recipe. I put off making it for almost two weeks because it was intimidating. I'm glad I finally did it though. Really enjoyed it. I did not put 1 T salt in the chicken filling. Only about half that and it was still plenty salty. I did cook the tortillas in oil as directed, but next time I'll simply lay them on the jelly roll pan, spray them with cooking spray and put them under the broiler for a minutes or so, turning and spraying the second side too. Much easier.

linda p1 year ago

This is excellent! I used a store-made cooked chicken pre made enchilada sauce to speed up the prep & it came out great!!

James1 year ago

I suspect that there may be a typo in the list of ingredients. Adding 1 tablespoon of salt means that each individual serving has one half teaspoon of added salt. I wonder if they meant 1 teaspoon in total.

Tim1 year ago

I followed the recipe and thought it was a fun change from ordinary enchiladas. It was enough work that I probably won’t make it again. But I look forward to visiting El Cholo on some future trip to LA.

Jshan1 year ago

The sauces are amazing. Layered with beans instead of chicken to make it vegetarian.

Jshan1 year ago

Instead of putting each stack onto a plate separately, I placed all the stacks I would need to feed my family on a sheet pan, broiled and then served from there.

Susan M1 year ago

Really enjoyed this recipe. Did with only green enchilada sauce and skipped the egg - delicious and would make again for sure! Served with black olives, sour cream and red salsa.

Cathy1 year ago

Excellent flavor. Putsy to put together, but worth it when you eat it.

Jane1 year ago

This was undoubtedly one of my favorite NYT Cooking recipes I have ever made. It took me a lot longer to make than I thought it would so next time I will make the sauces the day before. Family members said this was FIRE! I will make this again and again and again......

Susan W.1 year ago

This recipe was the closest one to restaurant style enchiladas that I have ever found. My only changes were to use queso fresco cheese (melts better and is what the restaurants in So. Cal. seem to use) and only the red sauce (just because that is what the family likes). Absolutely stunning recipe - will definitely make again. The sauce is supposed to be thin.

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