Paxye shared this simple recipe with me a few years ago and it’s my go-to recipe when I have a whole chicken totally frozen to be used that night for supper. We just don’t eat meat often enough for me to always remember to take meat out the night before for thawing, or perhaps despite meal plans, I’m simply not always as organised as I wished I was. I’ll sometimes be at the end of my meal plan without any backups and a frozen rock to deal with. This recipe is perfect for that scenario, being so easy to make. It happens to be quite delicious as well.
The chicken and salsa mix can be made like enchiladas in wheat tortillas (home made is best!) or can be served on corn tortillas to become gluten free or even served on tortilla chips with extra cheese like nachos. I’ve done all of these things.
I promise to get better pictures of this meal the next time we eat it!
Chicken Enchiladas
- whole frozen Chicken
- Chilli Powder
- Oregano
- Garlic Powder
- Cayenne
- Salt and Pepper
- Salsa
- optional additions Avocado, Guacamole, Refried Beans, shredded Lettuce, Cheese….
- Tortillas
- In the morning or midday, put the frozen chicken in a crockpot and sprinkle with the spices listed above or your spices to your liking. Cook on high until mid afternoon and then check how it’s cooking. The chicken is finished when the leg is easily removed.
- With two forks (or your own method) pull the meat from the bone, putting the shredded chicken in a large bowl. Leave the bone in the crock pot to make chicken stock afterwards. (Simply add water, a rough chopped onion and celery to the bone filled crock pot and allow to simmer on high for the evening or low overnight.)
- Stir salsa into the shredded chicken. Use your eyes and adjust amount to your taste.
- Fill tortillas with the chicken/salsa mixture by itself or with any other additions. Fold and place in a casserole dish side by side. Bake at 400′ until tortillas turn golden and slightly crispy. Serve with more salsa on top.
That looks pretty good and easy too. Last summer we were debating between adding a pressure cooker or a crock pot. Crock pots are certainly cheaper to find, but I never quite got in the habit of preparing dinner in the morning. I can’t wait to try this with the pressure cooker. I do hope you can cook a chicken in it from frozen!
eek. I hope so too! You are jumping in with both feet with the pressure cooker! I’m so glad that you will be able to share your experience with pressure cooking if I have a question! I’ve done quite a bit over the years but haven’t dedicated a lot of cooking with mine. So much more bean cooking than meal making.
Hi!
I always though cooking something frozen in the crock pot was dangerous because it is not hot enough/fast enough to prevent salmonella or other thing to grow? You never had any problem with that?
Caroline
I think speed of temperature gain is less of an issue than achieving the overall desired temperature. After all, one point of cooking is to kill bacteria.
In this recipe, the chicken cooks thoroughly in my crock pot. I wonder if crock pots are not all made equal? The one I own and others I have used get very hot and have no trouble cooking it’s contents relatively fast for a slow speed- ha. I’m planning on making these enchiladas today, in fact and will put the frozen chicken in this morning- at least before lunch and it will be finished by mid afternoon.
Those look delicious! Hey, I have a question for you. Can you email me? I can’t find your contact info on site. ;)
notesfromthecookiejar(at)yahoo(dot)ca
It’s been over a week and we’ve cooked with the pressure cooker every day. Usually once or twice in a day. I’m so grateful for your experience that got us going on this route.