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Chicken and Rice Enchiladas

A baked dish of corn tortillas filled with rice, chicken, and sauce, topped with cheese and olives.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Chicken and Rice Enchiladas

Oven350 degrees
Time25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot.

  2. Add celery, mushrooms, onions and pepper; cook and stir until tender.

  3. Stir in tomato sauce, water, chili powder, garlic powder and pepper sauce; remove from heat.

Fill the tortillas

  1. Combine rice, chicken and half of sauce mixture in large bowl; set aside.

  2. Heat 1/4 inch oil in medium skillet until hot.

  3. Dip tortillas, one at a time, into oil a few seconds or until softened. Drain on paper towels.

  4. Spoon heaping 1/4 cup rice mixture in center of each tortilla.

  5. Roll up and place seam sides down in greased shallow 3-quart glass baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour remaining sauce over tortillas.

  2. Sprinkle with cheese and olives.

  3. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

  4. Garnish as desired.

  5. Serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

883Calories
52 gProtein
32 gFat
98 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 16 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Corn Tortilla1 medium flour (45g)140
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Red Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Mushrooms1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Olive1 large (4g)4
Waternot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Corn tortillas
Hold the filling and form the rolled structure once softened in oil.
Cooked chicken breast
Provides the protein base of the filling, staying moist with the sauce.
Cooked rice
Bulks the filling and absorbs some of the sauce's moisture.
Tomato sauce
Forms the main sauce body, adding acidity and savory flavor that coats the rolls.
Monterey jack cheese
Melts over the rolls, adding richness and a browned, creamy top layer.
Celery, mushrooms and green onions
Add moisture, texture and savory aroma to the filling and sauce.

The step that matters

Dip tortillas briefly in hot oil. Corn tortillas crack when rolled if they are dry or stiff. A few seconds in hot oil softens them and makes them pliable, so they roll without tearing and hold the filling.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, onion, pepper, tomato, sauce, garlic, rice):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Oreganofits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, onion, pepper, tomato, sauce, garlic, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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