These Smothered Burritos are filled with shredded chicken, cheese and spices, baked until crispy, and then smothered in the best homemade green chile sauce.
There's almost nothing I love more than homemade Mexican food! If you love smothered burritos be sure to try my Pollo Fundido Burrito, Chicken Taquitos, and Mole Enchiladas.
A Smothered Burrito is a burrito that has been covered in sauce and cheese. These green chile burritos are smothered in a creamy green enchilada sauce that you'll be tempted to eat straight from the pot with a spoon. You could also make these smothered burritos with red enchilada sauce.
What I love about Green Chili Burritos:
- From scratch. They're made with real, fresh ingredients (no canned enchilada sauce or canned “cream of” soups!) because we should all agree by now that everything tastes better from scratch! 😉
- Restaurant quality. They're just as good as anything you'd get at your favorite Mexican Restaurant! Serve them with Authentic Mexican Rice, refried beans or charro beans!
- Freezable! I like to double the recipe and serve half for dinner, then freeze the other half for another night.
How to Make Smothered Burritos:
1. Make burrito filling: Mix chicken, salsa, cumin, oregano, cheese and onions. Place a heaping ½ cup of the chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla. Fold the sides of the tortilla in and roll up like a burrito. Place seam-side down on baking sheet.
2. Bake: Brush lightly with olive oil or spray with non stick cooking spray. Bake at 400°F for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
3. Make the green chile sauce: Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once melted and bubbling, whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes. Add minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Gradually whisk in chicken broth. Add cumin, oregano, and a dash of salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in green chilies, cheese and sour cream. Tastes and add more seasonings if needed.
4. Broil smothered burritos: Remove burritos from oven and turn the oven to HIGH broil. Ladle a spoonful of sauce over each burrito and top with a handful of shredded cheddar cheese. Broil for 2-3 minutes, or until cheese has melted. Enjoy!
Make Ahead And Freezing Instructions:
To make ahead: The chicken filling and green chile sauce can both be made a day or two in advanced, making dinner prep super easy! Store them separately, covered in the fridge.
To freeze: Make the burrito filling as instructed and roll up in tortillas (either uncooked or regular tortillas). Place in a freezer ziplock bag. Make the sauce but do not add the sour cream. Freeze sauce in a separate container. To bake from frozen place frozen burritos on a lined baking sheet, cover with tinfoil and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until warmed through and crisp on the outside. Add frozen sauce to a saucepan and warm. Stir in sour cream. Serve over cooked burritos.
Recipe Variations:
- Use cooked or uncooked flour tortillas: If using uncooked flour tortillas you don't need to cook them first. Just roll the chicken filling in the uncooked tortilla and it will bake perfectly in the oven. I highly recommend the uncooked tortillas but you can also use packaged, ready-to-eat flour tortillas.
- Substitute red enchilada sauce.
- Swap the protein: Feel free to substitute steak carne asada steak, or pork carnitas.
Consider serving these with:
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Recipe
Smothered Green Chile Chicken Burritos
Ingredients
Chicken filling:
- 3 cups cooked chicken , chopped or shredded
- 1 1/2 cups salsa , your favorite kind
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon Dried oregano , crushed
- 1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 green onions , chopped
- 6 large flour tortillas *
- olive oil , for brushing on burritos
Green Chile Sauce:
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon Dried oregano , crushed
- salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste
- 4 ounces diced green chilies , mild
- 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
- Make the filling: Mix chicken, salsa, cumin, oregano, cheese and onions. Place a heaping ½ cup or so of the chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla.
- Fold the sides of the tortilla in and roll up tightly like a burrito. Place seam-side down on baking sheet. Brush lightly with olive oil or spray with non stick cooking spray.
- Bake at 400°F for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
- Make the sauce: Meanwhile, prepare sauce by melting butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once melted and bubbling, whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes. Add minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Gradually whisk in chicken broth. Add cumin, oregano, and a dash of salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in green chilies, cheese and sour cream. Tastes and add more seasonings if needed.
- Broil: Remove burritos from oven and turn the oven to HIGH broil. Ladle a spoonful of sauce over each burrito and top with a handful of shredded cheddar cheese. Broil for 2-3 minutes, or until cheese has melted.
- Serve with Authentic Mexican Rice!
Notes
Nutrition
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
I originally shared this recipe October 2016. Updated October 2020.
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Call it whatever you want; looks yummy! Thanks, Lauren!
Made a half recipe. It’s a keeper. Thanks!
I am from El Paso Tx. I am a snob when it comes to authentic Mexican food also! Tex Mex is not the same thing! We used to have flat red enchiladas and my mom loved an over easy fried egg on top! Now my husband loves it too! The burritos, we either fried or baked them and called them Chimichangas! I am a sucker for cheese enchiladas and good rive! Thanks for the great recipes!
I made this for dinner tonight and my family loved it! It had a lot flavor and the chilies were not overpowering!
Can I use arrowroot instead of flour since I’m gluten-free? I use brown rice flour tortillas in place of regular flour ones.
I bet that would work just fine! Enjoy!
Do these get soggy? My husband is really weird about textures, thinking corn tortillas may be a better option if they are?
They bake crispy in the oven, and I pour the sauce over just before we eat them so they don’t get soggy.
My boyfriend, who grew up in New Mexico and is also a “snob” for authentic Mexican food, raves about these! So good and yes, the fresh tortillas make all the difference!
Soooo tasty and simple to make.. in my opinion better than most restaurants! So nice to have a great home made sauce with no MSG. My whole family enjoyed them as we all love Mexican food and they will definitely be added into the regular dinner rotation..??
Made them, loved them. Family loved them. Keeper recipe for sure. Sauce was amazing. Thank you.
When you “smother” it, it goes from being a burrito to being an enchilada or some type of casserole. Burritos are held in your hands and eaten, not using a fork, spoon, or plate.
Minerva,
I grew up in San Diego and have been eating Mexican food all my life, on both sides of the border. Your right a burrito is usually hand held, except a smothered burrito, that’s what these are as indicated in the title of this recipe. Those are covered in sauce and cheese, sometimes referred to as a drippy burrito. or wet burrito.
Wet burrito where I am from 👍
Burritos are made with flour tortillas enchiladas are made with corn tortillas This is a wet burrito.