Homemade Chicken Chimichangas

Are you ready to have a homemade take-out night in your home? I can guarantee if you make these you will feel like your sitting at a Mexican restaurant except the only difference is that your cooking, serving, and doing the dishes! I'm working on eating out less and making more home take-out favorites. I was in the mood for Mexican food the other weekend, and didn't want to spend $30+ for dinner. I browsed the internet and found a recipe for homemade chicken chimichangas. Chimichangas are my absolute favorite and I almost always order a one when we go out to eat. 

I read the recipe--re-read the recipe and was ready to tackle this take-out favorite! I had almost all the ingredients on hand which made this dish even better. I sliced and diced the recipe to tailor my wants and needs in a chimichanga. The chimi's (that's what I call them for short) that I eat do not include rice or olives in them, so I omitted that part of the recipe. If I had olives on hand I would have most certainly topped mine with them. I can not rave enough about these chimichangas. My husband was concerned about me after the first few bites. I wouldn't stop making noises because I was so delighted on how amazing dinner turned out. Now I am even more intrigued to get a larger bigger and better deep fryer with a basket, so I can whole-heartedly fry these babies at once (instead of using multiple spatulas and panicking that the seams were going to open and the filling was going to come out). For the love of chimichangas--if you love them. Make them! 

Adapted from: BlogChef
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 3


Ingredients:
1 ½ cups chicken broth
½ cup red enchilada sauce
1 ½ onion (diced, divided)
3 (12 inch) flour tortillas
2 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 can refried beans
¼ cup vegetable oilWholly Guacamole & Sour Cream for topping


Directions: 
1.  In a medium saucepan place 2 boneless skinless chicken breast in the pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil (about 20 minutes). Once the chicken is cooked and soft remove from pan, and carefully shred. 


2. In the same saucepan as you boiled the chicken, dump water and bring back to the stove top. Combine chicken broth, enchilada sauce, and diced onion. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low and let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Stir in shredded cooked chicken and mix well. Then add 1/4 cup of shredded mexican blend cheese.


3.  Heat refried beans in a saucepan over low heat until they stir easily. Preheat oil in a large skillet on medium. 

4. Right before you are about to assemble the chimichangas heat tortillas in a damp paper towel in the microwave for 30 seconds. Carefully remove one hot tortilla and begin spooning equal amounts of refried beans onto each tortillas followed by equal amounts of the chicken mixture, followed by shredded Mexican cheese (however much you desire). Roll up the tortillas, making sure no filling is exposed. *I found that these were super easy to roll when the tortilla was very hot--making the tortilla flexible and easy to work with!


5. Carefully place the the filled tortillas (one-by-one) in the frying pan seam side down *I used a large spatula to place them in the pan , turning once, until browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately; top with guacamole and sour cream if desired.