Chicken Enchilada Cups are not only an awesome appetizer, but they’re also perfect for families with picky eaters!
I often talk about my kids being picky eaters, which is a little unfair to them. Individually, they aren’t impossible, but each child has one type of food that he or she dislikes. The problem is that none of them share the same food aversion so when cooking for all four of them, mealtime becomes a major challenge.
It has been an ongoing struggle to find healthy, delicious meals that do not contain meat, cheese, green vegetables, or sauce.
I’m not a short order cook, so the kids take turns being miserable at dinner. Every once in a while I like to please all of them at the same time and muffin tin dinner recipes are always a hit. I was a little grumpy yesterday and thus, wasn’t up for complaints about dinner so I decided to wing a muffin meal.
I didn’t think anyone would love it, but I was sure no one would hate it. To my delight and surprise, everyone loved it! So much so, in fact, that we had no leftovers. Recreating the recipe for my website was the perfect excuse to make more without looking like a glutton so here is the new batch (which I will be eating for lunch as soon as I post this article).
How to Make Chicken Enchilada Cups
First, line each muffin cup with a wonton wrapper.
Next, choose your fillings. I used shredded chicken, black beans, frozen corn, diced mushrooms, diced onions, frozen spinach (thawed), enchilada sauce, and cheddar cheese. You could also use rice, diced chilies, refried beans, cotija cheese, or salsa.
When we had it for dinner, I let everyone fill their own cups that way my vegetarian could omit the chicken, my dry eater could leave out the enchilada sauce, my dairy hater could skip the cheese, and my green food avoider could leave out the spinach. For today’s batch, which will be my lunch for the rest of the week, I added everything.
One important note: Add the enchilada sauce last and no more than one tablespoon, otherwise the wonton wrapper gets soggy and it’s a mess to remove from the muffin pan (I learned this the hard way when we made it for dinner).
I topped each one with the cheddar cheese and added a jalapeño for an extra kick and decoration.
Into the preheated 375 degree oven they went and twelve minutes later, they were done.
I add a dollop of Greek yogurt to mine before I eat them. You could also use sour cream or guacamole. The beauty of this recipe (like most muffin tin meals) is that you can easily tailor it to your taste.
Chicken Enchilada Cups Recipe
Ready to make your own chicken enchilada cups? Here are the exact measurements to make 12 appetizers.
These individual cups have all the flavor of an enchilada in a little bite.
- 12 wonton wrappers
- 3/4 cup shredded chicken
- 1/2 cup black beans
- 1/2 cup frozen corn
- 1/4 cup diced mushrooms
- 1/4 cup diced onions
- 1/4 cup frozen spinach thawed
- 1/2 cup enchilada sauce
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 12 jalapeño slices optional
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
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Press one wonton wrapper into each ungreased muffin cup.
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Evenly distribute chicken, black beans, corn, mushrooms, onions, and spinach between the 12 muffin cups.
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Add 1/2 tablespoon of enchilada sauce to each cup.
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Top each cup with cheddar cheese and a jalapeño slice, if desired.
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Bake for 11-13 minutes. Let cool for 1-2 minutes before removing from muffin pan. Serve warm.
If you like this chicken enchilada cups recipe, check out Muffin Tin Dinner Recipes for several other dinner meals you can make using your muffin pan.
Corinne Schmitt
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anonymous says
February 18, 2014 at 2:02 amIt’s delicious. I made my own way the beginning with wondon in the muffin as you do. I make it in different way and also delicious. (with chicken, ranch dressing and etc).
anonymous says
February 18, 2014 at 2:13 amI forgot to tell you. It’s best to added banana pepper, sliced instead of jalapeno slices. It’s very good also.
pat says
November 6, 2019 at 6:52 pmCan you freeze these before you bake them
Corinne Schmitt says
November 7, 2019 at 7:42 amI have not done that, but you should definitely be able to. All of the ingredients in these freeze well. You’ll need to make sure you store them in an airtight container to prevent freezer burn. If you bake them from frozen, which you should be able to do without issue, you’ll need to add additional cooking time. Again, I haven’t done this so I’m just guessing an additional 2-3 minutes.
Wondermom Wannabe says
February 18, 2014 at 7:56 amOooh, I’ll have to try this with ranch dressing. It would be completely different and my daughter (who loves ranch dressing) would probably really like it.