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.
Chicken Enchilada Cups
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Press one wonton wrapper into each ungreased muffin cup.
- Evenly distribute chicken, black beans, corn, mushrooms, onions, and spinach between the 12 muffin cups.
- Add 1/2 tablespoon of enchilada sauce to each cup.
- Top each cup with cheddar cheese and a jalapeño slice, if desired.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes. Let cool for 1-2 minutes before removing from muffin pan. Serve warm.
Nutrition
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.
It’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).
I forgot to tell you. It’s best to added banana pepper, sliced instead of jalapeno slices. It’s very good also.
Can you freeze these before you bake them
I 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.
Oooh, 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.
That is a super cute idea for a party. We want to keep Mexican dishes for a party we are throwing but were trying to come up with ways to make it all look prettier and single serve. This is perfect.
oh gosh. i have all the ingredients for this, thank you !! dinner tomorrow= win!
Don’t laugh, but i just finished my grocery shopping list for tomorrow…and these ingredients are definitely going to be added. These look super easy!
OMG.. I love enchilada and this is awesome, I can’t wait to make your recipe. I never thought of making individual servings, so cool and looks soo pretty. Thanks for sharing, can’t wait to try it now.
I would love to try this but may leave off the jalapeno!
Minus the jalapeno, this seems like a good recipe for kids! Since I have 4 of them, I’ll have to try out this recipe. Thank you!! 🙂
I never thought to use wonton wrappers for Mexican fare. Great idea!
Great recipe, thanks for sharing. i think my family would enjoy this
What a great idea to make enchiladas bite sized! These would be perfect for parties too.
Really like the idea! It’s perfect, that you can customize it as you like.
I LOVE making cups out of wonton wrappers. Ive done so many variations, but nothing with a Mexican flair–yum!
I love the different varieties you can use to fill your wonton
Oooh, this looks fun. Being that our little family is half-vegetarian (I don’t eat meat, but my husband does!), I like how the individual cups allow the cook the ability to change the ingredients in each one to serve different special diets. My husband will love the recipe as you laid it out here! 🙂
Sooooo cute!! They look really easy to make, which is perfect for me. 🙂
I love this idea and it looks so easy to make.. another recipe to add to my holiday easy cooking recipes I will be making for my husband lol.. He will enjoy all these new treats that I am finding for him…
Such a great idea for personalized snacks! you could have a whole taco bar set up and make everyone happy. The wonton wrappers are a great idea too
My husband LOVES jalapenos, so I’m sure this will be a big hit at our house. Thanks!
These look amazing!!
These look and sound absolutely delicious!!
OH my this looks fabulous! I can just picture making these little gems when we have a houseful of grandchildren. An each cup will feature the exact ingredients they choose! love it!
What a neat recipe idea! Great step by step directions!
I’ve been thinking of another dish to prepare for our next Sunday Family meals..this might be a good idea. thanks for sharing
This is easy to follow … I can do this 🙂 I will try this recipe because right now, I am drooling to eat this.
what a fun idea to eat enchilada. i would definitely try this.:)
I have to say at first I thought you used Fillo dough (I can never make things right with it) but I was glad to see it was something else. I haven’t used wonton wrappers before but I am going to make these, They look fantastic!
I am far too impatient and clumsy to work with phyllo! Wonton wrappers are remarkably forgiving and already cut to the right size. Sooo much easier!
These look really adorable and kid-size. They’re going into my recipe queue.
OMG! Yum. This is like my favorite kind of food. I hate bieing on a diet at times like this.
We make something similar and my kids love it. I will try your way though as it looks a little easier.
Your chicken enchaladas looks delicious. My daughter love preparing this kind of dishes.
Those are so simple and cute! I don’t eat chicken, but could totally substitute some pork in there! Thanks!
I like these! they look super good and easy!!
These look SO yummy! i’ll keep them in mind for cinco de mayo
What a GREAT idea!! I love that they can add what they want, too – would have worked well in my world. I will have to give this a try!
What a clever thing to do. It would make a great party meal as well. Pinning this one to my Foodtastic board.
I wish I had this recipe 20 years ago! It looks yummy and kid friendly and tastes so good in my mind!
These look delish!
Those look so good! I’ve never cooked with wonton wrappers before but it looks easy! Thanks for this idea!
Yum…making this tonight, thanks!!
I really think my kids would love these. Thanks for the cinco de mayo inspiration too
I love this idea. This is so cute! 😉 I want to try this vegetarian.