So Jennifer Garner’s mom’s chicken enchiladas have been absolutely EVERYWHERE on social media lately like I couldn’t escape them if I tried, ever since the actress made them on her “Pretend Cooking Show” with her actual mom Pat. She calls it a “crowd favorite” that her mom made constantly growing up and honestly? I was skeptical as hell because celebrity recipes are usually either impossibly complicated or weirdly bland.
But this one hit different.
It’s canned soup and shredded cheese and flour tortillas, the kind of recipe that food snobs would probably turn their noses up at, but it WORKS. Like legitimately works in that comfort food way where you eat way more than you planned and don’t even feel bad about it.
I made it last Sunday mostly out of curiosity (and because Maya kept showing me the video) and my entire family demolished it. No leftovers. Jake had three servings which is basically unheard of for something that contains vegetables he can actually see.
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Why Everyone’s Losing Their Minds Over This Recipe Right Now
Jennifer Garner’s whole “Pretend Cooking Show” thing on Instagram has gotten weirdly popular and I say weirdly because it’s not polished or professionally produced, it’s just her cooking in her kitchen and occasionally burning things or forgetting ingredients. Very relatable energy.
But when she brought her mom Pat on to make THIS specific recipe, her actual childhood food with her actual parent standing there telling stories something about it just resonated differently than her usual content. There’s an authenticity there that you can’t fake, you know? You can tell this is a recipe that’s been made hundreds of times, not something created for content.
The recipe itself is straight from like the ’80s or ’90s era of American home cooking cream of chicken soup, canned green chilis, an absolutely ABSURD amount of Monterey Jack cheese. Modern recipe blogs would probably try to “elevate” it with roasted poblanos and artisanal cheese and homemade tortillas or whatever, but that would completely miss the point.
This isn’t trying to be authentic Mexican cuisine or some gourmet fusion experiment. It’s just… food that someone’s mom made on weeknights because it was easy and everyone ate it without complaining. Which, if you’ve ever fed a family, you know that’s actually kind of magic in itself.
What makes it special and what you can tell when you make it is that every choice is deliberate. The poached chicken (not rotisserie, not baked, specifically POACHED), the exact ratio of soup to sour cream to green chilis, that truly excessive amount of cheese. Pat didn’t arrive at these proportions randomly, this is decades of making the same dish and knowing exactly what works.
Jennifer Garner’s Mom’s Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
Ingredients:
– 12 flour tortillas
– 2 cups cooked chicken (we poach ours and shred by hand)
– 4 Tbsp butter
– 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
– 2 cans green chilis
– 1 cup diced onion
– 1 cup diced celery
– 2 lbs Monterey Jack cheese (we halve it, and buy shredded if you can, for ease!)
– 1 cup sour cream
Directions:
1. Poach your chicken! We put three boneless, skinless breasts in cold water (just enough to cover it) with onion, salt, peppercorns— basic brothy things you like, but not overboard. Bring to a boil, lower to medium, and start checking it between 10-15 minutes, until a thermometer reads 165℉ inside the breasts. Shred.
2. Preheat your oven to 350℉.
3. Sauté onion and celery in butter. Add shredded chicken.
4. Combine chicken soup, green chilis, and sour cream. Put a layer of this mixture into a casserole prepared with butter or baking spray.
5. Fill your tortillas, roll them and place seam side down into the pan.
6. Spread the majority of the soup mixture on the tortillas and finish with your cheese on top.
7. Bake for 30 minutes, until browned!
8. Yum!
My Actual Honest Opinion After Making This
Look, I went into this expecting it to be fine. Decent. The kind of thing you make once because it’s trending and then forget about.
I was wrong and I’m not afraid to admit it.
The poached chicken makes a HUGE difference, it’s more tender than rotisserie chicken, more flavorful than plain baked chicken. The texture is just… right. The soup-sour cream-green chili combo creates this tangy, slightly spicy (but not really spicy, my spice-wimp family handled it fine) creamy sauce that coats everything without being goopy or heavy.
And that amount of cheese that seems ridiculous when you’re shredding it? Completely justified once you taste it. It’s what makes this so satisfying and comforting instead of just… okay.
Pat Garner mentions in the video that you can adjust the spice level and richness to your preference, which I appreciate. If your family is REALLY spice-averse (like worse than mine somehow), use one can of green chilis instead of two. If you want actual heat, throw in some diced jalapeños or use pepper jack cheese for half the Monterey Jack.
The biggest shock though and this matters for meal planning is how well this reheated. Day two was honestly better than day one because all the flavors had time to really meld together. It also freezes beautifully, which makes sense for a recipe that was designed by a mom feeding a family on busy weeknights.
My daughter Maya, who’s weirdly picky about Mexican food had seconds without being asked. That alone tells you something.
Why This Recipe Actually Matters (Beyond the Celebrity Thing)
What I genuinely love about this going viral and it’s been interesting watching the reaction to it is that it’s bringing attention back to recipes that people ACTUALLY make in real homes. Not everything needs to be from-scratch hand-pressed tortillas with complex moles and artisanal ingredients sourced from specialty stores.
Sometimes dinner is canned soup. And pre-shredded cheese. And store-bought tortillas. And if it tastes good and your family eats it without complaining and maybe even requests it again? That’s a WIN. That’s success in my book.
This recipe also represents a very specific era of American home cooking like the ’80s and ’90s when cream-of-whatever soups were absolute pantry essentials and casseroles were the default dinner solution for busy parents. There’s nostalgia there for people my age who grew up eating food like this. And there’s curiosity from younger people who maybe didn’t experience that whole casserole culture and want to understand what it was about.
Plus, and this is kind of beautiful in a way Jennifer Garner is rich and famous and could absolutely afford private chefs and fancy ingredients and all that. But she’s choosing to share her mom’s simple, deeply unpretentious recipe with millions of followers. It normalizes the idea that good food doesn’t have to be complicated or Instagram-perfect or expensive.
Sometimes the best recipes are the ones written on index cards in your mom’s handwriting that have butter stains on them from decades of use.
How to Serve This (And Make It Your Own)
Traditional Route: Serve with Spanish rice and refried beans for the full comfort food experience.
Lighter Balance: Add a big fresh salad with lime vinaigrette to cut through all that richness.
Topping Bar Situation: Set out bowls of sour cream, guacamole, salsa, chopped cilantro, sliced jalapeños, diced tomatoes let everyone customize their plate.
Spice It Up: Mix diced jalapeños into the chicken filling, or use pepper jack instead of all Monterey Jack, or drizzle hot sauce over the top before baking.
Vegetarian Version: Skip the chicken entirely and add black beans, corn, sautéed bell peppers, and extra cheese to the filling. Still works.
This would be absolutely amazing served alongside my oven-roasted corn on the cob for a complete comfort food dinner that feels special but doesn’t require you to be a culinary genius.
The Final Verdict (Worth the Hype or Nah?)
This recipe 100% earned its viral moment. It’s legitimately delicious comfort food that’s accessible to basically anyone who can operate an oven, uses ingredients you can find at any grocery store, and delivers consistent results that people actually want to eat.
The fact that it comes with this sweet backstory about Jennifer Garner’s childhood and her mom’s cooking is lovely, don’t get me wrong, but the recipe would work even without the celebrity connection. It stands on its own merit, which is rare for viral celebrity recipes honestly.
Will it replace authentic enchiladas verdes from your favorite Mexican restaurant? Absolutely not, and it’s not trying to. These are two completely different things and comparisons aren’t really fair or useful.
But for a weeknight dinner that feeds a crowd (or a family with leftovers), that everyone will actually eat, that you can make ahead and freeze? It delivers exactly what it promises.
I’m keeping this in my regular rotation, probably making it once a month or so, which is the highest compliment I can give any recipe. When something works and people request it again and nobody complains about what’s for dinner, that’s worth repeating. That’s a recipe that earns its place in your collection.
Also my freezer now has two containers of this ready to go for those nights when I cannot even THINK about cooking but we still need dinner. Future me is very grateful to past me for that level of planning.
