30-Minute Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas

This version of the well loved dish, chicken enchiladas, may be quick to make, but is no less delicious than its lengthy and more calorie laden name sake. Some traditional chicken enchilada recipes can have more than 1000 calories per serving, while this one comes in at under 400 calories per serving. Yikes!

The points of this recipe that I particularly liked include using part of a rotisserie chicken, instead of cooking chicken breasts for the filling. You also make your own tomato-based enchilada sauce, so you can control the salt content, and the spiciness, and eliminate all other unnecessary ingredients. If, like me, you have someone who loves extra spicy and someone who likes it mild, you can serve chopped jalapeños on the side, or some hot sauce.

This recipe serves 6 with a serving size being two enchiladas and 1 tablespoon of sour cream weighing in at only 374 calories. That seems like a great bargin to me. I made half the recipe for two of us and got seven enchiladas. The only change I made was to use flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas as we like them better, and I sprinkled on dried cilantro since I couldn’t get fresh cilantro.

30-MINUTE CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

Yield: Serves 6

Ingredients:

Have all ingredients laid out before starting to put it all together.

1 cup chopped onions
1 cup unsalted chicken stock
1 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (15-ounce) can unsalted tomato sauce
3 cups shredded skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast
1 (15-ounce) can unsalted black beans, rinsed and drained
12 ( 6-inch) corn tortillas
cooking spray
3 ounces shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6 Tablespoons sour cream

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler to high. Coat a 13 x 9″ baking pan with cooking spray.

2. Combine the first 9 ingredients in a medium saucepan; stir with a whisk.

Beginning to make the sauce.

Bring to a boil over high heat; cook 2 minutes or until thickened. reserve 1 1/2 cups sauce mixture. Add chicken and beans to pan; cook 2 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly heated.

3. Stack tortillas; wrap stack in damp paper towels and microwave at HIGH for 25 seconds. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture in center of each tortilla; roll up. Arrange tortillas, seam sides down, in bottom of prepared baking dish. Top with reserved sauce and cheese.