This quick and healthy chicken enchiladas recipe is an excellent choice when you want homemade enchiladas, but are short on time AND you want them to be a bit healthier than the usual enchiladas.
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Want to make me happy? Serve me enchiladas.
Ok, well, that’s not entirely true. You could serve me lots of things, and pretty much anything Mexican, and I’ll be happy. But enchiladas are my top favorite though. Followed closely by chile rellenos, fajitas, burritos, tacos, tamales…haha, you get the idea. The great thing about enchiladas is that there is so many ways to make them. You can fill them with a variety of ingredients and while traditional red enchilada sauce is most common, I’m also a big fan of green enchilada sauce and even creamy style enchiladas with a cream-based sauce.
Ingredients Needed for Quick and Healthy Chicken Enchiladas:
Cooking Equipment Needed for Quick and Healthy Chicken Enchiladas:
- Onion (1 – Chopped)
- Chicken Stock (1 Cup)
- All-Purpose Flour (1 Tablespoon)
- Chili Powder (1 1/2 Tablespoons)
- Ground Cumin (2 Teaspoons)
- Garlic Powder (3/4 Teaspoon)
- Crushed Red Pepper (1/2 Teaspoon)
- Salt (1/4 Teaspoon)
- Unsalted Tomato Sauce (15oz)
- Shredded Cooked Chicken (3 Cups)
- Black Beans (15oz Can)
- Corn Tortillas (6 – 12 Inches)
- Mexican Blend Cheese (3/4 Cup – Shredded)
- Large Tomato (1 – Chopped)
- Fresh Cilantro (1/4 Cup – Chopped)
- Sour Cream (6 Tablespoons – Optional)
While some homemade enchilada recipes can be time consuming – and worth EVERY minute, in my opnion – sometimes (all the time?) you are in a hurry to get dinner on the table and you need a quick fix. And, let’s be honest, it goes back to what I’ve said time and time again: your family is probably happiest when you feed them them a good meal and they don’t care if it took 30 minutes or 4 hours. This quick and easy chicken enchilada recipe is perfect for when time is short.
Now you’ll notice this recipe includes enchilada sauce from scratch. If you’ve never made homemade enchilada sauce, you’ll see that it’s actually not that hard to make, but if you want to save even more time, feel free to use canned enchilada sauce.
I want to give a big thank you to Allyson Reed Zea of Domestic Superhero for this recipe and beautiful photos! Here is the complete recipe – if you aren’t ready for it yet, but want to save it, be sure to pin it to one of your Pinterest boards:
Quick and Healthy Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
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Quick and Healthy Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
Description
This quick and healthy chicken enchiladas recipe is an excellent choice when you want homemade enchiladas, but are short on time AND you want them to be a bit healthier than the usual enchiladas.
Ingredients
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 15 ounce can unsalted tomato sauce
- 3 cups shredded skinless (about 15 ounces, boneless rotisserie chicken breast or pre-cooked and shredded chicken breast)
- 15 ounce can black beans (rinsed and drained)
- 12 inch corn tortillas (6-)
- Cooking spray
- 3/4 cup Mexican blend cheese (shredded)
- 1 large tomato (chopped)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
- 6 tablespoons sour cream (if desired for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat broiler to high. Combine first 9 ingredients (through sauce) in a medium saucepan and stir with a whisk. Bring to a boil over medium- high heat. Cook 2 more minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Reserve 1 1/2 cups sauce mixture on the side.
- Add chicken and beans to pan; cook 3-4 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly heated.
- Stack 6 tortillas and wrap stack in damp paper towels and microwave for 15 seconds. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture in center of each tortilla and roll up. Arrange tortillas, seam sides down, in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Repeat with other 6 tortillas starting with the stacking step.
- Top with reserved sauce and cheese. Broil 3-4 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned and sauce is bubbly. Top with tomato and cilantro. Garnish with sour cream if desired.
- Category: Casserole
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Mexican
Abigail Miller says
This was so easy and delicious!!
Amanda says
Delicious and simple! Loved even by my picky eater! This will definitely be my go to enchilada recipe!
Sandman says
I am clueless in the kitchen but this was so easy I got it right first try and it was great!!!!
Chelsea says
Hi! Trying these this week. Do they freeze well do you know? TIA.
Johlene@FlavoursandFrosting says
Wow this looks so easy but yet so delicious! I love easy weekday recipes like these 🙂 🙂
Saying hi from the Showcase your talent Thursday link party!
Michele says
Can you post the nutrition facts?
brandie says
Hi Michele,
Since I am not a registered dietitian, I don’t feel comfortable listing nutritional facts. However, there are many nutrition calculators available on the internet and they do a great job of figuring this information out for you based on the ingredients you enter.
Hilary says
Thank you so much for linking up to Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party! I picked your recipe as my favorite link of the week! Seriously the most beautiful photo and I can’t wait to try your recipe. Thank you so much for linking up each week!
Mollie says
I am a sucker for chicken enchiladas and these look fantastic! Frugal, too! 🙂 Thanks for bringing this by to our Throwback Thursday Link Party – I’ll be pinning this to our board, too, and Happy New Year!
Audrey says
I love enchiladas, but don’t like the effort that goes into making my grandmother’s recipe. This sounds great. Thanks for sharing on the Creative K. Kids Tasty Tuesdays Linky Party. We hope you will join us next week.
Lisa @ Fun Money Mom says
Yumm…these look delish! Thanks so much for sharing at Share The Wealth Sunday!
xoxo
Lisa
Allyson says
So funny! I Was just browsing the SoFab FB page and I saw this pop up and was like, “hey!!!” Looks great!!!
brandie says
LOL…that is funny, Allyson! 🙂
Karly says
This looks wonderful! My kind of dinner! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Miz Helen says
This looks so good, we will just love your Chicken Enchiladas. Hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for sharing this awesome recipe with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Lori Hart says
Wow does this look amazing! Enchilada’s are a fave of mine. I found you over at the Living Well, Spending Less link party. I host Tickle My Tastebuds Tuesday and would love it if you linked up this recipe. I’m sure our party goers would love it as much as I do. Here is the link http://bit.ly/1lNY6hK. Have a wonderful day!!