Chicken Enchiladas

This is a very healthy version of chicken enchiladas. Most homemade enchiladas call for cans of cream of soup, cans of enchilada sauce and lots of sour cream. This recipe has none of those things!! These enchiladas are bursting with flavor yet it is very easy to change them based on what you love or are not a fan of and parts of it can be made ahead of time and then just combined and baked. It's important to note that bell peppers are not spicy, green chilies are typically very mild and the small about of jalapeno does not have a lot of spice either so if you are making these for kids they are not spicy. My oldest daughter will not eat anything spicy and she had seconds of these! However, if you love spicy by all means load it up with spicier chilies, jalapenos, and chili powder.  Lets get started!

First start with shredded chicken. I baked about 1.15 lbs of chicken and then shredded it.  While the chicken is cooking this is a perfect time to get everything else ready to make the filling and sauce for the enchiladas. Now this recipe may seem overwhelming with tons of ingredients (and it does sort of have a lot) but they are all very cheap ingredients full of flavor! Slice a lime in half, dice 1 green bell pepper, 1 red bell pepper, half an onion, 1 clove of garlic and chop 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro. I also finely diced half of a jalapeno just for the little bit of flavor, make sure you remove all of the seeds because this is where the heat is. You will also need green chilies for these enchiladas but there are lots of options for this. You can either buy canned green chilies or fresh green chilies. I wanted fresh green chilies but my grocery store was out of them so I bought yellow chilies (also called Sante Fe chilies) and these tend to be a little bit spicier than green chilies which are not spicy. I bought 4 chilies, removed the seeds and diced them as well. 



 Ok, we are finally done dicing everything Whew! Heat 1 Tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and then add half of the green bell pepper, half of the red bell peppers, the onion, garlic and jalapenos. Saute them for about 3-4 minutes. 

Then add in the shredded chicken, half of the chilies, 1/2 cup of chicken broth, and squeeze the fresh lime juice over the chicken. Stir it all together. Season the chicken mixture with 1 teaspoon of each of the following; salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika. Stir it all together and heat over low heat for about 5-10 minutes or so stirring occasionally to let all of the flavors come together.



While the chicken is sitting melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan with 2 Tablespoons of flour (I used whole wheat flour). Stir it together constantly as the butter melts so it turns into a smooth paste. Slowly pour in 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth stirring constantly making sure it turns into a smooth gravy. 







Add in 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt and the chopped cilantro.  Stir it together so it turns into a creamy sauce. Then add in the rest of the chilies and 2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese. Stir them into the sauce until the cheese melts.



Half a cup of greek yogurt has 130 calories, 11g of fat, 15% of daily calcium requirements and 4g of protein.
Half a cup of sour cream has 240 calories, 24g of fat and 8% of the daily calcium requirement.

Now it is time to assemble the enchiladas. I used 10 white corn tortillas because I think they add a really nice flavor. You can either fry the tortillas to make them softer or just microwave them for about 30 seconds. If you don't like or have corn tortillas you can use whole wheat tortillas. Although, if you use flour tortillas these with technically become burritos (yes the type of tortilla used is pretty much the only difference between enchiladas and burritos). Fill each tortilla with a large spoonful of the chicken mixture, roll up and lay seam side down in a 9 x 13 pan until the pan is full.

Once all of the tortillas are full pour the cheese sauce over the enchiladas. I top the cheese sauce with the remaining red and green bell peppers, this is more to just make it look prettier :) Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until the edges just start to brown and the cheese sauce is bubbling. 


 There you have it! A whole pan of super delicious cheesy chicken enchiladas. I also mashed up an avocado and served the enchiladas with that. The creaminess of the avocado can also be used in place of sour cream and they are full of nutrients and vitamins, fiber and monounsaturated fats (which are the healthy kinds of fats).

Cost Break Down!!

I used about 1.15 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breast that I got for $2.39 a lb so it cost me $2.75. A green bell pepper cost me $0.45 and a red bell pepper cost me $0.50. A whole onion cost $0.52 and I used half so it was $0.26. A clove of garlic costs maybe $0.02. A jalapeno cost me $0.05. The yellow chilies I used were $0.77. 1 lime was $0.20. A bunch of cilantro cost me about $0.49 and I used less than a quarter of it but I'll say it cost about $0.10. 1 tablespoon of olive oil cost me $0.08. A 2.12 oz jar of paprika cost me $1.95 but that's ounces of weight not volume so converting it to teaspoons is quite tricky so I would estimate that the paprika and cumin I used cost maybe $0.20. For the roux I made 2 Tablespoons of butter costs me $0.15 and 2 Tablespoons of whole wheat flour is $0.07. The 2 cups of chicken broth I used cost $1.52. A 24 oz container of greek yogurt cost me $2.50 so 1/2 cup cost $0.40. An 8 oz. block of cheese cost me $1.99 and I shredded maybe 2/3 of it so the amount I used cost me about $1.50. 30 corn tortillas cost me $1.33 and I used 10 which cost me $0.44. 

All together I made a 9 x 13 pan of enchiladas for $9.46!