Homemade enchilada sauce, fresh chicken and 60 minutes equal great healthier Mexican with this “from scratch” easy recipe. No pre-cooked chicken or can of enchilada sauce needed.
So we are 3 weeks into 2017, are you bored with your New Year’s diet yet? I’m here to rescue you from boredom at only 300 calories per serving.
Publishing Note: This is second in a series of a repost of older underappreciated recipes. I want to highlight some great recipes that are my personal favorites. I’m buffing up the photo editing and wording some. Please give it a try. First published Feb. 3, 2015, so some comments may be older. DrDan
We all love good Mexican, but it can be evil on the health-o-meter. But it doesn’t have to be. By using lower fat cheese, corn tortillas and well-trimmed chicken this recipe comes in at about 300 calories and 14 grams of fat per serving.
My wife will give me hints about what to cook next. Mild hint requires looking at her Pinterest posts. Strong hints I will refer to as “Yum-o-grams” which are emails starting with the Y-U-M phrase.
The best yum-o-grams will have a link to a blog I usually read anyways. This one linked to Jo Cooks a blog I have enjoyed many times. Similar recipes have been around the blogs, and all use canned enchilada sauce. I much prefer my homemade enchilada sauce. So I adapted the recipe to my tastes and made it a little healthier at the same time.
My Rating
A 5 from my wife. I was between a four and a five, but I’m good with the 5. She even said she might make it herself, so you know it’s good.
Recipe Notes for Healthier Chicken Enchilada Casserole in 60 Minutes
I usually make enchiladas with a rolled method. Much fussier and messier. This is so much easier.
You can use precooked chicken. If you’re aiming for low calorie, obviously use chicken breasts. You need about 3 cups which will be about 1 1/2 pounds, but I like a lot of meat in something like this.
You could also use can sauce but really do you want to do that?
Other Tex-Mex Casseroles
Easy Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
Excellent Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Crock Pot Southwest Chicken Casserole
Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Start by preheating oven to 350 convection or 375 conventional.
Trim two skinless boneless chicken breast and cut into three pieces each. These vary a lot in size. Aim for about 1 1/2 pound but anywhere from 1 to 2 pounds total should be fine.
In a medium sauce pan add one 15 oz. can tomato sauce, one tablespoon chili powder, one teaspoon paprika, one teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, one teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Mix well. Add the chicken and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Cover and decrease to simmer for 20 minutes.
Check the temperature of chicken to be sure it is 165 or more. Remove to cutting board and shred. Divide into three equal piles.
Prep an approximately 10X7 baking pan with PAM. Spoon two tablespoons of the sauce over the bottom of the baking pan. Layer two 6 inch corn tortillas over the sauce.
Add 1/3 of chicken. Then 1/3 of the sauce (about 2/3 cup). Then 2/3 cup cheese. Repeat this layering twice more.
Bake until a golden brown top. About 20 minutes for me.
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Healthier Chicken Enchilada Casserole in 60 Minutes
Ingredients
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 6 corn tortillas - 6 inch
- 2 cups lower fat cheese
Instructions
- Start by preheating oven to 350 convection or 375 conventional.
- Trim two skinless boneless chicken breast and cut into three pieces each. These vary a lot in size. Aim for about 1 1/2 pound but anywhere from 1 to 2 pounds total should be fine.
- In a medium sauce pan add one 15 oz. can tomato sauce, one tablespoon chili powder, one teaspoon paprika, one teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, one teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Mix well.
- Add the chicken and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Cover and decrease to simmer for 20 minutes.
- Check the temperature of chicken to be sure it is 165 or more. Remove to cutting board and shred. Divide into three equal piles.
- Prep an approximately 10X7 baking pan with PAM. Spoon two tablespoons of the sauce over the bottom of the baking pan.
- Layer two 6 inch corn tortillas over the sauce. Add 1/3 of chicken. Then 1/3 of the sauce (about 2/3 cup). Then 2/3 cup cheese. Repeat this layering twice more.
- Bake until a golden brown top. About 20 minutes for me.
Check Out Other Great Recipes
Nutrition is generally for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.
All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
Originally Published February 3, 2015
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Top Ten Recipe – 2015(Winner of Recipe of the Year)
Charisma
Dr Dan, this is the third of your recipes I’ve made, and every one has been incredible.
To be fair: I already have a general chicken enchilada recipe I enjoy, but never had an approach for the chicken I found just right, often resorteding to store-bought rotisseries or frozen, pre-cooked garbage.
The chicken preparation you’ve got herein could not be more flavorful, tender, or juicy. It really is, like everything else, just incredible (and still simple!).
Thank you for what you do.
DrDan
Hi Charisma,
Welcome to the blog.
This is one of my favorite recipes. I think because I love the sauce and it does double duty in this recipe. A braised chicken like this is always good.
Glad you liked it and thanks for the note.
Dan
Donna
Wow! This was amazing. We love the sauce. We added some black beans, corn and peppers to the chicken layer. We also made our own corn tortillas. We recently got a tortilla press, and wanted to try it. This is definitely one to make again. Thanks for sharing this recipe.