Creamy chicken enchiladas, lightened up with a salsa verde and greek yogurt based sauce. These enchiladas are every bit as delicious as their full-fat counterpart (maybe even more so)!
I’m a major enchilada lover. When we go to mexican restaurants, I will order enchiladas nine times out of ten. In fact, we went to a little mexican joint in Salt Lake while we were in Utah for the holidays and I ordered mango mole enchiladas. They were SO good; pork carnitas rolled into corn tortillas, then smothered in a spicy sweet orange mole and topped with melted jack cheese. Let’s just say I was in heaven.
Aaaaaaaand I am just now realizing that when we were in Utah for Thanksgiving one month before that my parents took us to a restaurant where I ordered yet another version of mole enchiladas, and just thinking about them is getting me to reconsider my dinner plans for tonight…
ANYWAY.
When I was a kid we got to pick what my mom made for our birthday dinner every year, and I used to choose cream cheese or sour cream chicken enchiladas A LOT. Not surprisingly they were and probably still are my number one choice. Before I developed this recipe, my favorite recipe for creamy enchiladas went something like this: cream cheese, chicken, diced white onion, green chiles, monterey jack cheese —-> rolled into tortillas and placed in a pan —-> pour a whopping 2 cups of heavy cream over said enchiladas and top with more cheese, then bake. I know. Delicious sounding right?
But super rich, almost too rich actually. So I set out to develop a creamy enchilada recipe that is a little friendlier on my waistline (significantly less calories and fat) while still retaining the oh-so-desirable creaminess and taste of my original favorite recipe.
The end result was this recipe for creamy greek yogurt chicken enchiladas, and I love them. Sometimes when I develop a healthier version of one of my favorite recipes, I keep the original version around for special occasions (like birthdays or when company comes), but I LOVE this creamy enchilada recipe so much that I have all but forgotten the original version and I would definitely eat this healthier version on my birthday and serve it to dinner guests.
Just for fun I calculated the nutrition facts for the original recipe, and for this recipe. The original had 590 calories and 43 grams of fat per enchilada. This healthier version has 325 calories per enchilada and just 16 grams of fat. I’m patting myself on the back right now, because I feel so accomplished. Yay me!
- 10 taco size flour tortillas
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup salsa verde*
- 1/2-3/4 tsp kosher salt (plus more as needed to taste)
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 3/4 cup low-fat plain greek yogurt
- 2 cups diced cooked chicken breast
- 1 1/2-2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, divided
- optional: sliced olives, diced avocado, cilantro, diced tomato
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth and salsa verde and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in greek yogurt until smooth.
- Spread a ladle full (1/2 cup or so) of sauce on the bottom of the prepared 9×13 pan. Divide the diced chicken and 3/4 cup of the cheese evenly between the 10 tortillas. Roll each tortilla and place seam side down in the baking dish. Top with remaining sauce and remaining 3/4 cup Monterrey jack cheese (and sliced olives if desired).
- Bake until hot, bubbly and cheese has melted, 20-25 minutes.
- Let cool slightly, and serve garnished with cilantro, diced avocado, and tomatoes if desired.
