Chicken Enchiladas Verde

Chicken enchiladas with roasted tomatillo salsa

Enchiladas can be healthy and decadent at the same time. Precooking the chicken breasts in water (over medium heat) with an onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, and an assortment of dried chili peppers creates a sodium free and flavorful broth. You can use the broth to soften the tortillas rather than cooking them in oil to reduce calories and fat. I also reserved the onion and peppers to chop and add to the shredded chicken for additional flavor.

Since I also like to have a low carb option for lunch, I keep some of the chicken mixture and add it to a separate pan. Topping and cooking it similar to the enchiladas without the tortillas gives me a tasty, low calorie, low carb lunch option for later in the week.

Chicken Enchiladas Verde

Ingredients

Chicken

• 4 chicken breasts (trimmed of fat)

• 3-4 assorted dried chili peppers (chipotle, ancho, pasilla, guajillo are some of my favorites to use)

• 1 bay leaf

• 1/4 sweet onion

• 1 tsp peppercorns

• 1 tbsp lime juice

• 1/2 c low-fat plain yogurt

• 2 c roasted tomatillo salsa

• 1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Put the first 6 ingredients in a large pan and cover with water.

2. Cook over medium heat for 20-30 minutes until the chicken is cooked to through to a temp of 165 degrees.

3. Remove chicken, peppers, and onion and chill.

4. Let broth settle and reserve for softening the tortillas.

5. When chicken is cool, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and shred the chicken.

6. Mix the shredded chick with 1/3 c of the cheese, 2/3 c roasted tomatillo salsa, the yogurt, and the reserved, chopped chili peppers and onion.

7. Mix to coat the chicken.

8. Reheat the reserved broth over medium-low heat. When it is warm but not too hot, carefully dip tortillas, one a time, in the both to soften.

9. Fill the tortilla with ~2 tbsp of the filling (I just use my hands to measure). Be careful to not overfill.

10. Roll the tortilla and set it in a casserole dish coated with non-stick spray. Repeat until you have used all the filling. If you have extra filling, you can put that in another small pan to make the carb free version I mentioned above.

11. Top rolled tortillas with remaining salsa verde and cheese. Cook at 400 degrees for ~30 minutes until warm, bubbly and the cheese is golden in color.

You can serve it with salsa, yogurt, cilantro, chopped jalepenos or diced tomatoes.