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Sep 22
28

Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas

These are some seriously delicious, restaurant-quality Chicken Enchiladas. I couldn’t believe I made them at home! Before I started this blog, enchiladas were a go-to meal for me, but at the time they consisted solely of canned enchilada sauce, canned refried beans, cheese and tortillas. I’m not saying they weren’t tasty as well, but these are so much better! I was a little bit worried that this dish would be too spicy when I did a quick taste test of the sauce before assembling the enchiladas but the finished product was perfect. The tortillas, chicken and cheese cut the spice, so there was definitely some notable heat there, but it wasn’t overwhelming.

I don’t feel like I got the best photos of this dish, partially because I was starving when I was cooking it. Once it was finished I had next to no patience for staging and taking a broad range of shots before digging in! Hopefully the pics I took are still enticing enough for you to give this recipe a try, because it’s really worth it. Your taste buds will thank you! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!

Chicken Enchiladas Filling

Chicken Enchiladas

These Chicken Enchiladas with homemade sauce are restaurant-quality at home!

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon canola oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tablespoons chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 3 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 (15 oz) can of tomato sauce
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 large beefsteak tomato, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 cup 2% reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese blend, I used Weight Watchers brand
  • ½ cup cilantro, finely chopped
  • 12 (6 inch) corn tortillas, (I used Mission Extra Thin Yellow Corn Tortillas)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly mist a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
  • Pour the oil in a large saucepan and bring to medium-low heat. Add the onion, jalapeno and salt and cover. Cook covered for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin and sugar and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the tomato sauce, water and chopped tomato, stir and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes until slightly thickened.
  • Add the chicken breasts to the sauce mixture and press them to the bottom to completely submerge them in the sauce. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Cook covered for 12-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through I used thin breasts and mine were good after 15 minutes. Remove the chicken breasts to a plate and set aside to cool.
  • Place a strainer over a medium bowl and pour the sauce through the strainer. Press down on the onion mixture to try to extract as much liquid as person. Pour the onion/jalapeno mixture into a large bowl, separate from the sauce, and set aside.
  • Using two forks, shred the chicken into bite sized pieces. Add the shredded chicken, ¼ cup of the sauce, 1 cup of the cheese (I mixed the two kinds of cheese together first) and the cilantro to the onion mixture and stir to thoroughly combine.
  • Microwave the tortillas for one minute on high until warm and soft. Spread 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture onto a tortilla and tightly roll it up. Place the rolled tortilla seam side down in the prepared baking dish and repeat with the remaining tortillas. Spray the tops of the rolled tortillas with cooking spray and bake in the oven for 7 minutes until tortillas are slightly browned.
  • Reduce the heat to 400 and pour the enchilada sauce evenly over the tops of the enchiladas. Top with the remaining 1 cup of cheese. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place back in the oven for an additional 20 minutes.
  • Remove the aluminum foil and return the dish to the oven for 5 more minutes until cheese browns. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Nutrition Information per serving:
322 calories, 29 g carbs, 8 g sugars, 8 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 26 g protein, 5 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)
MyWW SmartPoints per (2 enchilada) serving: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Green: 6 SmartPoints/ Blue: 5 SmartPoints/ Purple: 5 SmartPoints
Weight Watchers Points Plus:
8 per (2 enchilada) serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
adapted from Pink Parsley (originally adapted from America’s Test Kitchen)

28 comments on “Chicken Enchiladas”

  1. these look great! I’ve actually never made enchiladas before, for some reason they’ve always intimidated me. But your instructions make these seem doable. I think I’m going to make these soon. Thanks for the recipe!

  2. They’re definitely doable, Carrie! I was a little intimidated as well, but it was easier than I thought and totally worth it. Let me know what you think after you make them!

  3. These were simply amazing!!!! The flavor was just so delicious! My friend and I didn’t really let them sit for long since we were starving and they disintegrated a little but they were delightful nonetheless. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

  4. I’m going to make these tonight. Step 7 calls for enchilada sauce, but I don’t see it in the recipe…? 🙂

  5. I was referring to the sauce you made and set aside in step 4. Enjoy!

  6. @ Ana – glad you loved them!

  7. I also made these this weekend, and they were DELICIOUS! Very, very good. Thanks, Emily!

  8. i work nights so a long prep time is not in the cards for dinner. i put everything in the crock pot for 6 hrs on high and the filling came out great! This is an awesome recipe

  9. MsHellion – glad they were a hit!

    Jenna – that’s great to know!

  10. We made these for the first time last night. I like that the serving size is 2 enchiladas, I’m also going to be having 1 each for lunches this week – I bet they re-reat really well.

    I didn’t find them too spicy at all. Next time, I might use some enchiladas sauce to get that unique mexican flavoring.

    Last week we did “cupcakes” every day, this week we’re going to focus on baking dish items. There’s so much to choose from – menu planning this week will be fun!!

    Thanks Emily!

  11. We have these in the oven right now! My favorite part is you just taught me how to make homemade enchilada sauce! Awesome! I did end up with a little extra filling so I rolled two extra tortillas, but I am sure the first few got shorted a little…

  12. Yay! Making these tonight for CINCO DE MAYO 🙂

    • I made them and they were AMAZING!! The sauce was out of this world! I was nervous to make these because of all of the steps, but your instructions were perfect and they came out just right…even better than if we had gone out to eat. Thanks for another great one!

  13. I just made these tonight. Are you sure they’re only 8 points for 2 enchiladas? They’re fantastic and I was really full after having them. I had to use whole wheat flour tortillas at 2 pts each. Oh I just realized that I only used 8 tortillas… No wonder they were filling. I plugged everything in to the recipe builder and it came out to 12 points for 2. That’s still good. I won’t be hungry in an hour!

  14. These were absolutely amazing!! The only thing I did different was leave out the sugar, I just felt it didn’t belong, but my family wolfed them down! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  15. I’m am not a great cook, but I’m making these tonight. I’ve spent a lot of time during the day doing a “mise en place” of all the stuff that needs to be chopped and minced. I’ll report in when we’ve tried them! Thanks for the simple recipe!

  16. This was so delicious! I only used 1 jalapeno because I was worried about the spiciness, i think next time I will use another half. It took me quite a while to make (over 2 hours total). So next time I think I will prep the chicken/sauce on Sunday and just stick it in the freezer until I’m ready to make it. This will definitely be a meal we have once a month!

  17. The family loved this! Delicious! Will definitely make again!

  18. These look awesome. I am defiantly going to be making these after the next time I go grocery shopping!

  19. This was the first Emily Bites recipe I have ever tried and I am impressed, these are so good and easy. I couldn’t stop eating the chicken mixture as I was putting them together. Thank you Emily!

  20. Another GREAT recipe! Thank you!

  21. Emily! Ok, so my husband is the enchilada lover, and I usually will humor him and make them every once in a while – they aren’t my favorite. Well…my mind has been changed. These are hands-down the absolute best enchilada’s that I have ever had! My husband shouted out an unsolicited “10”, meaning that he definitely wants them again (we are rating new recipes between 1-10). Thank you for sharing, these were definitely worth the bit of extra time that is needed to make the homemade sauce.

  22. When I put in the nutritional facts into the WW app for SmartPoints, it tells me 9 points for 1 serving but yours says 6 points. Am I doing something wrong? P.s. I love your recipes. Do you have a cookbook? I would love to get my hands on it!!

  23. I made these for dinner tonight, and they were so delicious!!

  24. I also put in the nutritional facts into the WW app for SmartPoints, it tells me 9 points for 1 serving but yours says 6 smartpoints???

  25. I’ve made these multiple times and are always a hit! They are delicious!

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