Naihomy’s Healthy Chicken Enchiladas
- July 2021
- By Naihomy Jerez
- Recipe from Mexico
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Do you wish healthy enchiladas were a thing? Us too. So we did something about it.
”I love chicken enchiladas, but they just didn’t love me back—thanks to their being supersized and loaded with cheese, crema and fatty cuts of meat,” says Naihomy Jerez, the Healthy & Delicioso editor of Familia Kitchen. She runs her own wellness and healthy eating consultancy and specializes in helping Latina women lose weight by making healthy changes to the our favorite traditional dishes.
Like enchiladas!
We asked Naihomy to do one of her famous food flips to this favorite dish of hers—and ours. She got right to work. ”My chicken enchilada makeover recipe opts for shredded lean chicken breast (skin off) and lots of non-starchy vegetables. I also used raw apple cider vinegar, a powerful antioxidant, and switched out the corn flour tortillas for almond-flour ones, which are low in carbs and naturally gluten free,” she explains.
The result?
Check out her Healthy and Delicioso chicken enchiladas we can all enjoy, really enjoy: knowing they are loving us back, inside and out. Serve these with a side of traditional Mexican rice (flip the arroz to brown to make it even healthier!), sliced avocado, and healthy refried beans, stewed pintos with a little bit of olive oil—no lard.
To try more of Naihomy’s delicious flips on traditional Latino dishes, check out her Healthy & Delicioso makeovers of arepitas de yuca, arroz con pollo, Dominican moro de guandules, dulce con habichuela (for Easter, D.R.-style!), and pumpkin flan. She also healthied up our favorite drinks! Check out her vegan coquito and lighter takes on the margarita and paloma.
Ready to Make Healthy Chicken Enchiladas?
Naihomy’s Healthy Chicken Enchiladas
8
servings20
minutes1
hour30
minutesIngredients
- Make the Chicken Filling
2 boneless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup red pepper
1/3 cup green pepper
1/3 cup white onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp raw apple cider vinegar
- Make the Salsa Verde
10 tomatillos
1 white onion, chopped
3 to 4 jalapeños, depending on size, de-seeded and deveined
1 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp Himalayen salt
1 cup cilantro
3 cloves garlic
- Prep Your Tortillas and Fixings
1 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
8 almond flour tortillas
1 cup tomatoes, chopped (for garnish)
1/2 cup cilantro , chopped(for garnish)
Directions
- Make the Enchilada Chicken Filling
- Trim the fat off the boneless chicken breasts.
- Chop all the vegetables and the garlic.
- Place a pan on medium to high heat. Add olive oil and warm for 1 minute.
- Add all vegetables and spices: red and green peppers, onions, salt, black pepper, oregano). Stir and cook for about 4 minutes or until vegetables start to release water.
- Deglaze the pan with the raw apple cider vinegar and lower the heat to low-simmer. Place the chicken breasts in the pan and spoon the veggie mixture over to cover the chicken.
- Put a lid on the pan and cook the chicken-vegetable mix for 30 minutes.
- Check the chicken and flip the breasts over. Recover with the vegetable mixture and cover with the lid for another 30 minutes.
- Lift the lid and let the steam clear out. With 2 forks, shred the chicken breast in the pan. The chicken should be so tender that shredding will be quick and easy to do.
- Stir the the shredded chicken into the vegetables until mixed together, cover and set to the side.
- Make the Salsa Verde
- Wash and husk tomatillos, chop and de-seed (to taste) the jalapeños, and rough-chop the onion. Place them in a second pot and cover with water.
- Place the pot over high heat and boil for about 15 minutes or until vegetables have softened.
- Let the vegetables cool for about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, place the vegetables in the blender. Don’t blend yet—let them cool for another 5 minutes.
- To the blender, add the raw apple cider vinegar, lime juice, turmeric, salt, cilantro and garlic cloves. Blend all ingredients well until fully combined. You may need to pause blender to push ingredients down with a spoon or spatula and ensure they all are well incorporated. Spoon into a bowl or glass jar and set to the side.
- Make the Enchiladas
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Place the almond-flour tortilla in a hot pan to warm up for about 10 seconds each side. Warming each tortilla will make it more pliable and easier to roll without tearing
- Remove the tortilla from the pan and add chicken to one side—about 2 Tbsp.
- Roll the tortilla with chicken on the inside so that it is fully encircled and place with its opening edge towards the bottom on a glass or ceramic baking dish.
- Repeat steps 2 to 4 for all of your tortillas, until they are all rolled tightly and face down in the baking dish.
- Pour salsa verde over all of the chicken-stuffed tortillas, making sure they are all well covered. This will take about 1 ¾ cup of your salsa verde. Feel free to use more, to your taste.
- Sprinkle shredded cheese to cover as much of the enchiladas as possible.
- Place in the oven for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and the cheese has melted.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 3 to 5 minutes. Top with chopped tomatoes and cilantro and a bit more salsa verde, if you wish, and serve!
Notes
- Store any extra salsa verde in the refrigerator. It will keep 3 to 5 days.
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