Low Carb Chicken Enchiladas
I am really passionate about making food that is both enjoyable and healthy. I know healthy can look like a lot of things, so I really want to encourage you to customize this dish for your family!
Read more: Low Carb Chicken EnchiladasInside of my low carb chicken enchilada dish, some of the tortilla shells are low carb, and some of them are not. My daughter’s bodies steward carbs very well, so they don’t have to eat what I am eating all the time. What’s nice about this dish is you can very subtly make the changes you need to without making it a big deal. I mark our low carb enchiladas with a toothpick because visually, they all look the same. I serve this with a big Mexican salad, so we all hit our nutrition goals.
Low Carb Enchilada Sauce
I have scoured the internet for tips and tricks on making enchilada sauce, if the article said “authentic” then I read it. After making my own sauce several ways, my favorite way was with powdered ingredients. I really wanted to love the roasted veggies and the whole peppers. If I can sneak in a vegetable, I WILL! Ultimately, in order to get the flavor I wanted, I created my own recipe based off of how I would make my own sauce next time. The sauce recipe I created is not spicey but is easily adjusted for families who can take the heat. Here is the link if you want to check that out. Enchilada Sauce – Balanced banquet .
Cooking Tips For This Dish
Pressure Cooker: I use my Instant Pot to cook the chicken for my low carb enchiladas. For this recipe, I set the time for 12 minutes which is longer than normal. I cook the chicken longer for the enchiladas so that they are tender and shred-able! I use my homemade bone broth in my instant pot.
A good stewarding tip I like to share is buying chicken thighs. Buy them with the bone in and the skin on in place of breasts when you can. I used to buy chicken breasts all the time and it was basically the only part of the chicken my family and I consumed. Thighs stay so moist and don’t dry out as easily as the breasts do. I cut my grocery bill down significantly making this swap. If that wasn’t enough, I can also use the bones and skin to make the most nutritious and healing bone broth!
Set up an assembly station! When I am going to assemble my enchiladas, I like to think through what I am doing first. What am I adding to my shells and what would be the smoothest way to do so? That tiny bit of thought makes the process so smooth, quick a lot less messy. I put everything I need where it makes the most sense and it takes out the stress of cooking.
Low Carb Chicken Enchiladas Meal Prep
This is a perfect recipe for meal prep since the burritos are smothered. In my opinions things that are not “wet” do not taste good reheated throughout the week. The texture is always negatively impacted, it somehow gets moist AND dry, and it’s never the same in my opinion. If you are reheating something that is wet, like a smothered burrito or a soup, or a curry, then it does very well in the microwave! Soup for example that’s something I would actually rather eat the day after I made it.
Low Carb Enchiladas
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker No special accessories needed.
- 1 Baking Dish 9" x 13"
- 2 Saucepan
- 1 cheese shredder
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Chicken Breast, thigh, or combination.
- 2 cups Chicken Broth or Bone Broth You could use water in a pinch and add a bullion cube if you have one on hand.
- 1 block El Viajero Mexican dipping cheese Substitute mozzarella, monetary Jack or cheddar if you can't find El Viajero.
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 cups Enchilada Sauce
- 8 Tortilla Shells Use Low carb to avoid spikes in blood sugar
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.
- Season chicken with paprika, cumin, salt and pepper.
- Put chicken broth and seasoned chicken into the pressure cooker.
- Pressure cook for 12 minutes
- Shred cheese.
- Add shredded cheese, heavy whipping cream and salt to a saucepan that is heated over medium heat. stir occasionally until melted.
- Set up Enchilada assembly station.
- Once the timer goes off on the chicken, quick release the pressure and shred the chicken.
- Assemble enchiladas. Dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce, add shredded chicken to the center, fold in the sides, about one inch, and then roll your tortilla by taking the side closes to you, covering and gathering in the chicken and rolling that bundle away from you. It might sound silly to put this in here, but it was a game changer for me to get the hang of this rolling style.
- Bake for 5-10 minutes.
- Enjoy : )