Chicken Enchilada Verde
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Living in Southern California it’s inevitable that we love Mexican food, especially Chicken Enchilada Verde. Being so close to the border and having perpetual sunshine makes it always feel like a party.
However, traditional Mexican food with the rice, beans, chips and tortillas is a carb load and a half. This version of my enchiladas still gives you the Mexican flavors wrapped in my low carb tortillas without the massive amount of carbs.
The Back Story on Tortillas
Growing up we went to this great restaurant called Tia Juanas, now replaced by a Trader Joes store. The food was authentic and delicious. What I loved most was at the front of the restaurant they had tortilla makers hand-making the tortillas.
It was mesmerizing to watch these two little Sonoras take a small scoop of the corn dough into the palm of their hands. They would pat that little ball of dough perfectly into a round flat tortilla. Then it was tossed onto a large hot open faced round grill.
The ladies would be patting away and watching the cooking tortillas out of the corner of their eye. Then every so often and in between all the patting they would flip the tortilla revealing the nicely browned underside.
Pretty soon there would be a stack of cooked tortillas whisked away to a waiting table of hungry patrons. A great memory and a great lesson….tortillas can take time to make, but they are worth it.
When I make these low carb tortillas I have my own little factory set up in my kitchen with 4 pans going at once (see video here). This way I can do 4 tortillas at once and the whole process goes a lot faster.
Casseroles and Wraps
Once I have a whole batch of the low carb tortillas made I can use them for all sorts of different meals. When you have all your tortillas made you can decide if you want to make Chicken Enchilada Verde using salsa verde, lasagna, or wraps.
The thing I love about this dish is that you can assemble several casseroles and freeze them for easy diners in the future. Chicken Enchilada Verde is easy when you use pre made salsa verde. It freezes beautifully, too!
My secret to lasting weight loss
Maintaining my weight loss, and quite frankly staying healthy, has always been the main driver for this website. Making meals like these tortillas and Enchiladas is really my trick. Sorry, it’s that simple for me…I meal prep and almost always cook at home.
I wrote a few articles about this and will write more, but I want everyone to know that cooking at home is one of my major keys to success. Every meal does not have to be epic, but when I am prepared I have a much better chance at success.
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Ingredients
Low Carb Tortillas
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- 1 ½ cup egg whites about 8, but I prefer pre-packaged egg whites
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ cup water plus a little more to thin batter
Filling
- 2 cups chicken breast store bought Rotisserie chicken
- 1 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 ½ cup kale or spinach chopped
- ½ onion
- 2 garlic cloves pressed
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 4 oz cream cheese
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 ½ cup white cheddar cheese
- 1 ½ cup salsa verde your choice of keto friendly salsa verde from jar or can, I use Herdez Salsa Verde
For garish…
- cilantro
- scallions
- sour cream
- Chalula Sauce
Instructions
Making Low Carb Tortillas
- Mix together tortilla batter to a watery consistency. Place a small non-stick fry pan (I usually have 3-4 pans going at once) over low to medium heat and spray with non-stick spray (I use coconut spray).
- While holding the pan handle in one hand over the stove and with the other hand pour just enough of the watery batter into the center of the fry pan. Very quickly swirl the pan so that the batter covers the entire bottom of the pan.
- Let sit over low to medium heat until it easily lifts with a thin rubber spatula. The tortilla should almost slide around the pan when the underside is cooked. Gently lift one side to see desired brownness on the under side.
- Take your rubber spatula and slide it under the tortilla and gently, but quickly flip the tortilla to brown the other side. This batter makes 12-14 tortillas
Making Enchiladas
- Preheat oven to 350*
- Shred chicken and set aside. Put the oil in large skillet on low to medium heat. Saute onion to soften for 3 or so minutes. Add in garlic and cook together for another minute. Add in kale (or spinach), salt and pepper and stir around to wilt the leaves for 3-4 minutes. Add in the cream cheese, heavy cream and cumin until all cream cheese is melted and all ingredients have melded together.
- Take skillet off heat and add in shredded chicken. Completely mix in all chicken with ingredients. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
- All the while you have already made the low carb tortillas or you are concurrently making them.
- While holding tortilla in the palm of your hand place several tablespoons of creamy chicken mixture in full length of the tortilla, sprinkle 1-2 Tbsp shredded white cheddar cheese. Very gently wrap the tortilla into a roll and place seam side down lined elegantly in a casserole dish. Do this until you use all the tortillas and all the creamy chicken kale mixture….should yield 12-14 enchiladas.
- Spoon salsa verde over the enchiladas, sprinkle top of enchiladas with rest of the cheese.
- Bake enchiladas in 350* oven for 25-30 minutes.
- Once the enchiladas are out of the oven sprinkle with chopped cilantro and scallions. Serve with sour cream and hot sauce.
- These are great are leftovers, and even freeze leftovers in batches and reheat in microwave for 3-5 mins.
Nutrition
MEDICAL AND NUTRITION DISCLAIMER…Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nutritional break downs are done using a commercial nutrition calculator. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctorbefore starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers, this should never be construed as medical advice.