Reduced-Fat Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas
By Cristin WalshPublished on February 4, 2015
Time
1½ hours
Yield
Serves 6
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Microwaving the tortillas makes them more pliable for rolling. Shred the chicken into small pieces so it won’t tear through the tortillas. Cracker Barrel makes our favorite reduced-fat cheddar. Serve these enchiladas with lime wedges, low-fat sour cream, diced avocado, shredded lettuce, and hot sauce.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine 1/2 cup onion, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until onions have softened, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Stir in chipotle and adobo sauce, garlic, cumin, and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato sauce and water and bring to simmer. Add chicken and return to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken registers 160 degrees, 10 to 15 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.
- Off heat, transfer chicken to plate and let cool slightly. Using 2 forks, shred into small pieces. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Combine 1 cup cheddar, cilantro, shredded chicken, 1/2 cup sauce, and remaining 1/2 cup onion in bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Spread 1/2 cup sauce in bottom of 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Stack tortillas on plate, cover with damp towel, and microwave until warm and pliable, about 1 minute. Spread half of warm tortillas on counter. Spread level 1/3 cup chicken mixture across center of each tortilla, roll up tortillas tightly, and arrange crosswise, seam side down, in prepared dish. Repeat with remaining 6 tortillas and filling.
- Cover enchiladas with remaining sauce. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheddar evenly over top. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake until enchiladas are hot throughout, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Serve.
Time
1½ hoursYield
Serves 6Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Too often, a reduced-fat or reduced-calorie dish also suffers from a reduction in flavor. We were determined to avoid this trap when we replaced full-fat cheese with reduced-fat cheese and chicken thighs with chicken breasts in our Reduced-Fat Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas. The answer is a flavorful infusion of chipotles in adobo, a high-impact ingredient that lends smokiness, spiciness, sweetness, and tang to the tomato-based sauce. A quick 1-minute zap in the microwave softens the tortillas just enough to make them pliable.
Before You Begin
Microwaving the tortillas makes them more pliable for rolling. Shred the chicken into small pieces so it won’t tear through the tortillas. Cracker Barrel makes our favorite reduced-fat cheddar. Serve these enchiladas with lime wedges, low-fat sour cream, diced avocado, shredded lettuce, and hot sauce.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine 1/2 cup onion, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until onions have softened, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Stir in chipotle and adobo sauce, garlic, cumin, and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato sauce and water and bring to simmer. Add chicken and return to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken registers 160 degrees, 10 to 15 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.
- Off heat, transfer chicken to plate and let cool slightly. Using 2 forks, shred into small pieces. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Combine 1 cup cheddar, cilantro, shredded chicken, 1/2 cup sauce, and remaining 1/2 cup onion in bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Spread 1/2 cup sauce in bottom of 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Stack tortillas on plate, cover with damp towel, and microwave until warm and pliable, about 1 minute. Spread half of warm tortillas on counter. Spread level 1/3 cup chicken mixture across center of each tortilla, roll up tortillas tightly, and arrange crosswise, seam side down, in prepared dish. Repeat with remaining 6 tortillas and filling.
- Cover enchiladas with remaining sauce. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheddar evenly over top. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake until enchiladas are hot throughout, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Serve.
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