Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken enchilada’s are a family favorite in my house. The are easy to make, healthy, and kids love them.

I have been wanting to post this recipe for a while now but could not find a way to freeze this recipe as a complete meal. Complete meal meaning having it prepared in it’s entirety ahead of time so I all I have to do is take it out of the freezer and stick it in the oven. I love having a variety meals prepared in this way because it makes life easier for my husband when I am not home at night. My homemade frozen pizzas and chicken parmesan are examples of freezer meals prepared completely before going into the freezer.

Anyway, I have seen on other websites enchiladas prepared and frozen ahead of time as a completed meal but for some reason my end results were always mushy tortillas and dry chicken. If you don’t know by now I hate mush and dry chicken – yuck!

Unfortunately, I have tried to make and freeze this enchilada recipe as a complete meal about 3 times now with no luck.

I will admit I was bummed by the verdict but all hope was not lost for this family favorite. While I do not recommend preparing it completely before freezing you can still put it together as a freezer meal kit. Similar to my chicken quesadilla kit.  All you need to do is prepare the chicken and the enchilada sauce ahead of time. Freeze them, along with the cheese and tortillas, separately in bags or containers. Then take everything out the night before and let thaw in fridge. Then put the enchiladas together and bake recommended time.

From my experience, even if you just have the shredded chicken ready beforehand you are way ahead of the game.

This enchilada recipe is adapted from the Slow Cooker Revolution Cookbook. If you are looking for a tried and true slow cooker cookbook then I highly recommend this one. I have not been disappointed with a recipe yet.

Chicken Enchiladas

Serving Size: 1 enchilada

Servings: 8

Approximate nutritional information:

Calories: 335 * Carbs: 38 * Fat: 13 * Protein: 15 * Fiber: 3 * Points +: 9 * Old Points: 7

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons sugar

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

½ cup chicken stock or water

2 cups Mexican Shredded Chicken

1 cup shredded taco cheese

8 medium tortillas (110 calories each)

1 lime

Cooking spray

Sour cream or salsa to serve **please note nutritional information does not include these ingredients.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Step 1. In medium saucepan, on medium heat, saute onion in olive oil until it begins to soften. Once onion is soften add in garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Step 2. Add into the pan chili powder, cumin, and sugar. Stir until combined and fragrant. Please note at first it might seem like there is too much chili powder rest assured I have made this many times and it turns out great.

Step 3. Add in tomato sauce and chicken stock (or water) and cook for about 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Step 4. Pour about ½ cup to ¾ cup of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 11x 7 pan coated with cooking spray.

Step 5. Prepare the enchiladas by taking 1 tortilla and placing in the center ½ cup of shredded chicken, 1 tablespoon of enchilada sauce, 1 tablespoons of cheese, and a squirt of fresh lime juice. Roll up the tortilla by folding ends in first then rolling. Place enchilada seam side down in pan. Repeat with each tortilla.

Step

6. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas then sprinkle with rest of the cheese.

Step 7. Cover with foil and bake for 10 -15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let sit for 5 minutes and serve. Please note if you are cooking from a freezer kit, the sauce and chicken will be cold so cooking time will be longer.

If you choose, serve with salsa or sour cream.

Freezer Cooking Instructions

As I stated earlier, this dinner is best frozen as a freezer kit. The sauce and chicken can be cooked ahead of time and frozen separately in bags or containers.

Kitchen Resources Used for this Recipe

Slow Cooker Revolution Cookbook

Hamilton Beach 33967 Set ‘n Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker

Temp-tations Old World Cookware ~ I always get questions about my cookware    so I thought it would be helpful to post a link to it. My mom bought this set for me and I just love it.

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