Today is my dad’s 50th birthday.
Wait, 50?
This graceful noodle-warrior is 50 years old?
Let me just tell you.
My dad is incredible. Being with him makes me a better person and brings calm to my heart.
Alrightalrightalright. I just showed you a picture of him launching a full-scale attack with a foam noodle. But really, I promise, he is generally a calming person.
When I was 5, my dad knew everything about the world. Then I turned 15. Hmmph.
Now that I’m 25, I realize that my dad probably can’t know everything about the world. But I’m still pretty sure that he actually does, because he’s my dad and he’s amazing.
Dad, you inspire me! Thanks for being the best. Ever.
Alright. In honor of my dad who is the number one best ever, let’s talk about the number two best ever.
These chicken enchiladas. I’m sototallyinlovewiththem. When I think about the 6 servings of leftover enchiladas sitting in my fridge, my heart skips a beat.
They’re chicken meets salsa meets corn meets beans meets CROCKPOT.
Now roll it up in a corn tortilla and top it with melted cheese, avocado, crema, and more Cotija cheese. THAT is an enchilada mountain right there. Are these still considered enchiladas if they don’t have enchilada sauce? Better question: will anyone even care because they’re so so tasty? Right on.
PS. Number three best ever: you can get away with a 5-minute workout because they’re skinnay. And by 5-minute work out, I mean 5-minute raid of the chocolate chips.
Conferences? NBD. Just an excuse to eat some cold enchilada leftovers in my classroom. #yum
Skinny Chicken Enchiladas
Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
Yield: 6 1x
Description
These skinny chicken enchiladas are super easy and healthy, too! Filling made in the crockpot!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb. chicken breasts
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can corn, drained
- 16 oz. fresh salsa
- 3 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 1/4 cup water (optional)
- 12 small corn tortillas
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1/4 cup crema (see notes)
- fresh cilantro, Cotija cheese for topping
Instructions
- Put the first 6 ingredients in a crockpot. If your salsa is not very saucy, be sure to include the 1/4 cup water or more if necessary. Cook on high for about 3 hours (or longer on the low setting) until chicken is cooked through. You can also cut the chicken breasts into halves to help them cook faster. Use 2 forks to shred the chicken and mix everything together.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Soften the corn tortillas in the microwave, 3 at a time, for about 25 seconds. Fill them with a few tablespoons of filling, roll once, and place seam-side down in a large baking dish (I did 2 smaller baking dishes). Continue until all tortillas have been filled, rolled and placed in dish. Be sure to pack them in tightly next to each other so that they don’t come apart.
- Sprinkle evenly with the shredded cheese and bake for about 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly and everything is heated through.
- Remove from oven and drizzle with crema. Sprinkle with avocado pieces, fresh cilantro, and Cotija cheese crumbles.
Notes
The corn tortillas will start to break apart on the top during baking if you don’t warm them up enough prior to baking.
For the crema, I just made a fake-out version with about 3 tbs. sour cream and 2 tbs. cream. I whisked it together until it was smooth, creamy, and drizzle-able. Also, I used part yellow corn and part shoepeg corn, which made the texture more interesting.
Serving size for the nutrition facts is 2 enchiladas.
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Mexican
Keywords: skinny chicken enchiladas, chicken enchiladas, healthy chicken enchiladas
Sooo I’m realizing that I might have missed a few things that would fall somewhere between my dad and chicken enchiladas on the Best Ever list.
Like my husband and my future dog.
But the melted cheese has oozed its way into my brain and is blocking my ability to think about this clearly, so I think that we’re just going to go with it for today. K? Happy Enchiladaing!
