These Skinny Creamy Chicken Enchiladas are a lighter twist on your favorite comfort food! Made with creamy, shredded chicken, tangy enchilada sauce, and melty cheese, these enchiladas deliver all the flavor you love, just with fewer calories!
About This Recipe
Creamy enchiladas! Ever since I start counting macros, I feel like I’m making more forbidden food than ever. It’s like this game to see how many meals I can make that beat the macros of a salad… or a plate of three boring divided food groups that look like a Jenny Craig sensible dinner.
I’m just to be super skeptical when I see one-dish meals like this. Like yes, it looks great but what will MY portion look like? I’m was always sure it wasn’t going to be enough. Like, I don’t want just two, tiny enchiladas.
Now I have a much better idea than I used to of what it takes to feel totally satisfied with my meals. Like I want it to last long enough that I can enjoy it and want to end the meal feeling full and satisfied (but not too full for dessert, IYKYK).
Anyway these enchiladas were amazing… and went on forever. I didn’t even notice the heaps of missing cheese. They’re full-blown, comforting, cheesy, saucy enchiladas. I easily enjoyed four of these of them with my super simple crunchy Mexican salad. For the kids, I just threw a bunch in a family dish and added more cheese in theirs.
I always used to do green sauce on enchiladas, but was out one time, so I tried this bottled red from Trader Joe’s and it turns out my whole family LOVED IT. So here we are!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Reduced-fat cream cheese: Use regular, Greek or reduced-fat cream cheese.
- Salsa verde and diced green chilis: Use mild or medium, depending on your spice preferences.
- Seasonings: Cumin, chili powder, onion, and garlic powder.
- Chicken: Any cooked chicken works! If you’re using rotisserie chicken from Costco, you’ll want to season it up a little before using it in your recipe. I love to buy the big bags of rotisserie chicken to use in soups or casseroles when time is short, but it does need a little sprucing up to make it taste good IMO. This honey cilantro chicken or crispy carnitas would also be delicious!!
- Tortillas: The Mission Extra-Thin Corn Tortillas are always my go-to!
- Red enchilada sauce: Any canned or bottled red enchilada sauce will work. I love the Trader Joe’s one but just grab your favorite!
- Lite shredded Mexican cheese: Again, Trader Joe’s has a great lite Mexican cheese blend but if you use a regular Mexican cheese blend it really won’t add that many extra calories and sometimes convenience is just better!
- Other ingredients: Lime juice (fresh, always!), cilantro and green onions.
Dietary Adaptations
Gluten-free: These enchiladas are gluten-free as written (just check to make sure your enchilada sauce and corn tortillas are gluten-free)
Dairy-free: Use a dairy-free cream cheese and a dairy-free grated cheese for the top. Typically, you’ll lose some protein and add some carbs.
How To Make
The full printable recipe is below, but let me walk you through the process so you know what to expect when you’re making it!
1. Microwave your cream cheese for about 20-30 seconds ‘till it’s soft. Mix in salsa, lime juice, and all the dry seasonings.
2. Stir in cilantro and green onion, then the chicken. (I do this in my KitchenAid (if using cooked chicken breasts) so it tears my chicken apart for me.)
3. Warm your corn tortillas wrapped in a towel for 20-30 seconds so they’re flexible. Put a couple of tablespoons (about 37 grams) of chicken in each tortilla and roll it up.
4. Place in dish, cover with sauce and shredded cheese.
5. Bake at 425°F for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melty.
6. Top with your favorite toppings like sour cream, pico, avocado, and cotija!
For More Delicious Recipes
- Cauliflower Rice Enchilada Skillet
- Sweet Potato Chipotle Rotisserie Chicken Skillet
- Easy Shrimp Tacos with Garlic Chipotle Drizzle
- Quick Taco Spaghetti Squash Boats
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Skinny Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup reduced-fat cream cheese (150g)
- ½ cup salsa verde (120g)
- 4 oz canned diced green chilis (113g)
- 2 Tbsp lime juice (30g)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1/3 cup cilantro (10g)
- ¼ cup green onions (10g)
- 4 cups cooked chicken breast shredded (880g), we love using this Smoky Honey Cilantro Chicken
- 32 tortillas I always use the Mission Extra-Thin Corn Tortillas
- 2 cups bottled Red Enchilada sauce (480g)
- 1 ½ cups lite shredded Mexican cheese blend (160g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Microwave your cream cheese for about 20-30 seconds ‘till it’s soft. Mix in salsa, lime juice, and all the dry seasonings.
- Stir in cilantro and green onion, then the chicken. (I do this in my kitchenaid so it tears my chicken apart for me.)
- Warm your corn tortillas wrapped in a towel for 20-30 seconds so they’re flexible. Put a couple of Tbsp (about 37 grams) of chicken in each tortilla and roll it up. Place in dish, cover with sauce and shredded cheese, and bake at 425°F for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melty.
- Top with your favorite toppings like sour cream, pico, avocado, and cotija!
Notes
Nutrition
Tried this recipe?
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Where do the green chiles come in?
Where do the green chilis go – In the chicken mixture or in the enchilada sauce? What size is your pan to fit 32 enchiladas and do you grease it beforehand? many thanks!
This is a family favorite! Yum 😋
I LOVE this recipe so much and make it all the time, but I just found out TJ’s has discontinued their enchilada sauce! Do you have any other brands you like as a replacement?
Hi Lillie! Made these today but my tortillas all broke apart when I rolled them. Any tips on how to make them stay together/not break?
Love your recipes BTW!
Thank you!
Yes! Heat a stack of them in the microwave between towels till nice and warm and pliable!
These hit the spot!!! So so yummy. Love that I can make tasty meals that fit my macros. Keep them coming! I love my cookbook from you as well. 🙂
These are literally amazing every time I make them! I made them during contest prep for a bodybuilding competition and they were a lifesaver. Now, I shared them with my family who is averse to ‘healthy” recipes but they all call me multiple times to share how much flavor is in these and how great they are!
This is one of our family’s go-to meals. We use all the chicken and make bigger/thicker enchiladas. Also, we will make a double/triple batch so we have leftovers. A little bit of a spicy kick, but not too much for my younger kid.
Hi! New to this Macro way of life and this recipe looks amazing!! Can you please clarify that if this recipe has 4 tortillas is the macro count (46P) for ONE enchilada? Thank you and going to be on this web page all night!!
Where do you find the greek yogurt cream cheese? I’ve looked a few places with no luck. Love your stuff btw!!
Ok I’m new to this and you lost me on the macros for this one and looks like I’m not alone. So, the breakdown you listed is based on 35g of chicken per enchilada, resulting in 46g protein for entire recipe of 4 enchiladas?
Yes! So sorry for the delay! And for this weirdly written recipe. It was one of my early ones. I rewrote it for the cookbook but realize it’s still confusing over here! I just edited to clarify you’ll use 140 grams of chicken total in your 4 enchiladas. But you got it… and that’s 46 g protein for the four!
Recipe looks wonderful. I’m trying to enter in MFP and not sure how many servings the chicken filling makes.makes.. Can you confirm? Thank you!!
So late to this sorry! Honestly the way I calculated this one, I might not know how many servings it makes! just how many grams to put in your serving to calculate…
Seriously LOVED this recipe! And so quick and easy. If you haven’t made this yet, you are missing out on something DELICIOUS.
Thanks sami!
I made this last night and the whole family loved it. Note: I was full just eating two 🙂
So glad!
This recipe was a huge hit for my family—even my very picky eaters. So delicious! It doesn’t taste like it should be macro friendly but then it totally is! Loved this!
I’m so happy to hear that!
Hi Lillie! So your macro calculations factor in just the tortillas, chicken, shredded cheese and enchilada sauce right? Just checking!
Seriously like how the heck does your food always look so damn good? I may or may not be drooling over this one.
Then I’m doing it RIGHT. xo