Creamy enchiladas! I almost feel like on macros, I’m making more forbidden food than ever. I think I like the challenge- it’s like this game to see how many meals can 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 always skeptical when I see one-dish meals like this, like yes, but what does MY portion look like. I’m sure it’s not enough. I don’t want two enchiladas.. what will I do after those 45 seconds of eating are over?
This is where the learning curve has settled down for me and I have a much better idea than I used to of what it takes to feel totally satisfied with my dinner. Like I want it to last long enough and I almost want to feel too full. Just to be sure I can make it till dessert. (I know I’m gross.) But my willpower diminishes as the day progresses so I like to plan for some good stuff at night. But that doesn’t mean I want to save all my macros for it. Such a puzzle…
Anyway these enchiladas were amazing! and went on forever. I didn’t even notice the heaps of missing cheese. Full blown comforty cheesy saucy enchiladas. And that whole cute dish there stuffed with four (plus a super simple crunchy Mexican salad) was mine. Also threw a bunch in a family dish for the kids and added more cheese in theirs … this just made it extra easy to measure mine (and show my portion). But I could have easily eaten from the family dish since I measure the mixture that goes in each tortilla. Then you can just divide the toppings amongst the number of enchiladas…
The chicken mixture is adapted from Our Best Bites creamy chicken taquitos… an old staple over here! I’ve seen a bunch of recipes since… but I’m pretty sure these girls invented the baked taquito and it’s GENIUS! I love everything they do. And full disclosure I always do green sauce on enchiladas but was out, so I tried this bottled red from TJ and my whole family LOVED IT. It’ll be a regular purchase now for these. Super good.
The macros for this whole dish of four enchiladas WITH the toppings was 47c 15f 46p and 511 calories.
Skinny Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
For the single serving of taquitos
- 4 extra thin mission corn tortillas
- 140 g Lightened up creamy chicken filling * see below (adapted from our best bites baked taquitos.)
- ¼ cup Trader Joes Bottled Red Enchilada sauce
- Trader Joes lite shredded Mexican cheese blend 21 g
- Avocado 25 g
- Fat free sour cream 20 g
- Pico 30 g – I always make a quick homemade similar to this Best Bites one, because I think a fresh homemade pico makes EVERYTHING better, but you can buy too!
- Cotija 5 g
For the Filling (this makes lots to use for the family and even freeze for later! You can freeze taquitos or filling alone.)
- ½-2/3 cup fat-free cream cheese I did 139 g, it’s what I had in my fridge. Next time I’ll use the greek yogurt cream cheese because it’s still super low but SO good.
- ½ cup salsa verde
- 2 tbs lime juice
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1/3 cup cilantro
- ¼ cup green onions
- About 2 pounds or 4 cups of shredded chicken 880 g (This instant pot chicken would be so good and could probably just mix with cream cheese and be good to go!)
Instructions
- 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 in an open ziplock for like 20-30 seconds so they’re flexible
- **Put a couple of tbs (I did about 35 grams) of chicken in each tortilla and roll. I added some canned green chilies in mine at this point that I didn’t think my kids would want.
- Place in dish (I bought these darling mini dishes so I could make mine and Ross’s perfect for us but a big dish works too! Just make them all the same so you know how many you can have.)
- Cover with sauce and shredded cheese
- Bake at 425 until cheese is melty, about 10-15 minutes
- Top with sour cream, pico, avocado, and cotija (if you’re not already buying cotija I swear it brings every mexican dish to life and a little goes so far!)
Notes
Nutrition
Tried this recipe?
Tag @LillieEatsAndTells on Instagram with #LillieEatsandTells! We’d love to see your creations!
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