The key to making this dish “real food” is ensuring that you use corn tortillas are 100% whole-grain. Reading food labels can be confusing as it is, but trying to figure out what products are truly 100% whole-grain is especially hard. Very few food labels say “whole corn” as the main ingredient so you either have to keep looking or make the tortillas yourself (with Masa Harina and a tortilla press). I’ve searched grocery stores high & low and was able to find one brand of corn tortillas that proudly states they are made with “whole corn.” They are located in the freezer section of Earth Fare next to the other frozen breads products and they are called: Food for Life Sprouted Corn Tortillas.
Chicken Enchiladas
- 12 whole-grain corn tortillas
- 1 “all natural” rotisserie chicken from Earth Fare (or similar store) or boil your own raw whole organic chicken or 4 chicken breasts
- 1 cup of cooked brown rice
- 1 cup of frozen corn kernels
- 3 tablespoons organic tomato paste
- Chili powder
- Ground cumin
- 3 cups organic canned tomato sauce (with no salt added if you can find it)
- 1 – 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (depending on if you like a little spice)
- Ground cinnamon
- Monterey Jack cheese
- Optional: sour cream, cilantro, avocado or guacamole
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Wrap corn tortillas in foil and warm in the oven while you prepare everything else.
Shred cooked chicken using forks. Mix in 3 tablespoons tomato paste, ½ cup grated cheese, rice, frozen corn kernels (no need to defrost them), 1 teaspoon chili powder, and 1 teaspoon ground cumin.
For the sauce combine 3 cups tomato sauce, pepper, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder and heat through, keeping warm until needed.
Remove tortillas from oven and switch on broiler to high. Now with most enchilada recipes you have to individually wrap up each tortilla with the filling, but why go through all of that effort when you can just layer it like lasagne and the end result still tastes the same?
Using two separate square or round baking dishes start to distribute the ingredients in the following order:
1. Sauce (spread a little out on bottom of baking dishes)
2. Tortilla layer (I used 2 for each tortilla layer)
3. About a quarter of chicken mixture (for each dish)
4. More sauce
5. Another tortilla layer
6. The rest of chicken mixture
7. Another tortilla layer
8. The last of the sauce
9. Grated cheese on top
Now, for the extra casserole that you are going to freeze go ahead and stop here. Cover it, label it, and throw it into the freezer. When you decide to defrost it later then you can pick things back up with the last broiling step below (after it has been defrosted).
Put the casserole under the broiler and broil for about 5 minutes or until the cheese melts and it is heated through. Serve with cilantro, avocado/guacamole and enjoy!
This looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try it. I’ve tried your quiche and and making the pizza crust this weekend. Love these recipes you keep coming up with!
I am so glad to hear that!
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Recipe review: the enchiladas came out great and delicious! I never thought there would be such a thing as a healthy enchilada. I can now eat these without guilt.
I am going crazy over all your incredible recipes and advice!!! Question: could you substitute the corn tortillas with the homemade wheat tortillas?
Yes, I think you could although authentic enchiladas are made with corn instead of flour tortillas. I actually just got some new info about corn tortillas though, and I am probably going to have to change that part of this recipe. As entrenched as we are in this topic these corn tortillas are one of the half a dozen or so things that we did not initially realize are refined. The first ingredient says “ground corn” and apparently it needs to say “whole corn” if it were actually made with the whole grain. Sounds like I am going to have to work on a corn tortilla recipe that I will post soon!
Oh, wow! So glad you know this information. Thank you for replying and hopefully you/me/someone can figure out a tasty whole corn tortilla recipe or solution!
Also, check out this article I just posted that might provide a little more info on cooking with whole grain corn: http://thefoodillusion.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/understanding-grains-corn-wheat-multi-grain-etc/
Also, check out this article I just posted that might provide a little more info on cooking with whole grain corn: http:// thefoodillusion.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/understanding-grains-corn- wheat-multi-grain-etc/
I was at an International Market here in GA last night and I found corn tortillas, the brand is El Milagro, with the ingredients of just 3 things:
1- Stone Ground Corn
2- Water
and
3- Lime (Calcium Hydroxide)
It was a pack of 36 for only $1.29
Edit:
Right before posting this I saw you said that it needed to be whole corn. I went on this company’s website, and it says:
‘Quality is a word that is not used lightly at El Milagro. From the beginning, we have always made the best tortillas that we know how. Our corn tortillas start with whole kernel corn that is carefully selected and ground in our plant – we never use pre-processed corn flour.’
So is this a good thing or a bad thing? Do I need to be leery of this brand? Please do let me know if you can! I dont have a phone else I would call the company directly right now to figure this out o.o
Company’s site is here: http://el-milagro.com/main.html
I am finding that corn tortillas (and corn flour) are incredibly tricky to figure out if they are whole grain. The problem is that the corn flour often used to make corn tortillas (which is called Masa Harina) does not say “whole grain” on the package, although the whole grains council technically considers it to be whole grain. I don’t see anything that says whole corn or masa harina on the website you sent…did you see this page with contact numbers? http://el-milagro.com/contacts.html
I think I’ve found some corn tortillas that are whole grain…The brand is “Food For Life” and they’re called sprouted corn tortillas. Ingredients list: organic sprouted corn, filtered water, sea salt, lime. I wasn’t sure what “sprouted corn” meant, but from what I’ve read it seems like it’s whole grain. Have you come across this in your research at all??
I’ve come across the sprouted grain options as well (although not the corn ones…just wheat) and they do appear to be whole grain. Did you find the corn tortillas in the freezer section with their other stuff? Also, here is an informative article on the Whole Grains Council website about sprouted grains: http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/sprouted-whole-grains
TYVM you’ve soevld all my problems
Hey there, long time reader and lurker here with my first comment! My only daughter is getting married to her lovely mexican boyfriend soon, and I’m tasked with preparing the wedding party! I thought enchiladas would be a good idea, so trying to find some good enchilada recipes. What do you think? Any other suggestions?? Anyway, thanks for your hard work as ever… I’ll try to comment a little more on future posts.
Hey Lisa, Which whole grain corn tortillas do you use, or do you make your own? If you make your own do you have a great recipe? Thanks!
I’ve started making my own with a tortilla press (haven’t posted the recipe yet…will soon, but I will tell you now that the press is a must), but I also found one brand in the frozen section at Earth Fare that I put on my supermarket “cheat sheet”: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/03/09/supermarket-real-food-cheat-sheet/
What kind of pan do you use that can go from freezer to oven? I had been doing dinner station and this is pretty much where it stopped. We used disposable pans, but I would prefer something more earth friendly…
I agree it is not earth-friendly, but the disposable aluminum pans with a plastic tight-fitting lid are convenient for freezing casseroles. You could maybe reuse them once or twice.
I just found your site and am so excited to try this recipe tonight! Thanks for all the great information and experience.
For the commenter above – I use Pyrex (or Anchor, anything glass with plastic fitted cover) for casseroles and they go from freezer to oven with no problem, and no waste like disposables.
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I just made the crock pot chicken! It turned out great, I can see how versatile this recipe is. I can’t wait to try it with some lemon and Rosemary! YUM! I’m going to try to make this tomorrow! As well as some chicken stock! I can’t wait!
Yummy..this looks so good!
What size casserole dishes are you using for this?
Catherine, I was wondering what size dish as well. I’m an amateur, so I’m not good at eyeballing and deciding. Guess it’ll be trial and error.
Two square dishes like an 8X8 or 9X9
Square ones…8X8 or 9X9
lisa, im curious as to what kind of tortilla press you have. as were eating healthy, i am finding i don’t have these helpful tools in my kitchen. i am starting my “wants” list such as a breadmaker and a tortilla press.
We have this one and it works great! http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-452797/Cast-Iron-Tortilla-Press;jsessionid=900289D486C6C2283FD3C69AFB22C1EB
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[...] time. I will play with the cooking time when I make the frozen one later. Here is the recipe: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/04/14/recipe-chicken-enchiladas/. The boys didn’t really eat this, but they haven’t eaten any mexican food or anything [...]
Made these enchiladas tonight! SO yummy. Thanks for sharing a great recipe! I also posted it to my blog to spread the love.
I’ve been loving all your recipes and ideas. Thank you. I made the homemade corn tortillas tonight and I realize now they were too sticky so I’ll try adding a bit more masa harina next time. We found the enchiladas to be too spicy. Would you suggest that I simply cut all the spice measurements in half? Would love other recipes for the corn tortillas.
I wouldn’t cut all the spices in half…just the chili powder and cayenne pepper. Or alternatively you could leave out the cayenne pepper all together and keep everything else the same.
We made these the other night for dinner and they were delicious!! I’ve made enchiladas before, but they were always just okay. This recipe is a keeper! Thank you so much for posting healthy and delicious recipes!
This is a delicious recipe. I love using cinnamon in the Mexican recipes you post (Fajitias). It gives a pleasant and unique flavoring to the food. Thanks for sharing!
I made this recipe tonight. It was delicious! I put it all together in a big dish and baked at 350 for 15 minutes. Super good! Thanks for the yummy recipes! I also made the Jambalaya the other night and it was a huge hit with my husband! I agree with a previous post somewhere in your recipes: When is a cookbook coming out??
Could you please add a “pin it” button? Thanks so much
Just made this recipe tonight and my husband and I loved it! I halved everything (but followed all ingredients/instructions as written) and just made one dish to try it out and see if we liked it. I will definitely be making this again – 2 separate dishes so I can freeze one to have on hand next time. It’s a must-try!