Low-Carb Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole (Video)
Low-Carb Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole uses low-carb tortillas and no canned soup for a casserole that’s much lower in carbs!
PIN this recipe to try it later!
For this week’s Friday Favorites featured recipe I’m sharing a comfort food dish, and if you want comfort food without completely going overboard on carbs I bet this Low-Carb Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole is going to be a hit. Using low-carb tortillas, and choosing lower-carb ingredients brought the count down to about 13 net carbs for one enchilada, which is pretty low-carb for a dish of this type.
And this is one of those Denny Family Recipes that has good memories. Years ago my nephew Jake and I made a canned soup version of Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole when I was visiting my sister and her family. Of course that was delicious, but loaded with carbs!
Fast forward to a time when Jake was living in Salt Lake and coming to cook with me every other week, and we set out to create a low-carb version of chicken enchilada casserole that would be healthy enough to share on Kalyn’s Kitchen. And after quite a few tries we ended up with this delicious recipe. Hope you enjoy trying it!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
- Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce (affiliate link), or other low-sugar green chile enchilada sauce
- boneless skinless chicken breasts
- chicken stock or canned chicken broth (affiliate link)
- Poultry Seasoning (affiliate link)
- cream cheese
- sour cream
- grated Four Cheese Mexican Blend cheese
- grated Mozzarella cheese
- Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Burrito Size Tortillas (affiliate link)
What kind of enchilada sauce do I use?
I love Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce (affiliate link) but you can make this with any green chile sauce that’s low in carbs.
What kind of low-carb tortillas did I use?
I used Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Burrito Size Tortillas (affiliate link) for this recipe, but you can use any low-carb tortillas you prefer.
Can you make this recipe with leftover chicken or turkey?
This recipe calls for chicken breasts that you cook in water or stock with seasonings, but if you have leftover rotisserie chicken or leftover turkey you can use about 4 cups of diced leftover chicken or turkey.
Want more Low-Carb Mexican Food?
Check out Low-Carb Twice-Cooked Chicken with Green Chiles and Cheese if you want a dish with similar flavors to this one but with less carbs! And if you’re also a fan of low-carb tortillas to expand your options for low-carb eating, here are my favorite recipes with low-carb tortillas.
How to make Low-Carb Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole:
(Scroll down for complete printable recipe including nutritional information.)
- Trim the chicken breasts and cut each one into 3 or 4 strips. Simmer the chicken in seasoned stock.
- Simmer two cans of green chile enchilada sauce over low heat until it’s thickened and reduced to 2 cups. I used Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce (affiliate link), but there are many good brands. Check the carb count if that’s important to you.
- When the sauce has reduced and cooled a little, whisk in the cream cheese and sour cream.
- When it’s cool enough to handle, shred or cut the chicken into small pieces.
- Put chicken into a bowl and mix in 1 1/2 cups of the sauce mixture and 1 cup of the cheese.
- Divide the chicken mixture among the 8 tortillas, and roll up enchilada style. I used Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Burrito Size Tortillas (affiliate link) with only 5 net carbs per tortilla.
- Spray the casserole dish with non-stick spray and spread a layer of sauce on the bottom.
- Put the rolled enchiladas in a single layer in the dish and top with remaining sauce and cheese.
- Bake 375F/190C for 30-40 minutes, or until the casserole is bubbling and cheese is lightly browned on top.
More Low Carb Mexican Food:
25+ Healthy Low-Carb Mexican Food Dinners
Ten Low-Carb Mexican Food Favorites You’ll Make Over and Over
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Low-Carb Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole
This Low-Carb Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole is perfect for a comforting and delicious meal, and this is much lower in carbs than traditional Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas.
Ingredients
- 2 15 oz. cans Green Chile Enchilada Sauce, simmered to reduce to 2 cups. (see notes)
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cups chicken broth (see notes)
- 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 cups grated Four Cheese Mexican Blend cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella cheese
- 8 Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortillas (see notes)
Instructions
- Trim the chicken breasts and cut lengthwise into 3 or 4 strips, depending on how big each piece of chicken is.
- Put the chicken breasts into a small pan with about 2 cups chicken chicken broth, the poultry seasoning, and enough water to cover the chicken and simmer on very low heat until chicken is barely cooked through, about 15 minutes. (I use a Wire Mesh Fat Skimmer to remove the scum that accumulates as chicken cooks in water, but you can rinse it off as well.) Remove chicken and let it drain well until it's cool enough to handle.
- Put the enchilada sauce into a small non-stick saucepan and simmer on low until it’s reduced to 2 cups, stirring occasionally. (This will take 40-45 minutes.)
- Let sauce cool a few minutes, then whisk in the softened cream cheese and sour cream.
- Cut or shred the chicken into small pieces.
- Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Spray a 10″ x 12″ glass or crockery casserole dish with olive oil or nonstick spray. (The 8 enchiladas fit perfectly into that size, but if you have something similar you can make it work.)
- Put the diced chicken in a bowl and gently mix in 1 1/2 cups of the sauce mixture and 1 cup of the grated Mexican Blend cheese.
- Divide the mixture among the 8 flour tortillas, spreading a line of chicken/sauce mixture down the center and then rolling the tortilla around it.
- Spread 1/2 cup of sauce across the bottom of the casserole dish; then lay the enchiladas in a single layer in the dish.
- Top enchiladas with the remaining sauce, the remaining 1/2 cup Mexican Blend Cheese, and the 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella cheese.
- Bake 30-40 minutes, or until the enchiladas are bubbling and cheese is starting to slightly brown on top. Serve hot.
- This freezes well can be thawed and reheated in a microwave or toaster oven.
Notes
I used Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce (affiliate link) and Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Burrito Size Tortillas (affiliate link). Check the carb count on the brand you find if that’s important to you. You can use canned chicken broth + a little water for simmering chicken.
Nutritional information is based on the Enchilada Sauce I used and calculating as net carbs for the low-carb tortillas.
This recipe created by Kalyn and Jake with memories of canned soup chicken enchilada casserole from the past and as a more-indulgent version of Green Chile and Chicken Mock Enchilada Casserole.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 333Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 98mgSodium: 572mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 2gSugar: 8gProtein: 28g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Low-Carb Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole has plenty of low-carb ingredients like chicken, cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream, but even with low-carb tortillas it’s still calorie dense and probably best for Phase 3 for the South Beach Diet, or maybe an occasional treat for Phase 2. It could be eaten for other low-carb diets if you’re not severely limiting carbs; see the nutritional information which is based on the low-carb tortillas I used.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Casserole Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe that I created with my nephew Jake was first posted in October 2014. It was updated and improved in 2021.
11 Comments on “Low-Carb Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole (Video)”
Chicken breast sizes can vary greatly…how much chicken (by weight) was actually used in your recipe and included in the macros?
I’m afraid I don’t weigh the chicken breasts. Google tells me an average chicken breast is 6 ounces. I use the breasts that come wrapped two in a package from Costco and they are a bit bigger than average, so I would estimate 8 ounces, but that’s as close as I can guess.
If you make the recipe you could weigh yours and then you’d be able to very accurately calculate the nutrition of the version you make.
Question about the sauce. If I reduce it to 2 cups, then put 1-1/2 cups in chicken mixture and 1/2 cup on bottom of dish, there is none left to go on top. Are the measurements correct? Should it be just 1/2 cup or 1 cup in chicken mixture? This looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it!
Did you see this part of the recipe? “Let sauce cool a few minutes, then whisk in the softened cream cheese and sour cream.”
Once you have added those to the reduced sauce you’ll have enough to put some over the top.
Can these be frozen and then reheated?
Yes, it says at the end of the recipe “This freezes well can be thawed and reheated in a microwave or toaster oven.” I do think the tortillas are softer when it’s been frozen and reheated, but still pretty good.
I managed to get the calorie count per enchilada to 285 and 5g net carbs. The main thing that I think reduced the carb count was that I used Mama Lupe's low carb tortillas that are bigger than the mission tortillas but have 3g net carbs per tortilla. I also used Baker's Reserve Philadelphia cream cheese which is 1g carb per oz. instead of the usual 2g. The enchilada sauce that I used was the Las Palmas Green Chile Enchilada sauce that has 3g carbs per 1/4 cup or 14g carbs for 28oz. They were absolutely delicious and very filling, I will be making this again very soon!
Paulina, glad it worked out well for you!
A good recipe.
Lydia, the Hatch chiles are really good but I think there are a lot of good brands of green chile enchilada sauce. Hope you enjoy!
I wish we could get Hatch green chile products here on the east coast. I always keep a few cans of enchilada sauce in my pantry, and now I know just what I'll do with them.