Pin RecipeI love Mexican food. I love one-dish dinners. And I absolutely love enchiladas. This Healthy Chicken Enchilada Recipe combines all three loves into my idea of a perfect dish! And if you can believe it, this is a dairy free enchilada recipe.
I know the idea of making an enchilada without cheese might sound as bizarre as making an omelette without eggs, but stick with me for a minute…
First of all, why no cheese?
Trust me, I LOVE LOVE cheese. It’s just that I also know dairy is not exactly a health food. If you have our book, then you know I have eliminated milk from the anti-inflammatory diet I follow but that I still do eat a wee bit of good cheese here and there. However, if I can at all get away with not using cheese in a recipe then I will by all means do so. And although it is hard to believe you could make a no-cheese enchilada recipe that is actually worth eating, there’s a secret ingredient that makes it all possible…
The Secret to a Truly Clean + Healthy Chicken Enchilada Recipe
I won’t keep you in suspense 😉 Lime Crema is the secret ingredient.
What the heck is Lime Crema?
It’s basically a savory cheese-like sauce with a hint of lime and it totally takes the place of cheese in certain Mexican recipes (including Stacked Nachos!) It’s also super easy to make and consists of just five ingredients:
- Raw cashews
- Fresh lime juice
- Unrefined sea salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Raw honey
All you have to do to make Lime Crema is put all five ingredients in a high speed blender and give it a whirl until you have a smooth and creamy sauce.
Click HERE for the Lime Crema Recipe
Now, if you just can’t stomach the idea of an enchilada without cheese then you can always sprinkle a cup of cheese as the final step on top of the enchiladas just before you pop the whole thing in the oven. I know this works because that’s the way I made it the first go-round 😉 For round two I figured I would test it without the cheese and it truly was just as good!
One thing I promise, whether you go cheese-less or not, this is one Chicken Enchilada Recipe that will not let you down.
Pin this graphic for later!
And finally, if you are really into enchiladas, here’s another recipe for clean and easy enchiladas that you can actually make in a crock pot!
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This Dairy Free Healthy Chicken Enchilada Recipe is made with black beans, sprouted whole grain corn tortillas and cashew cream.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon
- 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
- 1 can (4 ounces chopped green chiles (look for these in the ethnic section of your supermarket))
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 can (15 ounces tomato sauce)
- 1 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1 can 15 ounces black beans,rinsed and drained)
- .1/2 cup Dairy Free Lime Crema (this is a savory lime-flavored cashew cream sauce that takes the place of cheese)
- 8 gluten free or almond flour tortilla, like our favorite from Siete Foods
- 1/2 cup cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 -inch casserole dish.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add the onions and cook for 6 to 7 minutes, or until onions are soft. Add the chiles, garlic, chili powder, cumin and oregano and saute for 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and tomato sauce. Bring to a gentle simmer; cook about 8 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
- Combine the chicken and black beans in a medium-sized bowl; add half of the tomato sauce mixture and 1/4 cup of the Dairy Free Lime Crema to the chicken mixture. Toss to combine.
- Place 4 tortillas on a microwave-safe plate; cover with a slightly damp paper towel. Microwave on high heat for about 20 seconds, or until warm. Working with 1 tortilla at a time, place tortilla on a flat work surface; spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture onto 1 end of tortilla. Roll up, jelly-roll fashion. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas, heating up second batch of tortillas when first batch is used up. Arrange enchiladas, seam side down, in prepared dish.
- Pour remaining tomato sauce over enchiladas. Drizzle the Dairy Free Lime Crema on top of the tomato sauce. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly. Remove enchiladas from the oven and sprinkle cilantro on top. Serve warm.
I made this recipe for a July 4 celebration. With 10 people, I thought I needed more, so I doubled the recipe. That is: I doubled the filling and put 95% into 8 sprouted grain tortillas. My husband ate the other 5%. Everyone loved it and I have requests for the recipe. ( I can’t find a way to email this recipe. Am I missing something?) because I had to transport the dish to another location, it was barely warm, but that didn’t detract from the deliciousness of the enchiladas! The taste of the Crema sauce does get a little lost in all the other flavors, but I will make this sauce regularly to put on veggies, use as a dip, etc. I made the chicken filling, and the sauces the day before, and this worked well. This recipe is a winner, including the Lime Crema sauce!
Hi Cherryl, Thank you so much for the great feedback—I am SO happy everyone liked the recipe =) And hmmmm….I just looked on the site and looks like it is not easy to email. I know we are in the process of moving our recipe card away from “Easy Recipe” plugin to an updated one, so I am not sure if that is the problem OR if maybe they were never able to be emailed before? In any case, I would say the easiest thing to do at this point might be to cut and paste the recipe link: https://cleancuisine.com/healthy-chicken-enchilada-recipe/ and put it in the body of an email. Our new recipe card should be up by next week though, and I will check to make sure it is easy to email that one. So sorry for the hassle! But again, I am thrilled to know you liked the recipe so much. Thank you again for letting me know!