Skinny Chicken Enchiladas from Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Two meals in one, why not?  This recipe uses chicken cooked in the slow cooker with just two pantry staples, salsa and cream of mushroom soup.  As is the chicken can be eaten just cooked this way.  My family has just done exactly that ever since I obtained this recipe for Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken.  I usually place the chicken and its sauce over rice but Denise who gave me this recipe said that she puts them over baked biscuits.   Either way this Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken dish will be a family favorite.

This simple chicken salsa dish is simply divine but despite that I always have left overs and I wanted to recycle them to something different.  I have been a fan of the Eat Yourself Skinny blog where I found a recipe for Skinny Chicken Enchiladas.  A bulb lighted up and I thought why not use the leftover chicken and sauce from the Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken for the chicken enchiladas? 

I tweaked the recipe so I can substitute the cooked chicken and sauce and I also added chipotle from a can instead of using the Mrs. Dash chipotle seasoning suggested in the original recipe.  The smokiness imparted by this added chipotle really made the enchiladas stand out.  I just ditched the cilantro in the list of ingredients since my husband does not like its taste.  This is a killer recipe because of the sauce and you will not be using canned enchilada sauce again.

So here are the recipes for the Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken and the Skinny Chicken Enchiladas.

 

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

6 servings

• 6-8 pieces of chicken breasts 
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 cup salsa

Place all the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook for 8 hours at slow setting or 4 hours at high.  I cooked mine in an Aroma Brand rice cooker/slow cooker at slow cooker setting for 2 hours. 

Note:  If you are using for the Skinny Chicken Enchiladas, set aside 2 -3 cooked chicken breasts and 3/4 cup of leftover sauce for the sauce in chicken enchiladas plus another 1/3 cup for the chicken filling.  (A total of around 1 cup and 2 tbsps of leftover sauce).

Skinny Chicken Enchiladas from Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

(Adapted from Eat Yourself Skinny)

8 servings

For the sauce:

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can diced green chilis
• 1 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1 inch piece chipotle from a can, chopped (note 1)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 3/4 cup leftover sauce from Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
• salt and fresh pepper to taste

For the chicken:

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 cooked chicken breasts from Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken, shredded
• 1 cup diced onion
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 5 stalks green onion, sliced and divided (set aside two stalks for topping) (note 2)
• salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/3 cup leftover sauce from Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 8 6-inch tortillas (reduced carb)
• 1 cup shredded low fat Mexican cheese or cheese of your choice
• Nonstick cooking spray

The sauce: 

Saute garlic in a medium pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Add the green chilis, chopped chipotle, cumin, leftover sauce from Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken, tomato sauce, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.  Set aside.

 

The chicken:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the vegetable oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat then lower the heat.  Saute onions and garlic on low until soft, about 2 minutes.  Add cooked chicken, 3 stalks sliced green onions, salt, cumin, oregano, leftover sauce from Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken, tomato sauce and cook for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool.

Assembly:

Spray a 13 by 9 inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Place 1/3 cup chicken mixture into each tortilla and roll it.  Place each roll in baking dish seam side down.  Top with sauce and cheese.  Cover with foil and bake in the oven in the middle rack for 20-25 minutes.  Top with green onions.

 

Notes:

1.  You can freeze any leftover chipotles in the can as individual pieces placed in plastic bags for future use.

2.  You can substitute cilantro for the green onions.