Healthy Chicken Enchilada Casserole
I made this chicken enchilada casserole last night and it was deeeelish!
The prep time called for in the recipe was a little time intensive for a weeknight when I don’t really even start cooking until 7 or so; so I made the following edits noted in italics.
Ingredients:
- 3 split skin-on, bone-in half chicken breasts (I had a package of bonelss skinless chicken breasts, so I just used that. If I hadn’t already thawed out the chicken I would have made this even easier and just shredded a rotisserie chicken. I also halved the recipe because I did not need to feed 8 people)
- 5 poblano peppers, halved, stemmed and seeded
- 2 red bell peppers, seeded, stemmed and cut into quarters (I used a jar of roasted red peppers)
- 1 cup cashews (Do not halve this. Make all the cashew cream!)
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- Pinch fine sea salt
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- 12 corn tortillas, halved (wound up using 7 for my halved version)
- 1 ½ cup salsa, preferably hot or medium-hot
- ½ cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese or nondairy cheddar-style cheese
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place chicken on one side of the baking sheet and poblano and bell peppers on the other side. Roast, stirring peppers once or twice until peppers are browned and chicken is just cooked through, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool slightly, then remove and discard skin and bone from chicken and shred meat. Dice peppers. (I did not do this step. I used kitchen scissors to cut up my chicken breasts and sauteed it in a pan with the poblano peppers. Once done, I added my chopped red peppers to the mixture)
Meanwhile, place cashews in a small bowl and cover by about 1 inch with boiling water. Let soak 30 minutes. Drain and discard soaking liquid. In a blender, combine cashews, ½ cup water, vinegar, salt and cayenne, and blend until smooth; add more water a tablespoon at a time, if necessary, to purée. (Yes, make it all. So good. It’s more than you need but eat the rest with tortilla chips as an appetizer)
Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F. Layer 1/3 of the tortillas in the bottom of a 9x13-inch (or 8x8 if you halve the recipe) casserole dish. Combine salsa and broth, and spoon ½ cup of the mixture over the tortillas. Top with half the chicken and half the roasted peppers, and drizzle with half of the cashew cream. Repeat layering again, finishing with a layer of tortillas and salsa mixture. Sprinkle with cheese and bake until bubbling and golden brown, about 35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Nutritional Info:
Per Serving: 330 calories (140 from fat), 15g total fat, 4.5g saturated fat, 40mg cholesterol, 370mg sodium, 32g carbohydrate (5g dietary fiber, 4g sugar), 19g protein
