“You always have to make things so complicated. Open a jar, pour it out, and just leave it alone for once.”
That’s only a small portion of the rant my sister emailed me – we get along fabulously 😉
She asked for my “favorite green enchilada sauce.” So I sent it to her. And it’s a good one! The sauce components are lightly charred on the grill and the resulting sauce is smokey and flavorful. Better than anything you’ll ever pour out of a jar and just leave alone.
Sure, it’s January but we live in Texas – it’s almost never too cold to fire up the grill.
But that isn’t what she really wanted. She wanted my “favorite green enchilada sauce that can be made quickly while my 3 kids and 2 dogs and 1 cat tear my house apart after getting back from t-ball and soccer practice but before a 2-hour long bath & bedtime routine how do these kids get so dirty and why won’t they go to sleep already?!”
Those are two different recipes. And like 8 different other problems, none of which I can help her with.
She does have a point, though. There are two things I do really well: I can somehow fill the entire dishwasher on soup & sandwich night and I can always turn something slightly time-consuming into something really time-consuming. And that’s why I usually on make enchiladas on the weekend.
So I reworked the “big” recipe so that it could be made on a school night. It uses the crockpot to cook a double-batch of the chicken (eat half, freeze the other!) while she’s doing whatever you do when you have 3 kids and 2 dogs and 1 cat (my guess is it involves a dark closet, a bottle of cheap liquor, and the fetal position), canned salsa verde, and comes together quicker than the totally from-scratch version.
And I made sure to work in a step that says “pour it out and leave it alone.”
Crockpot Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas
The slow cooker and canned salsa verde make a big pan of green chicken enchiladas perfect for a school night.
Ingredients
- For the chicken:
- ~3 lbs (4 large) boneless, skinless chicken breasts (half for this recipe, freeze the other half or use it for taco night this week)
- 7 oz can salsa verde
- For the enchiladas
- 1/2 medium white or yellow onion, diced
- 8 oz monterrey jack cheese, grated and divided in half
- 1/4 cup fat-free Greek yogurt (I use Total Fage 0%, can use light sour cream)
- 2 7-oz cans salsa verde
- 10 small tortillas (I use Mission Low Carb flour)
- Pico de gallo, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts in the crockpot and pour the salsa over top and leave it alone.
- Cook on low for 4 hours (5-6 if the chicken is frozen).
- Half of the chicken will be shredded for enchiladas, I pack the other half into a freezer bag with some of the cooking liquid if I'm not going to use it right away. Otherwise, you've just made chicken for taco or quesadilla or soup or mac & cheese night later in the week.
- Preheat the oven to 425.
- Shred half of the chicken and place in a medium bowl.
- Add the chopped onion, half of the cheese, sour cream/yogurt, and half a can of salsa verde - stir to mix well.
- Spread the remaining half-can of salsa verde over the bottom of a casserole dish.
- Fill the tortillas with the chicken mixture, roll, and place seam side down in the dish.
- Top with the other can of salsa verde and remaining shredded cheese.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until bubbly and the cheese and tortillas are nicely browned.
- Serve with a scoop of pico de gallo over top. Or not.
Notes
Yields: 10 servings
Estimated time: 4 hours 40 minutes
Nutritional Information
Calories: 277.7 | Fat: 10.3g | Fiber 11.1g | Protein 24.2g | Carbs 21g
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 6