Cheeseless??? What? There’s cheese in the picture!
Right. Right. I topped the enchiladas that I served to the Hubs with some cheese. This is, of course, optional! The inside of the enchilada and the top does not NEED cheese. These were quite zesty, zippy and zanny without the cheese!!
And for the record. I made these before baby was born. Most of what you see here in the next few weeks I made and wrote up pre-baby. I wanted to keep sharing recipes with you all while I recovered, so rest assured, I am not “up and at ’em” just yet. I am thoroughly enjoying this sweet time of bonding with baby and enjoying our family of FIVE!
Cheeseless Chicken Enchiladas
Yield – 4 servings
Preparation Time – 10 minutes
Cooking Time – 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tsp vegetable or canola oil ($.05)
- 1 lb. ground chicken ($2.19)
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped ($.15)
- 1 hot pepper, seeded and chopped (from the garden…the last one!)
- 1 tsp garlic powder ($.05)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 6 oz. can organic tomato paste, plus 2 cans worth water ($.40) Used $1 coupon
- 1 6 oz. can’s worth of homemade or store bought chicken stock (free, or $.25)
- 1 Tbsp chili powder ($.10)
- 1 tsp ground cumin ($.05)
- 1 tsp garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper each ($.10)
- 1 cup cooked rice ($.10) Great way to use up leftover rice.
- 10 small corn tortillas ($.69) or 8 medium/taco flour tortillas ($1.29) Use corn to stay GF!
- 1-2 cups shredded cheese, optional ($.60-$1.25) Regularly on sale at my store for $1.25/2 cups. Omit if dairy free.
- 1 bag frozen corn ($.49) Bought on sale with store promotion and coupon!
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In large skillet, heat the oil and the add the ground chicken, chopped onion, chopped hot pepper, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- In small saucepan, add tomato paste, 2 cans worth of water and 1 can worth of chicken stock. Whisk together and add in the chili powder, ground cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Cook over medium-low heat until bubbles.
- Remove from heat.
- Once the ground chicken has cooked through, add 1 cup of the tomato/enchilada sauce and the 1 cup of cooked rice. Stir together. *Note: I always save leftover rice and freeze it. This is a perfect meal to use up some frozen rice!
- Spread a few spoonfuls of the chicken and rice filling into the tortilla, roll up and place into baking dish.
- Pour the remaining tomato/enchilada sauce over the top of the tortillas. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
- Optional: Before baking, sprinkle the shredded cheese over the top of the enchilada sauce.
- Cook frozen corn as directed on package instructions.
- Serve Cheeseless Chicken Enchiladas with Corn.
Cost $4.97
Tatiana says
I read your post and new you just had a baby and my mouth dropped…eventhough you did do this before the baby…kiddos to you for having foresight and for posting it/blogging!! Thank you! Can not wait to try!
Single Alien says
I realized lots of ppl here like to eat very cheesy Enchiladas. BTW it looks yummy. After reading your blog and finding out you just had a baby and still blogging, I’m very impressed. My sister is currently caring for an 18 months old baby, and I can’t get her to get to the computer to reply my email, let alone blogging. She tells me her hands are just too full. In my sister’s last delivery, she was in the hospital for 5 days (she had a C-section) and my mom was doing all the cooking for her in the last few months of her pregnancy till her baby became one month old. So, I’m impressed by what you can do now… Congrats on your new born.
Beth in Ohio says
I love to find recipes that should pass my picky teen daughter’s inspection, and this looks to be one to add to my collection! I’m going to take your idea, tweak it a bit (because that’s just what I do), and make a batch of Cheesy Ground Beef Enchiladas tonight.
I was just sitting at my desk at work, checking my email & wondering what to do with one of the six 1lb “chubs” of 80/20 ground chuck I picked up at Kroger last week ($1.04/ea after sale+coupon, yeah me), and I opened today’s $5 Dinners. VOILA, dinner is figured out!
SAllen says
Yummy! I can’t wait to try these. We are dairy free as well.
FLYing in Arizona says
This looks like a wonderful recipe, I can’t wait to try it after the Thanksgiving confussion dies down.
I am still learning about preparing freezer meals. Does anyone know if I would freeze it before or after cooking it in the oven?
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
@FLYing in Arizona,
I did not freeze this meal…But it should freeze well. Just thaw in the fridge the night before you want to eat it and warm all the way through before serving.
karen says
What would be a good alternative to the hot pepper? I am not knowledgable about peppers.
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
@karen,
Crushed red peppers would work with a regular chopped green pepper.
Rona says
These look delicious.
Amy says
Okay I’m glad you posted about having the posts queued otherwise I would have felt uhhhh super inadequate lol! People should be bringing YOU food right now! Take it easy and congrats!
Kelly says
With 7 kids,its a little tough to find something everyone will like. This looks like a winner!!I am gonna try it this week. By the way,my goal for this year is to spend 100.00 dollars or less on groceries each week.(including diapers) so this site is a huge help!!
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
@Kelly,
That’s a fantastic goal Kelly! Hope you find some more recipes that will please all those in your brood!
Erin
Jamie says
Help Erin! My corn tortillas kept ripping! I’d put them in the fridge- was that my mistake? When I rolled them, they just fell apart. I even tried to dip them in enchilada sauce, then fill and roll them, but that didn’t work. I ended up making an enchilada casserole- we’ll eat it for dinner tomorrow and see… Thanks for the post!
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
@Jamie,
I have had that problem with corn tortillas before…I believe it’s the cold…or the brand. I know that name brand corn tortillas are MUCH “sturdier” than store brand…at least that’s been my experience! The casserole sounds great too!
Lori says
These look very good. I will try them. For those of us with children who cannot have gluten or corn or dairy, you can buy rice and other gluten free/corn free tortillas. And skip the corn and have another vegetable instead.
Windy Shaffer says
I buy in bulk and then freeze my corn tortillas, they don’t recuperate as well as the flour ones, so I think thawing on the counter is a better option than quick thaw in the microwave. Even so they always crack when I roll them, but every time I look at a recipe that prevents that it is because the tortillas are warmed in oil before rolling and I just can’t put more oil in so I use the nicest looking ones to roll and use the others for either a casserole or make my own corn chips with them.
Jerry says
My partner and I have a friend that can’t eat dairy or a lot of other yummy foods 🙁
So when I saw this, I showed it to my partner and we agreed we would work on it for our friend and then have him over for supper, the only difference is I added Daiya cheese shreds (they are dairy, soy, casein etc free), and I must say our friend was impressed! Now we can safely have him over for supper, as we now have ideas on what to cook for him.
Thanks for the great recipe.