Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas and Green Enchilada Sauce

For the latest Blogger’s Choice recipe swap, I was assigned Prevention RD. Her blog is awesome and it’s not just me that thinks so – Nicole recently announced that she’s writing a cookbook based on her blog. How cool is that!

The hardest part of this swap was settling on just one recipe. I decided on these because, as much as I love enchiladas, I’d never made them with a green sauce.  Nicole used canned enchilada sauce but mentioned in her post that next time she would try making it herself. My garden is currently over-flowing with tomatillos so I decided to make these a totally-from-scratch endeavor. The recipe I used for green enchilada sauce is below. You can see the recipe I used for the tortillas here.

These are probably my favorite enchiladas to date. The honey lime works so well and gives it a really light, summery feel. Hubby and I totally fought over the leftovers!

Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas
(from Prevention RD)
Serves 5 (2 enchiladas each)

5 T. honey
5 T. lime juice, from 2-3 limes
1 T. chili powder
1/2 T. cumin
1/2 t. garlic powder
12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
10 flour tortillas
1 1/2 c.  Colby/Monterrey Jack blend, shredded, divided
2 c. green enchilada sauce (recipe below)
1 c. fat-free half & half

In a medium bowl, whisk together honey, lime juice, chili powder, cumin and garlic powder. Add cooked, shredded chicken and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (or several hours) to marinade.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Add 1/2 c. green enchilada sauce to the bottom of a 9″x11″ baking dish and spread out to coat the whole bottom.

Stir half of the cheese into the marinated chicken. Divide chicken mixture between 12 tortillas. Roll up and place seam-side down in baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

Whisk together half and half and remaining enchilada sauce. Pour evenly over the enchiladas.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Green Enchilada Sauce
(from Our Best Bites)
Makes about 3 cups

1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and membranes removed
3/4 lb. tomatillos, husked and quartered or halved
1/4 c. cilantro, coarsely chopped
3/4 t. Kosher salt
Pinch of black pepper
3/4 t. cumin
2 c. chicken broth

In a large saucepan, heat oil until shimmering and then add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent.

Meanwhile, in a blender, combine tomatillos, green pepper, jalapeno and cilantro. Blend until smooth. (If it’s not blending well, add some of the chicken broth to help smooth things out.)

Add tomatillo mixture to cooked onions and stir in cumin, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until sauce is reduced to about 3 cups.

12 thoughts on “Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas and Green Enchilada Sauce

  1. This is one of my and my husband’s favorite meals! I should probably put it on the menu again since he keeps asking. Thanks for the reminder!

  2. Thanks for the sweet tribute, Kate 🙂 You picked a great recipe…one I need to make again with YOUR enchilada sauce. Can I just say how insanely jealous I am that you have homegrown tomatillos?! Happy weekend!

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  5. These are fantastic. I want to eat my chicken like this from now on (even as just honey lime chicken, without the enchiladas, it’s soooo good).

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