I have not been very good about posting recipes this week! Seth has been out in the field since last Monday, so on Wednesday I flew to Washington to visit with my adorable baby niece again and got back late last night. I am absolutely spoiling myself by seeing her twice within one month. I meant to post a few recipes while I was there, but I couldn’t stand not spending as much time with her (and my brother and sister-in-law) as possible!
But these Enchiladas are worth the wait!
So when I was visiting my family in New Mexico for Christmas, we went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch one day. My sister-in-law, Jess, was talking about these Enchiladas she loves that have a “sour cream sauce” rather than a traditional red or green sauce. I had never heard of a sour cream based sauce used for Enchiladas, but they had them at the restaurant, I ordered them, and they were delicious.
Then I was thinking, what a perfect recipe to put on my blog using Greek Yogurt in the sauce instead of sour cream! Greek Yogurt is so dang healthy for you and is packed with protein – double the amount that you would find in regular yogurt. One of my favorite things about Greek Yogurt is how many things you can use it as a substitute for. I always use it instead of sour cream, I use it instead of mayonnaise in potato salad and egg salad, or I’ll put a dollop of it into soups or pasta for added creaminess without the calories and fat of heavy cream.
And this recipe proves that you can use Greek Yogurt as a substitute for sour cream even when you are baking. I wasn’t sure if it would react the same way under high temperatures, but it came through like always!
These Enchiladas are so yummy. The filling is packed with flavor and the Greek Yogurt sauce is creamy and delicious. If you have never tried (or heard of, like me) Enchiladas with Sour Cream sauce, you should really give these a chance. I thought it sounded really weird at first, and I was very skeptical as I was creating the recipe, but they really turned out great!
Here is the recipe!
- For the filling:
- 1½ cups diced or shredded chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken for this)
- ½ cups black beans
- 3 oz reduced fat cream cheese (I used the ⅔ fat kind)
- 5 green onions
- ½ cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 10 flour tortillas
- For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1½ cups plain Greek Yogurt
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- 4.5 oz can green chilis
- 2 green onions and more cilantro for the garnish
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
- For the sauce, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet
- Whisk in 3 tablespoons of flour and let this cook for about a minute
- Whisk in the chicken stock and bring it to a simmer
- Let this cook until it has thickened
- Meanwhile, pull the meat off your rotisserie chicken and rip/dice into small pieces until you have 1½ cups
- Finely dice your green onions
- In a medium bowl, add your chicken, black beans, cream cheese, green onions, Mexican shredded cheese, cumin, and a little salt and pepper
- Mix this together until everything is evenly incorporated. The cream cheese can take a minute to break up and mix in with everything, but keep stirring, it will happen!
- Taste the mixture and add any extra salt and pepper you think it needs
- Lay out 10 flour tortillas, and place ¼ cup of your filling into the center of each one
- If there is any filling left over, evenly distribute it among the tortillas. There shouldn't be much left over, if any
- Tightly roll each tortilla up and place into a 9x13 baking dish
- Once your sauce has thickened, remove it from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes before adding the Greek Yogurt
- When it as been sitting off the heat for a few minutes, whisk in the Greek yogurt, green chiles, and cumin.
- Taste the sauce and add any salt and pepper you think it needs
- Pour the Greek Yogurt sauce over the tortillas, and spread out evenly with a spatula
- Sprinkle a light layer of the shredded cheese over the top
- Bake for 20 minutes
- Optional: once the 20 minutes are up, turn on the broiler and leave the enchiladas under there for a minute or two extra just to brown the cheese a little bit. Make sure you are watching the whole time!
- Chop the remaining 2 green onions and more cilantro and sprinkle on top of the finished enchiladas
I’m bummed because I really wanted this to work but the sauce separated badly. Followed all directions exactly and I used normal full fat Greek yogurt. The flavors are good but I really wanted a smooth and creamy sauce and the yogurt just didn’t hold up to baking in that kind of heat :-(
Oh no! I’m so sorry the sauce separated for you, Christa. I’m not sure why that happened with yours and not mine. Maybe my oven runs at a lower temp than yours (I know ovens are all a little different), and yours was hotter which caused it to break? No idea – just speculation of what potentially could have happened. Either way, I’m so sorry the recipe didn’t work for you! I know that is super disappointing.
Made this tonight and it was fantastic! Thank you!
I’m so glad this recipe worked out well for you, Kara! Thanks for the comment!
Amazing! I have been wondering whether greek yogurt would work in a sour cream enchilada sauce. I keep mulling it over but never being brave enough to try- now I can just follow your recipe, yay! Going to try this with some roasted veggies for a filling.
Christine @ Ciao Veggie recently posted…mini hasselback fries
Yay! Let me know what you think :).
I love this idea! I’ve never had enchilada’s with a cream sauce, but they look just amazing. And greek yogurt is a much healthier choice than sour cream. So I can eat these without the guilt!
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely recently posted…Tuna in Cucumber Cups
I hadn’t either, Natalie, and I was very pleasantly surprised! Exactly–guilt free :).
These look phenomenal! I love using greek yogurt as a sub for sour cream. I also love enchiladas, so I’m going to have to try these! :)
Keri recently posted…Italian Vegetable Stew
Yes! It’s such a perfect substitution, and it’s SO much better for you! If you love enchiladas you will love these :).
I use Greek yogurt for everything too! In Vermont, you can get some awesome local yogurt, very thick, creamy, and yummy! No need for sour cream and mayo when you have Greek yogurt around!
This recipe sounds great…I will give it a try this week.
Mmmm, local yogurt, I bet that is so much better. I agree, I definitely wouldn’t be using mayo or sour cream either if I could get my hands on that! Let me know what you think when you make them!
Your recipe got a 10 out of 10 tonight! :)
I’m so glad you loved it!