Zucchini Wrapped Chicken Enchiladas
Zucchini Wrapped Enchiladas are healthy and low carb alternative to traditional enchiladas. Delicious saucy shredded chicken wrapped in zucchini strips topped with a homemade enchilada sauce and creamy avocado! They are Paleo, Whole30, Gluten Free, and SCD Legal.
Chicken Enchiladas are one of my favourite decadent Mexican dishes. Warm tortillas wrapped around chicken soaked in a delicious spicy sauce and topped with melted cheese, are you drooling yet?
I have been wanting to make a healthy version of an enchilada for awhile now, but have struggled with a tortilla replacement as many of the grain free tortillas I’ve experimented with self destruct when baked in enchilada sauce. Like the eggplant used in my cannelloni recipe, I wanted to find a vegetable that could replace the tortilla but was struggling with how to get the right shape.
When I saw this video I was blown away, overlapping the slices of zucchini, what a game changer! So I took the idea and did my own healthy spin on the dish, making an enchilada sauce from scratch, skipping the cheese and topping it with this oven roasted salsa.
This Chicken Enchilada recipe is so good. I promise that you will be amazed at how easily the zucchini slices can swapped for tortillas without losing any of the flavour or overall concept of the dish.
The Zucchini Enchiladas rolls are really quick to assemble and hold together incredibly well when removing them from the baking dish to serve.
I was so impressed with how good the leftovers tasted 3 days later, the wraps held together well and the sauce remained thick. I will definitely be doubling this recipe next time so there is more to enjoy for packed lunches and quick reheated dinners over the following days.
I am really excited for you to try these Zucchini Enchiladas. If you give it a go, let me know, I would love to hear if you enjoy these chicken enchiladas as much as I do.
Here are a few more Mexican Inspired recipes that you might enjoy:
- Mexican Beef Taco Salad
- Mexican Eggs Benedict
- Beef & Cauliflower Rice Mexican Casserole
- Mexican Cauliflower Rice
- Mexican Chicken Soup
- Mexican Cauliflower Rice & Chicken Stuffed Peppers
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Zucchini Wrapped Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
Enchilada Sauce
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 2 jalapeños (+/- depending on desired spiciness)
- 2 15oz cans chopped tomatoes
- 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Enchiladas
- 3 cups shredded chicken
- 3 large zucchini
- 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (optional) (omit if paleo or whole30)
Topping Options
- salsa
- 1 smashed avocado
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1 thinly sliced jalapeno
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Place the garlic, onion and jalapeño in a food processor and blend until everything has broken into a fine mince. Sauté the onion mixture in olive oil for 4 minutes until the onions begin to soften then add in the remaining ingredients for the sauce. Season with salt and allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes.
- Once the sauce has thickened, taste and adjust the seasoning by adding more chili, salt or cumin. Place the shredded chicken in a bowl and spoon half of the sauce over the chicken and stir so that its well coated.
- Wash the zucchini and cut the ends off and then cut the zucchini in half length wise. I recommend using a vegetable peeler to get thin slices but you could also use a knife (just make sure that each slice is very thin).
- Spoon some of the sauce into the base of a baking dish. On a cutting board lay out three slices of zucchini, I put the middle one down first, and then the two others on either side making sure they slightly overlap on either side.
- Place 2 large spoonfuls of the chicken mixture at the bottom of the zucchini slices. At this point you can also sprinkle in some grated cheddar if desired. Pressing firmly, roll the zucchini up over the chicken and place in a large baking dish. Put the rolls in the dish with the loose end facing down so that they don't unravel when baking.
- Repeat with the remaining zucchini strips until the dish is filled with enchilada rolls which are all packed in tightly.
- Spoon more of the enchilada sauce over the top of the rolls and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the zucchini is tender. If you would like a bit more cheese you can add it to the top of the enchiladas about 5 minutes before they are done and cook until it is melted.
- Once the enchiladas are cooked remove from the oven. If there is a lot of excess liquid at the bottom of the dish from the zucchini, use a baster to remove it from the dish. Before serving sprinkle the enchiladas with chopped cilantro and serve with salsa and chopped avocado. Enjoy!
Nutrition
I love this recipe! I make it once a week. My children love it too! Thanks
Yea!! Thats great to hear!
I can’t seem to get the sauce to thicken, any suggestions? I simmer with lid on and off ..
Very watery. I used 2 cans of tomatoes…was it suppose to be one?
I would suggest turn the heat to high and cooking it with the lid off (so a higher temp then a simmer), that will make it thicken quickly.
I can’t seem to figure out what the green crème is on top of your enchiladas here?? do you have a recipe for it?
Its just avocado pureed with lime juice and a splash of water to make a thin cream like sauce.
It would be a small extra step, but I bet if you salted the zucchini for 30 minutes before you wrapped the enchiladas, you would greatly reduce the excess moisture. That’s what I do with my zoodles!
Thats very true! I have tried doing that in the past and found that even with this added step there is still a bit of liquid left in the pan after baking.
Very good, can someone please tell me the Nutrition facts? Fats, Carbs, Proteins, etc. 🙂
I prefer not to include nutritional information for recipes and instead focus on just using wholesome ingredients but if you do want to know the nutritional information I recommend using this app RecipeIQ all you have to do is enter the recipe URL or take a photo of the recipe and it outputs the information.
I made this tonight and my husband said they were better than the real thing ! I splurged and bought the vegetable sheet attachment for my kitchen aid mixer and it was worth every penny ! Will definitely be making this again !????
I have serious kitchen gadget envy! I have been dying to buy that attachment! So happy that you enjoyed the enchiladas!
LOVED THESE!! Wow, delicious! My husband couldn’t get enough! I highly recommend using a mandolin slicer to get those thin zucchini slices 🙂 yellow summer squash worked great too! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!!
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the enchiladas! Good call on the mandolin! For anyone that has one it will definitely make slicing a lot easier. 🙂
This was wonderful! We could not get the zucchini to roll up so we had enchilada lasagna like another person did! The flavor was wonderful. The only issue we had (besides the roll up fail) is that the sauce would not thicken. Any suggestions for that? Should we drain the tomatoes first?
An enchilada lasagna sounds delicious 🙂 I would suggest cranking up the heat to high and cooking the sauce uncovered for 5-10 minutes, that should help it thicken.
Hi Carmen, I noticed in your recipes you don’t ever season with pepper. Is this just a personal preference or is pepper not allowed on scd?
Its allowed! I am just terrible at remembering to add it to recipes. Season away! 🙂
Any substitutes you’ve tried for the tomatoes? They don’t sit well with my stomach. Will pesto work?
Any kind of Mexican style sauce would work well.You could try using oven roasted red pepper and jalapeños.
Made this tonight–it was so good! The zucchini noodles we’re not my friend, but that was the hardest part. Everything else was fantastic. Thanks for making such a tasty Whole 30 enchilada recipe!
Yea! So happy that you enjoyed it! What did you use to cut the zucchini? A vegetable peeler should make it relatively easy.
Could almond milk work as a substitute for the soaked cashews? If so, how much would I use?
Unfortunately you will need something thicker then almond milk to make the cashew sour cream. You could use raw blanched almonds instead or skip the sour cream all together, the enchiladas will still taste great!
Wanted to make this so badly, but my son has nut allergies. Any suggestions for a substitute?
The cashews are for the sour cream which you could easily skip and just top the enchiladas with salsa and guacamole instead 🙂
Thank you ????
Defective Zucchinis! Ha, couldn’t get proper thinness with my veggie peeler, which would not support rolling up the chicken. Would like to know what peeler you use, so I can get one. Not a total failure, I slipped in some pre-cooked lasagna panels and it turned into ‘Enchilada Lasagna’. Not giving up on this recipe just yet. I’ll try again after mastering the art of zucchini slicing. Used another critique-er’s idea, slipping in a can of fire-roasted tomatoes, since I didn’t have jalapenos. I like the use of cumin & chili powder. Good for changing up lasagna!
Haha enchilada lasagna sounds like the best of both worlds! This is the peeler I have used for years, it’s perfect for cutting thin strips of zucchini.
Delicious! I used canned fire roasted diced tomatoes instead of plain diced tomatoes. Great recipe – thank you!
Awesome! Fire roasted diced tomatoes sound like a delicious addition!
Made these ladt night. They were phenomenal!
Yea!! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them!
Do you think I could prep and freeze this dish?
I think that should work well although there may be a lot of water in the bottom of the dish wish you will need to drain after baking but it won’t impact the flavour or end result.
My son and I made these this evening. We all agreed that this dish was amazing !! I think that next time I will add a bit more spice to the sauce. Maybe 4 jalapeños. And for desert I made the Strawberry & Lemon Cauliflower Cream Parfait. It was delicious. I just love your recipes.
I made these tonight – absolutely delicious. Very straightforward to prep (even for an amateur like me!). I’ll never need another tortilla again! great for a saturday night dinner
What size cans of chopped tomatoes did you use–15 oz or 28 oz? Thanks!
Thanks for pointing out the missing measurement! I used a 400gram can of chopped tomatoes which is approx 15 oz.