Today is my dad’s 50th birthday.
Wait, 50?
This graceful noodle-warrior is 50 years old?
Let me just tell you.
My dad is incredible. Being with him makes me a better person and brings calm to my heart.
Alrightalrightalright. I just showed you a picture of him launching a full-scale attack with a foam noodle. But really, I promise, he is generally a calming person.
When I was 5, my dad knew everything about the world. Then I turned 15. Hmmph.
Now that I’m 25, I realize that my dad probably can’t know everything about the world. But I’m still pretty sure that he actually does, because he’s my dad and he’s amazing.
Dad, you inspire me! Thanks for being the best. Ever.
Alright. In honor of my dad who is the number one best ever, let’s talk about the number two best ever.
These enchiladas. I’m sototallyinlovewiththem. When I think about the 6 servings of leftover enchiladas sitting in my fridge, my heart skips a beat.
They’re chicken meets salsa meets corn meets beans meets CROCKPOT.
Now roll it up in a corn tortilla and top it with melted cheese, avocado, crema, and more Cotija cheese. THAT is an enchilada mountain right there. Are these still considered enchiladas if they don’t have enchilada sauce? Better question: will anyone even care because they’re so so tasty? Right on.
PS. Number three best ever: you can get away with a 5-minute workout because they’re skinnay. And by 5-minute work out, I mean 5-minute raid of the chocolate chips.
Conferences? NBD. Just an excuse to eat some cold enchilada leftovers in my classroom. #yum
- 1 lb. chicken breasts
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can corn, drained
- 16 oz. fresh salsa
- 3 tablespoons taco seasoning
- ¼ cup water (optional)
- 12 small corn tortillas
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 avocado, diced
- ¼ cup crema (see notes)
- fresh cilantro, Cotija cheese for topping
- Put the first 6 ingredients in a crockpot. If your salsa is not very saucy, be sure to include the ¼ cup water or more if necessary. Cook on high for about 3 hours (or longer on the low setting) until chicken is cooked through. You can also cut the chicken breasts into halves to help them cook faster. Use 2 forks to shred the chicken and mix everything together.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Soften the corn tortillas in the microwave, 3 at a time, for about 25 seconds. Fill them with a few tablespoons of filling, roll once, and place seam-side down in a large baking dish (I did 2 smaller baking dishes). Continue until all tortillas have been filled, rolled and placed in dish. Be sure to pack them in tightly next to each other so that they don’t come apart.
- Sprinkle evenly with the shredded cheese and bake for about 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly and everything is heated through.
- Remove from oven and drizzle with crema. Sprinkle with avocado pieces, fresh cilantro, and Cotija cheese crumbles.
Sooo I’m realizing that I might have missed a few things that would fall somewhere between my dad and chicken enchiladas on the Best Ever list.
Like my husband and my future dog.
But the melted cheese has oozed its way into my brain and is blocking my ability to think about this clearly, so I think that we’re just going to go with it for today. K? Happy Enchiladaing!
 |
More from Pinch of Yum
Classic Dinner Pancakes
I just saw “skinny” and “enchiladas” in one title, and swooned. I’ll be making these immediately. I have to!
Happy Birthday to your dad!
Happy birthday to your dad!!
Sometimes I find enchiladas a bit gloopy but these look so wonderful and fresh and tasty and all that’s good in the world!
These look so yummy! I wanted to make the muffins and the pancakes! I need extra hours in the day to keep up with you…
Happy Birthday to your dad!
Want want want!
In loooooove. Amor. Que fantastico! (You see; you made me break into Spanish.)
P.S. Happy Birthday to your dad!!
Gracias.
I love this recipe.
My family LOVES enchiladas! These look fantastic!
Enchilada sauce is the one thing I never have when I want to make actual enchiladas so these are pretty much perfect!
Happy Bday to your dad!
Isn’t that the truth? I’m sure these would be tasty with a little enchilada sauce, but darn. That is not a pantry ingredient for me. And I didn’t even miss it!
Those enchildas look incredible, and happy birthday to your dad!
PS. You take the most GORGEOUS photos! What program do you edit your photos with? Photoshop or Lightroom?
Thank you so much! I use Photoshop but I’ve been playing around with Lightroom because I’m actually finishing up an e-book on food photography, and I wanted to include some examples of both in the e-book. Check back in a few weeks if you’re interested!
I’m really excited about it.
PS. For these pictures, I was in Photoshop.
Thank you for the reply, Lindsay!
I actually barely know how to use Photoshop (I usually use Lightroom), but Photoshop seems like the editing program of choice for most bloggers, so I want to start learning how to use it. I’m really looking forward to your e-book, I’m sure it will be wonderful!!
These sound AMAZING! I think I’m having a blonde moment, though – you put the corn tortillas in the slow cooker too since you said toss in the first 7? Can’t wait to try them!!
No! Yikes. I need to check my counting skills. Thanks for the heads up!
Hahaha – my pleasure! I was just confused and a little intrigued! Can’t wait to try it tomorrow!!
I don’t know what I would do with all my faithful readers who catch my recipe mistakes. Seriously!
Have a great week!
Oh sweet heavens.
It looks awesome and I love the pop of avo against that cheese…mmmmm, beautiful food and pics, Lindsay!
I love any avo in my life. AVOOOO.
Happy Birthday to your Dad!!!!
This looks so tasty.
Tab
What a wonderful way to honour someone that you love’s birthday. With a favourite recipe.
Happy 50th Birthday to your Dad!
Yum! That filling sounds awesome! Plus, cooking it in the crockpot = easy!
Beautiful pictures as always! The colors are perfect!
Happy birthday to your dad!
The crockpot idea was my friend’s actually, she made the chicken as an all-purpose Mexican filling and I had to make it the very next day! As an enchilada of course.
Nice post. Great picture of you and your Dad. Your enchiladas look fantastic. Come visit. We have some wonderful recipes this month and a really terrific bit of news to share today.
These look so good! I can’t wait to make them!
Happy Birthday to Papa Pinch of Yum! And yay for these skinny enchiladas! I’m always looking for lightened versions of my all-time favorite Mexican dish, so I’m so excited to give these a try. I don’t know what the difference is between burritos and enchiladas without enchilada sauce, but who the heck cares. As long as they taste good, you can call them Poopchiladas, and I’d still eat em. Thanks for the great recipe!
lol… Papa Pinch of Yum is about the best thing I’ve ever heard. He’ll love that.
Yu
Nice looking enchiladas!
Yum!! These are beautiful and I imagine they are as tasty as they are stunning!! Happy birthday to your dad — he is so young!!
he’s young, wild, and free. In theory.
Mmm… now I have Mexican on the brain. I will definitely try this soon!
Your dad seems super cool. Tell him hi from us friendly webbers!
He is super cool. I’m glad you got that vibe from my noodle warrior photos.
I love how “skinny” is everywhere. Last night the waiter asked if I wanted skinny fries or onion fries with my chicken. Skinny fries sounded too good to be true, so of course I nearly screamed at him “oh YES skinny fries please!!”. He looked taken aback and said, “do you mean our skin-on fries?”
OK, so maybe I’m just hearing it everywhere
Ha! I’d take skinny fries every night of my life please.
Yup, making these tonight.
Good call.
Probably the prettiest enchiladas I’ve ever seen! AND they are skinny… SOLD!
you are fabulous!
and please adopt your pup! don’t “shop”. there are thousands of loving healthy sweet dogs/puppies waiting for a home.
keep up your wonderful work:)
Thank you! We’re not planning to get one anytime soon (sad) but someday!
These look delicious! I may use that chicken recipe for salads, too, not just enchiladas!
It’s super versatile… That’s one of the best things about it! You could totally just keep it in the fridge for tacos, burritos, salads, etc.
. That was my plan but I ended up just making more enchiladas. 
healthy and so delicious looking?? so amazing. gorgeous pictures!
Thank you!
This sounds great! I wanted to let you know that I posted this today in my “What I Bookmarked This Week” post stop by and see!
ZOMG. These look like a beautiful, edible sunrise.
I just made these tonight finally – been wanting to for awhile. They are delicious!
Glad you liked them!
Great recipe! I used two cans of Rotel (the one with Lime Juice & Cilantro) instead of salsa, and my family loved it. Thanks so much!
Awesome!
That you for posting this recipe!!!! I just made it tonight and it was so yummy!
Awesome! Glad you liked it.
These were astoundingly delicious!!!
I was able to make two 9 X 13 pans worth, though (all the better for me!) and I did add some mexican style cheese to the interior of the tortilla before rolling.
These are now one of my favorite things ever to make!
Thank you!!!
OH MY GOSH these look delightful! I am %100 going to try these tasty little morsels!
Hi! I found this on pintrest! was thinking of making them tonight for girls night. But, we wont have time for it to cook in the crock-pot for 3 hours. Could I just cook it all together on the stove before baking? do you think that would work as well?
Absolutely. Just to get everything cooked and warmed up and you’ll be good to go.
Yummy!!! Made this today – so easy and so delicious. I made 2 small dishes… Freezing the 2nd one… So hopefully it’ll still turn out perfectly when I need something in a pinch.
PS: Where do you get the cotija cheese? I couldn’t find it in my grocery store.
I made these for my husband tonight and they were delicious!! We will be having them again soon. Thanks for the recipe : )
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know!
My wife and I made these this evening and they rocked. Well done. We didn’t bother with the crock pot, we simply cooked 4 chicken breast halves in a pan with a bit of olive oil while letting the other ‘filling’ ingredients come to a simmer in a pot; we combined when portioning out the enchiladas.
Awesome! Glad you liked them!
Just made this for dinner tonight and YUM! My whole family loved it. This is a keeper, thanks for sharing!
Thank you Richelle! I’m glad you all loved it.
I found this recipe froze really well, which was great for my smallish family. The batch made about double what I knew we’d eat so I wrapped up half and then when I wanted it a few weeks later I just pulled it out the night before and it worked well.
I made these tonight for dinner and they were a huge hit! HUGE!
Awesome!
These were dee-lisch! Thinking about trying something, processing the sour cream, cream, cilantro and avocado for the sauce. Won’t look as pretty but what do you think? I am by no means a foody but that struck me as an interesting idea.
Ooh, sounds great! I love sauces like that.
I am so bummed! I had all my ingredients set up and was about to start making this when i realized the chicken had gone bad… What on earth!!! I will have to make this another time. BOO!
I hate when that happens! Here in the Philippines, you get about 1 day before the meat starts to smell weird… so I always end up making last minute trips to the store. Hope you can make it work with some fresh meat!
I am making it today, finally. I love all your recipes, we had the white chili yesterday and we just devoured it. It doesn’t rain much in San Francisco so we turned on rainymood.com while we were eating. It was delicious.
I love that! Thanks for sharing Antonia!
One of my all-time fav internet finds!! Family favorite now for sure!
That’s great Jen! Thanks for the comment!
Hi there,
What brand of salsa do you recommend? When you say “fresh” do you mean the one in the refrigerated section (pico de gallo?) Or do you mean the jarred variety? Sorry if this is a silly question, but I really really want to try this, and I don’t want to mess it up!
Yes, more like pico de gallo from the refrigerated section. But you don’t have to use fresh – I’ve also used jarred and it works fine. I just like the taste and texture of the “fresh” stuff better.
Good luck!
It’s 7 a.m. right now as I’m reading this, and I shouldn’t want enchiladas so bad at 7 a.m. But now I do. I really do.
Great looking recipe. I’m definitely going to try this weekend. Heck, I probably can’t wait until the weekend. I’ll make them tonight.
I love this recipe & I’ve featured it in my Cinco de Mayo Recipes Roundup over on my blog, Anyonita Nibbles. I’ve also joined your sites & started following you socially! You can find the roundup here: http://anyonitanibbles.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/cinco-de-mayo-recipe-roundup.html I hope you’ll stop by & share the roundup with your followers!
Happy Cinco de Mayo!