Green Chilis waiting to be made into low oxalate verde sauce
I love a good verde sauce over chicken or fish. This one is fabulous, especially with these chicken enchiladas.
The key to making low oxalate chicken enchiladas verde is to go light on the corn tortillas. If you insist on filling each corn tortilla with only 2 tablespoons of filling as most recipes call for and cramming 12-16 of these in a casserole dish, your enchiladas will have way too much oxalate. Instead, you need to use only one tortilla per person and really stuff it full of chicken, or you can make your enchiladas “open face” and pour the filling over a few tortillas (which ends up looking a little more like a Mexican lasagna than traditional enchiladas.)
Chicken enchiladas verde are a versatile dish that easily accomodates experimenting! If you follow a grain-free diet you can easily leave out the tortillas. Alternately, if you follow a dairy-free diet, try making these without the sourcream and cheese (or use coconut yogurt in place of sourcream). Vegetarians will also find it easy to replace the chicken with extra cheese. Enchiladas really are versatile and forgiving, so have fun!
Chicken Enchiladas Verde
2 1/2 cups cooked chicken or turkey, shredded
1/2 cup sour cream
3 cups shredded cheese (or use 1 cup cream cheese and 2 cups shredded cheese)
1/4 cup cilantro
4 – 8 corn tortillas (optional)
1 recipe verde sauce (see below)
olive oil
Step 1: Mix the chicken, sour cream, 2 cups of the cheese, and the cilantro in a large bowl.
Step 2: Heat the oil in a skillet and lightly toast each tortilla until it is soft and pliable.
Step 3: Traditional Enchiladas: (8 tortillas):Pour about 1/2 cup verde sauce in the bottom of a 13 x9 inch baking dish. Put about 1/2 – 2/3 cup of the filling in the middle of each tortilla and try to roll it up. If it’s too thick to roll up, then try to cup the tortilla around the filling as much as possible as you place it into the pan.
Enchilada Casserole (4 – 8 tortillas): Pour about 1/2 cup verde sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Line the bottom of the pan with four tortillas (you may need to overlap a little and cut two of the tortillas in half or thirds). Put the filling over the top of the tortillas. If you want, top with four more tortillas (I usually don’t top mine).
Grain-Free Chicken Enchiladas Verde: Follow the directions for the casserole except don’t use any tortillas. This works nicely for families where some members eat corn and others don’t (or some are on the LOD and others aren’t). The ones who eat tortillas can either spoon some of the finished casserole onto a tortilla and eat it like an open-faced enchilada, or they can eat it with tortilla chips – Yum!
Step 4: Pour the rest of the verde sauce over the enchilas. Top the enchiladas with the remaining cheese and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 – 25 minutes until the enchiladas are bubbly and starting to brown.
Serves 8.
Verde Sauce
2 T olive oil
2 cans (4 ounces) fire-roasted Ortega green chiles, chopped
8-10 cloves garlic
1 cup onion, chopped
2 T lime juice
2-3 cups chicken broth or water
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using water)
Put the oil, chilis, garlic and onion in a sauce pan and saute over medium heat until the onions are just beginning to brown (about 5 minutes.) Put the cooked veggies, lime juice, 2 cups of chicken broth, cilantro and salt into your blender and blend until smooth. Add extra broth as needed to achieve a sauce-like consistency (I like mine on the runny side, so I usually use the full extra cup of broth). Note: If you prefer a “greener” sauce, try adding a little bit of whatever low oxalate green veggie you have hanging around (unpeeled zucchini and fresh basil leaves work nicely.) Just remember this adds a little to the oxalate content.
Makes 3 cups of thick verde sauce or 4 cups of thin verde sauce
Low Oxalate Info: Chicken Enchiladas Verde have 6.5 mg. oxalate per serving when made with 8 tortillas, 5 mg. oxalate per serving when made with 4 tortillas, and 3.5 mg. oxalate per serving when made without tortillas.
If you choose to skip the enchiladas and use this fabulous sauce to top grilled chicken or fish, make the verde sauce thicker (use only 2 cups broth.) One recipe of verde sauce has 25 mg. oxalate (about 4 mg. oxalate per half cup of thick sauce or about 3.1 mg. oxalate per half cup of thin sauce).
A note about canned chilis: I prefer to used canned chilis because I always end up rubbing my eyes when I use fresh green chilis, and that is not fun! You may use fresh chilis if you prefer. Ortega fire-roasted green chilis are the brand lowest in oxalate (2.5 per two tablespoons of chopped green chilis). Old El Paso chopped green chiles also tested quite low and is an acceptable alternative.
Menu Planner: Serve with Cilantro Lime Slaw or Santa Fe Bean Salad and sliced avocado.
Picky Eater Pleaser: Make your picky eater his own enchilada without the sauce (use chicken broth to moisten the enchilada or it will dry out!) or try diluting the flavor of the verde sauce with chicken broth (a 1:1 ratio is a good starting place). You may also want to make the grain-free version of the enchilas without the sauce. Warm in the oven until the cheese is bubbly, then let each family member choose at the table whether to use tortillas or to top with verde sauce (this option has worked well for us!).
Other Diets: Chicken enchiladas verde may also be appropriate for gluten-free diets. They can be modified for dairy-free, GFCF, GAPS, vegetarian, and Paleo diets. Low Oxalate verde sauce is appropriate for vegetarian, vegan, Paleo, GAPS, GFCF, gluten-free, SCD and low carb.
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