Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

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Replace sour cream with Greek yogurt in this delicious Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas recipe for a healthier version. You’ll never notice the difference!

 

 

I’m excited to be sharing with you my Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas recipe this month to celebrate National Dairy Month!

But first let’s talk about a field trip I took for World Milk Day on June 1st with my friends at New England Dairy & Food Council and my fellow bloggers from Team Dairy New England.

We spent a day touring Freund’s Farm in East Canaan, Connecticut with Rachel Freund learning about sustainable farming and how they care for their cows.

 

 

Their cows seemed to be as curious about us as we were about them.

 

 

The Freund family takes sustainability and energy efficiency very seriously. Solar panels are used capture energy at their farm, and they also have a methane digester that extracts methane gas from cow manure and heats their barns.

They also developed CowPots, a seed starting container made from nutrient rich cow manure, which is plentiful on a dairy farm! The manure is molded into pots that have all the nutrients a plant needs throughout the growing season, and can be planted directly into the ground. The roots can grow through the pot, and over time, the pots themselves simply decompose. In case you’re wondering, the manure is deodorized, so the pots don’t smell like manure. I’m using these to start my seedlings from now on! I love that the fertilizer is contained within the pot so that I no longer have to buy extra fertilizer, and that the pot decomposes, eliminating waste. This concept is absolutely brilliant!

Rachel explains how CowPots work to us below.

 

 

It was also fascinating to me to learn more about farm technology and the automation that is used. Here, robotic equipment pushes the feed in towards the cows.

 

 

Keeping the cows happy is important for milk production. It was very clear to us as we toured the farm that their cows were well cared for.

These massage brushes are available to the cows whenever they choose to use them…we watched them taking turns using them.

 

 

The cows also have waterbeds to keep them comfortable when they are resting.

 

 

Even the milking process is automated…the cows choose when they are ready to be milked and line up to use the machines.

 

 

After our tour, we were treated to a delicious lunch, prepared by Theresa Freund, who runs the farm stand and catering business. The Baked Asparagus Egg dish was out of this world good…I’m hoping Theresa shares the recipe with us!

 

 

We churned our own butter for the bread…it was well worth the effort!

 

 

Happy World Milk Day!

 

Thanks for having us, Freund’s! It was wonderful to have the opportunity to learn more about dairy farming, and it was great to spend time with the other bloggers from Team New England Dairy as well!

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE RECIPE

GREEK YOGURT VERSUS REGULAR YOGURT AND SOUR CREAM

Let’s talk about the Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchilada recipe that I’m sharing with you today.

I mentioned earlier that I replaced the sour cream with Greek yogurt.

I love the tang of sour cream, and often make sour cream enchiladas. But then I got to thinking I could substitute Greek yogurt in my sour cream enchilada recipes. The two are very similar in texture and taste. Why not give my Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchilada recipe a healthy boost?!

Greek yogurt is packed with nutrients and has about double the protein of regular yogurt. It also has significantly more protein than sour cream, and fewer calories — even when you use a low fat sour cream.

Protein is so important to building bone and muscle. Our kids run track, and my husband and I are runners a well. Eating foods that are high in protein after a hard workout helps rebuild the muscles that you’ve broken down.

So I decided to play around with my recipe. The results were delicious!

CREAMY GREEN CHILE CHICKEN ENCHILADAS RECIPE

I plan to make my Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas recipe with Greek yogurt instead of sour cream from now on. My family loved the taste and the extra nutrients and protein is a bonus!

Let’s get started cooking.

First, you need to make the Green Chile sauce. You can buy it premade, but making homemade Green Chile sauce is very easy and really does taste a lot better than the canned stuff.

You will have a little extra if you follow my recipe, so you may want to consider making a double batch and freezing the extra for later. If you double the recipe, you’ll have enough to make two more batches of these Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas out of it. Or, if you’d like, just use the extra from the single batch for a couple smothered burritos. I guarantee it won’t go to waste…it’s a very versatile sauce!

Let the Green Chile sauce cool for a little bit after you finish making it, before you add the Greek yogurt.

 

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together cooled green chile sauce with the Greek yogurt.

 

Then mix together the shredded chicken, two cups of the cheese, and a cup of the green chile Greek yogurt sauce mixture.

 

Add a can of black beans, if you’d like.  I usually do.

 

 

Spray your baking dish(es) with olive oil spray, and add a little enchilada sauce to the bottom of the dish. I used two dishes to fit the 12 of the enchiladas I made.

 

Then add some chicken mixture to each tortilla and roll. My family doesn’t really like corn tortillas, so I always use flour. Use corn if you’d prefer.

 

 

Then pour the remainder of green chile yogurt sauce mixture over the top of the enchiladas.

 

Cover them with foil and cook for 20 minutes.

Uncover, top with the reminder of the cheese and cook another 10 minutes.

Top with crumbled cotija cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped cilantro and avocado slices.

 

 

Don’t they look good?! Serve them with these easy Refried Beans!

 

 

MORE MEXICAN INSPIRED RECIPES YOU MAY ENJOY

• Salsa Verde
• Roasted Tomatoes with Cilantro, Mexican Style
• Roasted Tomato, Corn & Shrimp Quesadillas