Easy Chicken Enchiladas- With Gluten/Grain-Free Alternatives

Easy Chicken Enchiladas- With Gluten/Grain-Free Alternatives

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Sometimes it’s hard to make food for others when you’ve got food allergies/restrictions. Especially, if they don’t have any! It’s expensive and just making enough for you and your own family can be a drain on your budget, much less making any of others! But it can also be expensive to make regular food because you don’t have any of those ingredients in the house and would have to buy everything new! Dilemmas, dilemmas. 

My co-worker’s husband died suddenly last week and my servant’s heart wanted to make food for her and her family. Because, that’s what you do when someone dies, right? You make them food. Or maybe that’s just me? I’ve always expressed love through acts of service; in particular, making them food. Penzey’s Spices’ motto is “Love people? Cook them tasty food.” I really resonate with this creed. I even have their bumper sticker on my frig! πŸ™‚ 

I wanted to make my co-worker a dish that everyone would like but I could also adapt into a gluten/grain-free dish for lunches for me and dinner for my parents as my mom is having a medical procedure later in the week and I wanted to bring them dinner. It needed to be kid-friendly, comforting, easily reheated, and budget-friendly as I needed to make several pans of it! I kept thinking about funeral potatoes or mac and cheese. But that’s not a complete meal and I didn’t want to bring multiple dishes. What I was really looking for was either a sheet pan kind of meal or a one-pot complete dish. And in a flash of brilliance, I remembered chicken enchiladas! 

My aunt introduced our family to a pretty junky version of enchiladas years ago that we just fell in love with. But it’s completely processed (and totally delicious!). Filled with Velveeta cheese and Campbell’s cream of chicken soup, there’s nothing healthy about it! But it’s total comfort food and I knew it would be the perfect dish for everyone involved. I just needed to tweak it a bit πŸ˜‰

So here’s my modified version. It’s still not the most nutritious meal for you but pair it with a salad and you’ve hit all the food groups. It’s not dairy-free but IS (with the tortilla modification) gluten-free. You could substitute out the cheddar cheese with a vegan cheese and sub in Vivian’s Gluten and Dairy Free Powdered Mix. I’ve not tried that though so I can’t tell you what it’s like. Maybe someday I’ll play around with a dairy free “cream” of chicken soup recipe. This recipe freezes beautifully and I purchased disposal pans so everyone could just pop it in the oven whenever and throw the pan out when they were done. No need to wash or return anything to me! I also made dessert (Icebox Cake) for them in these same pans. That recipe can be found HERE

Here’s some of the ingredients I used to create this dish:

Easy Chicken Enchiladas
A chicken enchiladas recipe with dairy-free and gluten-free modification advice.
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Ingredients
  1. 12 tortilla shells (I used both corn and Siete Foods Almond Flour Tortillas)
  2. 1 lb chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
  3. 1/2 large onion, finely diced
  4. 1/4 cup sour cream (I used Kite Hill Almond Yogurt)
  5. 1 t salt
  6. 1 12-oz container cream of chicken soup (I used Pacific Farms)
  7. 1/4 c water
  8. 1 T minced garlic
  9. 1 c shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for sprinkling on top
  10. 2 roma tomatoes, chopped
  11. 2 T minced scallions
  12. 1 16 oz jar salsa of choice (I used salsa verde)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine first 8 ingredients.
  3. Place about ΒΌ cup of filling into a tortilla and roll. Place in greased baking dish. Repeat for all 12 tortillas.
  4. Pour salsa over the top ad sprinkle with additional cheese and scallions.
  5. Bake uncovered, for 45-50 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted. Serve hot.
Notes
  1. If you'd like to make these dairy free- substitute the sour cream for Kite Hill's plain Greek almond yogurt or Green Valley's Lactose Free Sour Cream. Substitute the cheese for any vegan cheddar (such as Daiya's) and sub the cream of chicken soup for Vivian's Powdered Cream of Chicken Soup (it's dairy free). I've linked this brand above.
  2. For gluten-free, just make sure the cream of chicken soup is gluten-free (I used Pacific Foods). There are multiple brands on the market including Walmart's. Also use corn tortillas or one of Siete Foods tortillas instead of flour.
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