Keto Chicken Enchilada Skillet is a family favorite recipe. So ridiculously easy to make, it whips up in about 15 minutes flat. If you’ve been missing enchiladas on your low carb diet, this easy one pan meal is for you!
Hey party people, it’s time for a little fiesta!
Enchiladas are a well loved Mexican dish but those carb-filled tortillas don’t do us any favors. But with this chicken enchilada skillet recipe, you get all the flavors you love, with a tiny fraction of the carbs. Seriously, this easy keto dinner has only 2.5g net carbs per serving.
This fun and easy meal is one of our favourites out of my popular cookbook, Easy Keto Dinners. Pair with your favorite cauliflower rice recipe. Or try my Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice for even more great flavor.
Are enchiladas keto friendly?
Well, that all depends on how you make them. With regular flour tortillas, they aren’t very keto at all. And even many of the “low carb” tortillas have too many carbs for those of us on a keto diet.
What is a Mexican food lover to do?
You could go to the trouble of making your own low carb tortillas or wraps. If you happen to have my cookbook, I have a delicious recipe for wraps made with pork rinds. And there are any number of other great-looking keto tortilla recipes.
But making your own tortillas just so you can make your own enchiladas isn’t my idea of easy cooking. You’re not about to come home from a hard day of work, roll out the tortillas, fill them, cover them with sauce and cheese, and then finally bake them. You’d be eating dinner at about 10:30pm.
However, if you skip the wraps all together, and focus just on the fillings, the sauce, and the cheese, it suddenly becomes a lot easier.
Tips for Keto Chicken Enchilada Skillet
A few quick pointers on how to get the most out of your keto enchiladas:
Don’t buy store-bought enchilada sauce. It usually has added sugars and the carbs add up quickly. In this skillet enchilada recipe, you will notice that I don’t use any pre-made sauce at all. Instead, I add some tomato paste right into the pan, along with some spices. Voila, I’ve got my sauce right there.
You can adjust the heat to your liking. Add more chili powder and cayenne if you prefer it spicy. Or maybe some chopped jalapeños.
Using pre-cooked chicken makes your life easy! Rotisserie chicken is great, or if you happen to have some leftover grilled chicken, that works too.
If you only have uncooked chicken, then simmer it in the pan first with 1 cup of broth for about 15 minutes. Then remove the chicken and let it cool while preparing the sauce. You can shred the chicken easily and add it back to the pan.
Spread the chicken around the pan before sprinkling with the cheese. You want a nice even layer so that the cheese melts quickly and easily.
Use whatever shredded cheese you like best. Cheddar is great, and Monterey or pepper jack would be delicious too. You can shred your own, or you can buy pre-purchased cheese. I know the purists will prefer to shred their own.
Top with any of your favorite enchilada toppings: salsa, guacamole, chopped avocado, jalapeños, cilantro. So many delicious ways to serve it!
See how easy that was? Now go grab a copy of my book, Easy Keto Dinners. You won’t regret it!
Mexican Food goes keto!
Mexican food is so beloved in the Western world, and it’s some of the easiest to keto-fy. In fact, some of my most popular keto recipes are Mexican food inspired.
I won’t even pretend that they are authentic because I don’t want to cross that line – I know I am a hack when it comes to world cuisines. I like my dinner recipes to be easy and flavorful, as well as healthy, and Mexican food lends itself so well to that.
It really is fun to play with those strong spices and flavors. Think lots of chili powder, or maybe some chipotle powder for a smoky heat. Cumin is one of my favorite spices and it has a strong role in Mexican food. And plenty of garlic too!
Here are a few of the most popular Keto Mexican Food recipes:
Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken Soup
Chicken Enchilada Skillet
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon butter
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 1 ½ lb cooked chicken, cubed or shredded
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar or Mexican cheese (about 6 ounces)
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer.
- Whisk in the tomato paste, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne until smooth.
- Reduce the heat to low and whisk in the sour cream until well combined. Stir in the chicken and toss to coat. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top and cover the skillet until melted, about 4 minutes.
Rowan says
This is delicious! I like to add a bit of chipotle spice or increase the cayenne pepper sometimes to change it up a bit. However, it does say it makes 6 portions but I find that way off. Even when I add chopped peppers and/or chillis to bulk it out a bit, it’s still not enough for 6 portions. I split it into 4 portions, which is just about enough to make a satisfying meal. I also wish this was one of the recipes where you can change to metric units to save time. The small portion size is why I’ve taken one star off, because it does taste fantastic.
Linda De Angelis says
Carolyn – Have you heard of Mr. Tortilla low carb tortillas? Have you ever thought of trying some recipes with them?
Carolyn says
I don’t really use things like that… quite a few questionable ingredients, IMO. But feel free to do what works for you!
Tara says
Wow! So good. Possibly one of the quickest meals ever. If the chicken is already cooked, this must take 5 minutes to throw together. I’ve made so many enchilada recipes in past that are far more time consuming and convoluted and no tastier. Hubby already agrees this should be a regular. Even my 4 kids liked it!
Pan says
My husband calls this crack chicken because it’s so good. It’s a staple at our house. It’s perfect as written, and it holds up well to substitutions. Sometimes I use chipotle powder instead of cayenne for a nice smokiness. When I don’t have sour cream I use Greek yogurt yogurt and that works well too.
Carolyn says
That’s a great compliment!
Codey says
This was so good! I didn’t have any tomato paste so I used a can of green chilies instead and I can say I’ll probably use them again next time I make this. the flavor was a perfect addition.