Just letting you know that this low carb, Fiesta-in-a-dinner is sponsored by my friends over at Danskin Now!
This healthy chicken enchilada casserole tastes like your favorite Mexican dish, but is made with cauliflower so it’s low carb and under 300 calories! It’s a gluten free, weeknight meal that everyone will love!
Crazy-yummy casserole comfort food comin’ in HOT today.
BIG, BOLD, fiesta-in-your-mouth flavors tagging RIGHT along with it.
You guys. In the spirit of last-years Cajun cauliflower casserole and rainbow cauliflower casserole with Thai peanut chicken, the cauliflower casserole is B-A-C-K.
Except with a little south-o-the-border spin because I saw your taste buds responded to that Mexican Zucchini Lasagna, in the sense that you WERE OBSESSED.
Which leads me to believe that anything with a little spicy-chili, sizzlin’ cumin, creamy avocado, juicy bursts of fresh tomato and ALL. THE. CHEESE is a major win your book of “things I want to eat for dinner forever and ever the end.” ESPECIALLY when it has alllll the same flavors as a healthy low carb chicken enchilada recipe!
Tell me I’m wrong. <— Except you can’t. Because MEXICAN FOOD.
So cauliflower casserole. IE cauliflower that is boiled until super-soft and tender and then blended until thick and all together AMAZINGLY DELICIOUSLY COMFORT-FOOD-LIKE CREAMINESSS, and then tossed around with other flavors to add a little pizazz and UMPH when it enters your hungry mouth.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Meal preppin’? Try this #Lowcarb Chicken Enchilada Cauliflower Casserole! @Danskin #DanskinNow” quote=”Meal preppin’? Try this #Lowcarb Chicken Enchilada Cauliflower Casserole! @Danskin #DanskinNow” theme=”style2″]In this case “pizzazz and UMPH” are the Mexican flavors of L-O-V-E and deliciousness that are usually carb-laden and generally not-so-good-for-you, but THIS TIME? Healthy chicken enchilada VIBES friends.
Low carb. Real food. ALL THE PROTEIN…and ooey-gooey melty CHEESE.
You know, just to top it all off.
January is kinda the month where the “NEW YEAR! NEW YOU!” message is being sent out HARD to all of us people just trying to get by with who we ALREADY ARE. I can barely figure out what’s going on in my current brain, let alone try to make it a NEW ONE, you know?
BUT, small changes can be made. I know a lot of you internet friends are looking to try a little low-carb change-up this year, and I did NOT want that to equal not being able to eat ALL of your favorite eats…like enchiladas.
I think we can all agree that a life without enchiladas is no life AT. ALL.
Which is why cauliflower casserole with ALL THE SAME flavor profiles is comin’ at the next dinner moment to happen in your real-person-food-eating life. You could even slip on your ultra-stylish Danskin Now Women’s Printed Melange Compression Leggings, Seamless Sports Bra and Fitspiration Active Graphic Tank and shimmy this protein-packed stack of deliciousness into your hungry belly RIGHT AFTER A WORKOUT.
When was the last time your brain told you that enchiladas = perfect post workout meal?
Exactly.
Hey not-able-to-eat-dairy friends out there, this casserole is still super tasty without the cheese! Since, Mr. FFF can’t do the cheese dance, I had to leave it off his portion when testing the recipe. He still gave it a gold star. #Staremoji
I can’t confirm or deny that I just used his cheese to make mine EXTRA ooey-gooey.
Hint: I did.
Having a dairy-free hubs has some perks.
Bonus points that turn our vegetal-casserole-delight into the MVP of the dinner game: it tastes JUST AS YUM the next day.
HELLO meal prep friends of the universe – this one goes right out to Y-O-U.
So whip it up. Heck, whip it up TWICE the size, and enjoy a tasty Tex-Mex sensation ALL WEEK LONG.
Sombreros not optional.
Ingredients
- 8 Oz Chicken breast
- 1 1/2 Pounds Cauliflower, Cut into florets (about 7 lightly heaping cups of florets)
- 1 Tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp Garlic, Minced
- 1 Large onion, roughly chopped
- 1 Tbsp Taco seasoning (I use this recipe)
- 1 10 Oz Can Natural red enchilada sauce, gluten free if needed (such as Hatch)
- 1 Large egg
- 1 Egg white
- 1/2 tsp Salt *
- Pepper
- 1 4oz Can Diced green chiles
- 1 Cup Reduced-fat Mexican Cheese
For garnish:
- Cilantro
- Tomatoes. diced
- Avocado, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and rub an 8x8 or 9x9 inch pan with olive oil
- Fill a medium pot with water, as well as large pot. Add a pinch of salt to each and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce each pot's heat to medium and place the chicken in the medium pot and the cauliflower florets into the large pot, covering just the cauliflower pot with a lid. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink and the cauliflower is fork tender, about 10-15 minutes.
- Once the chicken is cooked, transfer to a plate to cool. Drain the cauliflower and place onto a kitchen towel to cool for 10 minutes, or until cool enough to handle.
- While the cauliflower/chicken cook, heat the olive oil up in a large, high-sided pan on medium heat. Add in the garlic, onion, and taco seasoning and cook until lightly golden brown, stirring frequently, or about 3-5 minutes.
- Add in the can of enchilada sauce and bring to a boil, boiling for 1 minute. Reduce the heat down to medium and simmer until the sauce is reduced and thick, about 7 minutes.
- Once the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, wrap it up in the kitchen towel and wring out as much of the water as possible. Really put some muscle into this because you don't want a soggy casserole! I like to do this twice, using 2 towels, to really get out the water!
- Place the cauliflower into a large food processor, along with the egg, egg white, salt and a generous pinch of pepper. Add in the enchilada sauce mixture and process until the mixture is smooth. Transfer into a large bowl.
- Shred the cooked chicken and add it into the bowl, along with the green chiles, stirring until well mixed.
- Transfer into the prepared pan and cover with tinfoil. Cook for 30 minutes, and then remove the tinfoil and cook for another 30-40 minutes, or until the casserole feels set and the sides are lightly browned. Sprinkle with the cheese and cook and additional couple minutes, until the cheese is melted.
- Cover the casserole to keep it warm and let it sit for 10 minutes, so it absorbs some of the excess moisture. Then, slice and serve.
- Sprinkle with cilantro, tomatoes, avocado and DEVOUR.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY MY FRIENDS AT DANSKIN NOW. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO CONTINUE CREATING GREAT CONTENT FOR YOU BY SUPPORTING PARTNERSHIPS WITH SUPER-FAB BRANDS THAT FOOD FAITH FITNESS LOVES TO WORK WITH! AS ALWAYS, OPINIONS REMAIN 100% MY OWN!
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Weight Watchers Points Per Serving: Points+: 7. Old Points: 6. SmartPoints: 6
(Per serving, not including garnishes)
IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE, PLEASE REMEMBER TO TAG @FOODFAITHFIT AND #FOODFAITHFITNESS ON INSTAGRAM! I LOVE SEEING YOUR RECIPE RECREATIONS! ????
Sarah says
How much of the casserole is one serving? This looks delicious, I can’t wait to make it!
Taylor Kiser says
Like the recipe says, it makes 4 servings, so 1 serving is 1/4 of the casserole! Hope that helps! 🙂 Hope you love it!
Roohi says
One question, why boil n then blend the cauliflower? Cant we add raw cauliflower to this dish and it will get cooked up during the baking part? Thnx looking forward to trying this!
Taylor Kiser says
Hope! You need to boil and blend it so that it get a similar texture to mashed potatoes!
Liz A says
This dish was interesting…I wouldn’t make it again because it used so many different dishes. The food processor, the chicken pot, the cauliflower pot, the onion and enchilada pot, four different towels, etc. The end result was ok…I love that it’s low carb, but the cauliflower topping was kind of strange — maybe it was the enchilada sauce. I don’t think I’ll male this again — too much cleanup and the end result was dry and a little weird.
Taylor Kiser says
Sorry you didn’t love it Liz!
Neutrinotao says
I just made this recipe. Yum! I did a few things differently though. I used leftover ground chicken breast, and I baked 1.5 pounds of cauli-rice in the oven for 10 mins at 450 (in one large cookie pan). I baked the cauli-rice because I didn’t want to wring out the cauliflower since I am lazy. It worked. I would prefer the recipe with the shredded chicken like you have, but it worked with the ground chicken this time. I also didn’t have tomato paste, so I used 1.25 cups of Bionature strained tomatoes and didn’t use the 1 cup of water in the recipe. The texture of my casserole came out just like your photographs, so the baking of the cauli-rice does work and eliminates that step of wringing out water. I was worried I was going to have a soupy mess, but I didn’t! (Also, I didn’t use any oil to keep the calories lower.) The flavors are great in this recipe. Thanks so much for a great recipe! (I didn’t eat it with cheese. It is really great on its own.)
Taylor Kiser says
I am so glad you loved it! 🙂