All Blogs, Healthy Eating

Lettuce Enchiladas

Posted on by Desiree Duggan

  • Yield:6 Servings
  • Difficulty:Moderate
  • Time:45 minutes

Gotta love a low-calorie enchilada! Chad would make these for me to give me a treat when I was cutting for a body challenge. They are super delicious! You won’t want to make them if you are cutting sodium, but any other time they make for a great (actually, more like EPIC) option!

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound of ground chicken (95% lean)
  • 1 head of Iceberg lettuce
  • Enchilada seasoning (1/2 packet)
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • Enchilada Seasoning 1/2 packet
  • 1 can of Tomato Sauce
  • 1 TBSP Chili powder
  • Shredded 2% Low Fat Cheese (36 grams)

Directions:

Spray skillet or frying pan with non-fat cooking spray. Begin by browning 1 pound of 95 % lean ground chicken in skillet, or frying pan. While ground chicken is cooking, take a medium-sized saucepan, and add 1 can of tomato sauce, and 1/2 cup of water. Turn on the burner to bring to a boil. While sauce is heating up, slowly sprinkle in 1/2 packet of enchilada seasoning mix, and 1 TBSP of ground chili powder. Stir frequently to mix in spices. When sauce reaches a boil, then turn down heat to a simmer.

Mix the sauce thoroughly in a saucepan. Then scoop up 3/4 cup, and add it to the cooked ground chicken. Stir the sauce in with the ground chicken, and mix thoroughly. Let the ground chicken and sauce mixture simmer.

Take 1 head of iceberg lettuce, and peel apart 6 large lettuce leaves. Leaves may be doubled up, depending on how thick of a lettuce coating you would like to use. Lay the lettuce leaves nice and flat on plates, as though they were actually tortillas. Scoop the ground chicken out of the skillet, or pan, and divide the chicken into approximately 6 servings. Place each serving of ground chicken down the center of a lettuce leaf, or stacked leaves. Take approximately 36 grams of shredded, low fat, 2% cheese, and divide the cheese into 6 servings. Take each serving of cheese, and sprinkle them on top of each serving of ground chicken, which will be placed on the lettuce. Fold, and roll each serving of lettuce, so that they wrap all the way around the ground chicken and the cheese that was placed on top of them.

When you’re finished, you shouldn’t be able to see any of the ground chicken, or cheese, as it will all be wrapped in the lettuce like a tortilla. Take the remaining sauce off of the burner, and pour it over the top of each lettuce wrapped enchilada. Try to even out the sauce over the 6 enchiladas. In order to make this recipe more visually appealing, you may add a light sprinkle of shredded cheese on top of the sauce covering each enchilada, but be sure to consider the calories that are in whatever amount of cheese that you decide to use.
Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition:

Calories: 154
Protein: 18g
Fat: 5g
Carbs: 7g
Desiree Duggan

Desiree Duggan has been involved with the Fitness Industry for over nine years. She is a professional photographer, personal trainer and self-professed "Foodie" who absolutely hates the word 'diet'. Desiree loves turning naughty, fattening, 'slap-your-hand-cuz-it-don't-belong-in-the-cookie-jar' foods into more lifestyle friendly, nutritious and delicious recipes.