Sheet Pan Zucchini Chicken Enchiladas
Low-carb zucchini chicken enchiladas made with zucchini instead of traditional tortillas. They are stuffed with chicken, corn, and bean filling. Incredibly satisfying, healthy, and light.
These zucchini enchiladas are very similar to Zucchini Lasagna Rolls Ups with Spinach and Artichokes. Both are low-carb, gluten-free, and kid-friendly. We absolutely love them!
Zucchini Chicken Enchiladas
Made with zucchini in place of traditional tortillas. Delicious and perfect for anyone who loves the flavors of chicken enchiladas but wants something lighter as in less carb-loaded.
These enchiladas are stuffed with shredded chicken, corn, and beans. Topped with enchilada sauce and cheese.
You can make these enchiladas anytime with leftover chicken, simply just shred it with two forks. Or even better, pick up a rotisserie chicken for easy shredded chicken.
Zucchini Enchiladas Ingredients
This zucchini enchiladas recipe is fairly adaptable and easy to customize with any additional veggies, spices, or herbs.
- Chicken – shredded cooked chicken, whether leftovers, freshly cooked or rotisserie works great. It’s tossed with onions, spices, corn, beans, salsa, and enchilada sauce.
- Enchilada sauce – I love this store brand of enchilada sauce. It’s made with real ingredients and has a delicious smoky flavor to it. But if you want to go all out and make a homemade enchilada sauce, this recipe looks so good!
- Cheese – technically you can use your favorite cheese here. I personally love Mexican blend cheese. It has a little bit of everything.
- Zucchini – zucchini replaces the traditional tortillas that are used to make enchiladas. So when shopping for zucchini look for ones that are similar in length and width. It will make slicing and rolling a little easier.
- Toppings – I used a combination of cilantro, red onions, and sour cream. But you can also add green onions, avocado, or pico.
How to Make Zucchini Chicken Enchiladas
Making the filling, peeling the zucchini into thin ribbons, and rolling up the zucchini is basically all the steps that go into making these chicken enchiladas. Here’s a detailed rundown:
- Step 1: First make the chicken filling. In a 12-inch skillet sauté the onions and garlic until soft. Then stir in the frozen corn (you do not need to thaw it out), beans, and spices. Give everything a good toss. Then add in the shredded chicken.
Remove the skillet off the heat and stir in the salsa, enchilada sauce, and cheese. Taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
How to Make Easy Shredded Chicken:
- Here’s my absolute favorite way to make easy shredded chicken: you will need 2 bone-in-chicken breasts with skin on (about 2 lbs. total). Rub chicken with olive oil and generously season with salt and pepper all over.
Bake 425 F for 40-45 minutes. Once cool, discard the skin, and pull the meat off the bones. You can either shred the meat with your hands or two forks.
- Step 2: Next prepare the zucchini ribbons. Using a Y-shaped vegetable peeler, peel the zucchini into thin ribbons. The first few are usually way too skinny to use so I normally toss those aside. You will need a total of 42 ribbons.
- Step 3: After you have the filling and zucchini prepared you can start assembling your “enchiladas”. Lay three zucchini ribbons on a flat surface, such as a cutting board. You want them slightly overlapping each other.
Add a generous 1/4 cup of chicken filling to the zucchini and tightly roll it up. Place seam down on a sheet pan.
- NOTE: Sheet pan is great here because it gives the zucchini enchiladas plenty of space to steam out during baking. I would not recommend using a casserole dish just because you’ll end up with a lot of juice on the bottom and soggy rolls.
- Step 4: Top the enchiladas with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake for 22-25 minutes at 375 F.
Let the enchiladas rest for about 5 minutes so the rolls can absorb any excess moisture from the bottom of the pan. Serve with your favorite toppings.
What to Serve with Enchiladas
- Mexican Rice – my mom’s recipe
- Mexican Corn Salad – so good with summer corn
- Pineapple Avocado and Bean Salsa – good as a side or topping
- Southwestern Chopped Salad – omit the chicken to serve as a lighter side
- Cilantro Lime Crema – great alternative to plain sour cream
If you try these Zucchini Chicken Enchiladas, please let me know in the comments below. I would love to know how they turned out for you!
PrintSheet Pan Zucchini Chicken Enchiladas
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 40 min
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Roasted
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex
Description
Low-carb zucchini chicken enchiladas made with zucchini instead of traditional tortillas. They are stuffed with chicken, corn, and bean filling. So satisfying yet light.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup frozen corn (no need to thaw)
- 1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tsp. chili powder
- 2 tsp. ground cumin
- 3 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 1/2 cup tomato salsa
- 1 cup red enchilada sauce, divided
- 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese, divided
- 2 lbs. zucchini, about 3 medium
- Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
You Will Also Need:
- Sheet pan (half sheet 18 X 13)
- Vegetable peeler (Y shaped peeler works the best)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook 3-4 minutes, or until soft.
- Stir in corn, beans, chili powder, and cumin. Then add the shredded chicken.
- Remove skillet from heat and stir in salsa, 1/4 cup enchilada sauce, and 1/2 cup cheese. Season the mixture with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. If using aluminum foil, lightly spray with a non-stick spray.
- Trim the ends of the zucchini and using a vegetable peeler, peel zucchini into thin ribbons. First few are usually too skinny to use. You can also use a mandoline slicer. You need a total of 42 zucchini ribbons.
- On a cutting board, lay out 3 ribbons of zucchini slightly overlapping each other. Add generous 1/4 cup of chicken mixture and tightly roll up the zucchini. Transfer to the sheet pan seam down, creating two rows of seven in the middle of sheet pan, for a total of 14 rolls.
- Spoon remaining enchilada sauce over the zucchini enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until cheese is melted and filling is hot. Before serving, let enchiladas rest for 5-10 minutes so the rolls can absorb any excess moisture from the bottom of the pan.
Notes
- I love this red enchilada sauce. It has a hint of smokiness and is made with good ingredients.
- When shopping for zucchini, look for zucchini similar in length and width.
- I do not recommend using a casserole dish or anything similar. The reason these are made in a traditional half sheet pan (18 X 13) is because you want enough room for steam to escape since zucchini retains a lot of water.
- These enchiladas are so good with sour cream (the more the better), cilantro, red minced onions, avocado, and green onions.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2-3 rolled up zucchini
- Calories: 274
- Sugar: 3.7 g
- Sodium: 662.6 mg
- Fat: 13.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 13.2 g
- Protein: 25 g
- Cholesterol: 64.1 mg
Keywords: low carb, healthy, grain free, Mexican
The nutritional info doesn’t give a serving size. Can you clarify?
It ends up being about 2-3 rolls
Very easy to make recipes, Zucchini chicken enchiladas: total success dinner.
Thank you for these friendly and healthy recipes.
This was delicious! So glad I finally made it! I was a bit intimidated about peeling 42 slices of zucchini, but it was so easy! Will definitely make this again 👍
★★★★★
Has anybody tried this with ground beef instead of chicken? I don’t have any pre-cooked rn
This may be a dumb question, but can you freeze it ?
Hi: Zucchini does not freeze well. So no, I would not recommend it.
You could freeze the filling though! Premix everything together and freeze it. When when it’s time to make it just thaw the filling, shave the zucchini, fill, and bake!
It should be just fine to freeze the filling.
this zucchini chicken recipe is really amazing and delicious . i just love this. thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.
wow, this looks so delicious and yummy. i just love this recipe. thanks for sharing this wonderful article about the zucchini chicken enchiladas.
Such a great idea about the zucchini chicken enchiladas thanks sharing this
I’ve made these a few times now and they’re a hit every time! Even the picky eaters love them! Thank you for this recipe!
★★★★★
Thank you Samantha! I’m so happy to hear that.
Awesome!!
The BEST zucchini enchiladas recipe!! I double it an everything is GONE !!!
Thank you!!
★★★★★
That’s so great! Thank you.
Teenager approved!! They don’t usually like zucchini but loved this recipe:) Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you.
Excellent! Used the enchilada sauce recipe and was amazed. I used more corn and beans since I’m not low carb. Skipped the
Salsa since I didn’t have any.
I cooked on a grate and the zucchini was tender and crisp.
I made the chicken in a slow cooker.
Overall, I did work on this all day off and on so it’s not super quick, but could imagine if you had the sauce made and the chicken precooked it could be reasonably simple.
My husband chose zucchini over tortilla!
Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
We made these last night and were so impressed! I thought with all the prep it was going to be a failure but the flavor was so worth it. Cooked thighs in instant pot first with taco seasoning and cumin. Tedious, but DELISH!
Thank you! So happy to hear that.
I was determined to make this as soon as I found it even though the zucchini from the store was tiny! I ended up having to make a “skillet style” enchilada dish then stuck it in the oven to melt cheese on top. It was still delicious! Will definitely try again.
★★★★★
I’m glad to hear that! Thank you for feedback Sarah.
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Leftovers are good for a few days. They do get a little soft the longer they sit but other than that they taste fine.
This looks so good! What a great way to sneak in the veggies without compromising taste!
This was great, my family really enjoyed this recipe. Used the homemade enchilada sauce as mentioned and was not disappointed, it paired great. Thanks for sharing, this will be a regular dinner in our home
★★★★★
So happy to hear that! Thank you Michelle.
My kids are love this item. I made it after reading your recipe. Thanks
★★★★★
Thank you! So happy to hear that.
I made these tonight and they were SUPER delicious! Definitely going to become a staple in our house. My one tip for the zucchini. I make a zucchini lasagna often and to help get all the liquid out after slicing them with the mandolin 1/8 lay on paper towel and sprinkle with salt, leave for 10 mins and it really draws out the salt. Then I use a stove top grill pan and quickly grill each side for a couple mins, then back to paper towel. Makes the zucchini easier to roll to. And literally no liquid comes out when baking. So good! Recommending this recipe to everyone I know!
★★★★★
And by draws out the salt I mean water! LoL
So glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for your feedback!
This looks great! Do you know if you could make a day ahead and store in the fridge?
They good be good! Thanks.
These were delicious and so pretty! Def saving this recipe to take to friends after having a baby, etc. YUM!
Thank you Bri! So glad you enjoyed them.
Corn and beans are high in carbs. How did you get that it is only 4%?
Hi Kathi: there’s only 1/2 cup of each. I encourage you to calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on what is provided with the recipes. Thanks!
Hi Katya,
wow, I never have seen anything like this! Can’t wait to try this recipe, I know my family will love it! What happens if I leave out the tomato salsa?
★★★★★
Thank you! Salsa adds flavor. I hope you enjoy it!
This is such a creative idea! Definitely saving this to make when I have a plethora of garden zucchini! 🙂
Thank you Brittany!