Low-Calorie Chicken Chimichangas
• found at shrinkviolet.com
These baked (not fried) burritos are so tasty you might forget they're low-calorie!
Servings 8 chimichangas
Equipment
- air fryer or regular oven
- cooking oil spray
Ingredients
- 1 TB olive oil
- 1 yellow onion (chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp chipotle powder (or chili powder)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¾ cup salsa (use your favorite)
- 12 oz shredded chicken thighs (cooked)
- 1 16-oz can refried beans (see Notes)
- 8 Mission Carb Balance Tortillas ('soft taco' size)
- 1 cup pepper jack cheese (shredded)
- cooking spray (preferably olive oil)
- hot sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet.
- Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic, chipotle powder, cumin, garlic powder, and salt and pepper and cook until fragrant. About 1 minute.
- Add salsa and bring sauce to a simmer.
- Add the shredded chicken and stir well. Take the skillet off the heat.
- Get your air fryer (or oven) heated up to 425℉. (Some air fryers don't require pre-heating, if so, skip this step.)
- Put the tortillas on your countertop laid out assembly-line style.
- Add about 1/4 cup of the refried beans and spread it around.
- Sprinkle about 2 TB of the pepper jack over the top of the beans.
- Top with about 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture.
- Roll each tortilla into a burrito. You fold in the top and the bottom, and then roll one of the sides all the way around. Do it as carefully yet tightly as you can. These will be very full burritos! Put on a plate with the seam sides down.
- If you want to freeze them for later, now is the time. I recommend using a vacuum sealer so they don't fall apart in your freezer.
- If your air fryer takes trays, or you're using your oven, spray a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil and place the burritos on it seam-side down. No matter which cooking method you're using, then spray the burritos with more olive oil.
- Air Fry (or bake) for 5 minutes then gently flip them over. Cook another 5 minutes. (If cooking from frozen, increase the time per side to 7 minutes.)
- Serve with hot sauce, if desired.I recommend letting them cool a few minutes before eating as the insides get pretty thermo-nuclear!
Notes
Refried beans: technically, you could use the reduced-fat or fat-free kind, but they just don't taste as good. I used the regular kind in this recipe, and the calories are still low.
Estimated Nutrition Per Serving
Calories: 299Carbohydrates: 28.7gProtein: 22.2gFat: 15.1gSaturated Fat: 5.4gCholesterol: 49.9mgSodium: 930.5mgFiber: 16.6gSugar: 3.9g
