Baked Chicken Recipes

Healthy Chicken Recipe: Oven Baked Chicken Chimichangas

February 14th, 2010

One doesn’t normally think of Chimichangas as a healthy chicken recipe, but when it is baked instead of fried and brushed with olive oil while baking – it certainly has become a whole lot healthier than the traditional method.

There are many different versions of the story of the chimichanga. Apparently, a female chef accidentally dropped a burrito into hot oil. Since children were within ear shot, she didn’t want to swear, so she just used the Spanish word for “thingamagig” – CHIMICHANGA! Tucson, Arozona seems to make the strongest case for being the birthplace of the chimichanga, and it is proud to call itself the Mexican Food Capital of the United States.

So chimichangas are just fried or deep fried burritos – not really a healthy chicken recipe. They are most often made using a flour tortilla that is filled some type of mixture. Then the ends of the tortilla are tucked in on the sides so that none of the filling comes out while it is cooking. Chimichangas don’t always come with sauce. They are usually garnished with salsa or pico de gallo, guacamole, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce and maybe some sour cream. If you want to make this truly a healthy chicken recipe, serve all these things on the side so each person can choose which to use.

You will be pleasantly surprised at how nice and crispy these oven baked chimichangas come out. Why cook them any other way? Plus, they are a lot less of a mess in the kitchen when baked on a baking sheet. Of course, you can “stuff” the chimichangas with any filling you like. I like to use about a cup and a half of chopped, cooked chicken and add half a cup or more of a good salsa, 2 tablespoons of chopped green chiles, 3 chopped green onions, a teaspoon of cumin and 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder. Then mix in a cup of shredded cheese. I like to use Monetery Jack.

Using 8 inch flour tortillas, put about 1/4 cup or more of filling down the middle – closer to the one side than the other. Start to roll it up. Tuck in the sides and continue rolling. Place seam-side down on your pan and brush with olive oil.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes until golden and crispy. Sere with your favorite garnishes and you have a healthy chicken recipe!