Cheesy protein-packed Turkey Zucchini Enchiladas with a homemade enchilada sauce. Using strips of zucchini and no tortillas, this enchilada recipe is great for a healthy, low carb, high protein dinner!
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Trust me, you won’t miss the tortillas on this one!
Granted this recipe does take a bit longer with having to overlap zucchini strips and then roll them up right, but the result is definitely worth it.
Cut the carbs and replace it with vegetable for nutrition – a win win in my opinion.
And then you have the loaded filling, sauce, and cheesy topping – tripe win in my opinion!
What and how Zucchini Enchiladas without tortillas?
The concept of zucchini enchiladas is all about replacing the tortilla in a traditional recipe with strips of zucchini instead.
How this works is you use a Y vegetable peeler to peel the zucchini into thin strips which wil then be used as the enchilada roll ups.
Since zucchini is quite high in moisture, you want to drain the moisture by layering the strips between paper towels. Let them rest for about 10 minutes. If you plan ahead, I’d recommend leaving them overnight in the fridge in a large airtight container.
How to make Homemade Enchilada Sauce:
There’s a lot of recipes out there on the internet, but this red sauce is adapted from Cookie and Kate. It’s a healthy red enchilada sauce made with a few spices and uses tomato paste and not crushed tomatoes.
The ingredients for this slightly spicy sauce:
- Olive Oil
- Whole Wheat Flour or another alternative like all purpose or cup for cup gluten free flour
- Chili Powder
- Cumin
- Garlic Powder
- Oregano
- A bit of Salt to season
- Tomato Paste – not puree or crushed or diced. This is more concentrated.
- Chicken Broth, or Vegetable Broth/Water, but make sure it’s low sodium
- White Wine Vinegar or maybe even lemon juice for a bit of tang.
To cook the sauce,
- Heat the oil in a small pot or pan until it starts to slightly steam.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano and salt.
Set the dry mix, tomato paste and broth by the pot.
- Sprinkle a bit of flour mixture into oil and check if it sizzles. Continue to heat the oil if not.
- When ready, add the flour mixture to the oil and stir. Let it cook for a minute until it’s fragrant.
- Then add in the tomato paste and broth and whisk until slightly thickened – about 1-2 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in vinegar. Transfer the sauce to bowl and let it cool.
Ingredients for the Turkey Zucchini Enchiladas filling:
This healthy turkey enchiladas recipe is uses extra lean ground turkey and is flavored with a bunch of spices and homemade enchilada sauce.
- A bit of olive oil for frying
- Onion and Garlic to flavor
- Green Bell Pepper
A bunch of spices for that authentic Mexican flavor:
- Chili Powder
- Paprika
- Cumin
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Oregano
The core ingredient:
- 99% Lean Ground Turkey
- Some of the homemade enchilada sauce or a store bought one if you’re using that
- Salt and Pepper to season
Now let’s cook the Turkey!
This ground turkey filling for the zucchini enchiladas really is quite easy to make.
- Fry the onion and garlic in the oil in a large skillet over medium
- Add the bell peppers and let them cook
- Add in the turkey and spices, and let this cook as well. Be sure to break up the turkey with a spatula and mix it well.
- Pour in a ½ cup enchilada sauce, season it with salt and pepper, and then set it aside.
And that’s about it!
Now for actually baking the zucchini enchilada casserole:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Spray your baking dish or casserole dish with cooking spray and spread about ½ cup of the sauce on the bottom.
To make the “tortillas”, place 3 strips of zucchini slightly overlapping each other on a work surface.
The rest of the enchilada rolling process is the same – place about 1 or 2 tablespoons worth of the filling towards one end of the zucchini and roll it up tight.
Place the zucchini rolls on the enchilada sauce, seam side down.
The cheese and Bake!
Pour another ½ cup of the sauce over the rolls and sprinkle on the cheese.
Then bake it for 20 minutes.
I used a cheddar for this turkey zucchini enchilada bake, but Pepperjack or a mexican-blend cheese would be amazing as well.
To make these enchiladas Paleo friendly, use dairy free shredded cheese and a compatible gluten free flour for the sauce.
Tips for this Red Sauce Turkey Zucchini Enchiladas
- Be vigilant when cooking the sauce – the process is quick and the sauce will start to thicken quite fast.
- Be sure to let the cooked sauce cool before pouring it over the zucchini rolls.
- Drain out most of the water from the zucchini so the rolls hold together.
- To keep them a little low fat, use extra lean ground turkey or even chicken breast for these enchiladas.
Can you store or freeze these skinny enchiladas with ground turkey?
While these turkey zucchini enchiladas are best had fresh, you can keep them if you have leftovers or make it as a meal prep recipe.
Transfer them to a large airtight container and keep the the fridge for up to 3-4 days – I tried this myself. You can even keep them in the baking dish itself, tightly covered with plastic wrap.
More Mexican Inspired Recipes you might enjoy:
- Green Chile Chicken & Spinach Enchiladas
- Chicken Fajita Stuffed Peppers
- Cheesy Tex-Mex Keto Chicken Cabbage Casserole
- Spiced Sweet Potato & Black Bean Breakfast Burritos
Low Carb Turkey Zucchini Enchiladas
Ingredients
Sauce (or 1½ cup Enchilada Sauce):
- 1½ Tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 Tbsp Whole Wheat Flour, or other
- 2¼ Chili Powder
- ¾ tsp Cumin
- ⅓ tsp Garlic Powder
- ⅓ tsp Oregano
- ⅛ tsp Salt
- 1½ Tbsp Tomato Paste
- 1½ cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth, or Vegetable Broth/Water
- ¾ tsp White Wine Vinegar
Filling:
- 1 tsp Olive Oil
- ½ small Onion, chopped, 53g
- 1 tsp Minced Garlic, 1 clove
- ⅓ Green Bell Pepper, 35g
- 2 tsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Cumin
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- ¼ tsp Dried Oregano
- 1 lb 99% Lean Ground Turkey, 454g
- (⅓ Sauce recipe = ½ cup sauce)
- ⅓ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Pepper
To Assemble:
- 2 large Zucchini, 680g (only about worth ¾ will be used)
- ⅔ Sauce recipe = 1 cup sauce
- 1 cup Shredded Cheese, Cheddar, Pepperjack or Mexican Blend, 4oz/112g
Instructions
Cook Sauce:
- Heat oil in a small pot over medium.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano and salt.
- Sprinkle a bit of flour mixture into oil and check if it sizzles. Continue to heat if not.
- Add flour mixture to oil, whisk and let cook 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add tomato paste and broth and whisk until slightly thickened – about 1-2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in vinegar. Transfer to bowl and let cool.
Prepare Filling:
- Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet on medium-high and fry onions and garlic until translucent.
- Add bell peppers and cook another 2 minutes.
- Add ground turkey, and spices (chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and oregano) and cook, using a spatula to break down meat and mix.
- Pour in ½ cup of the sauce (⅓ of recipe), season with salt and pepper, and mix.
- Set aside.
Fill and Bake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a 9” x 13” (3 quart) casserole or baking dish – or 2 smaller dishes – with cooking spray..
- Pour ½ cup of the sauce (⅓ of recipe) on the bottom of pan.
- Use a Y shaped vegetable peeler to peel thin slices of zucchini. Save ends and extremely narrow strips for another recipe.
- Layer zucchini between paper towels to absorb moisture. Let rest at least 10 minutes, or overnight.
- Prepare workstation and place 3 strips of zucchini, slightly overlapping. Add about 1-2 tablespoons of filling towards one end, and roll up zucchini.
- Place roll in the dish, seam-side down, and repeat with remaining zucchini.
- Top with remaining ½ cup of the sauce (½ of recipe) and shredded cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes until cheese is melted, bubbly, and starting to brown.
Notes
- Nutrition information is calculated using only amount of zucchini used.
- Fridge: In an airtight container or covered baking dish for 3 days.
- Servings: 24 enchiladas | Serving size: 4
- Calories: 326kcal
- Fat: 14.7g | Saturated fat: 4.2g
- Carbohydrates: 14.6g | Fiber: 3.7g | Sugar: 6g
- Protein: 37.8g
