Tasty Southwest Chicken

These delicious chicken recipes will warm you up in the last days of winter, and they taste delicious. Whether you’re looking for a quick meal with few ingredients, or a more involved dish, Catherine Newman shares two recipes that can work for anyone.

Did you need two Southwest-style chicken dishes to get you through the last of the cold days? I did, it turned out, and everyone here has been grateful for the delicious stretch of recipe-testing that resulted. These are the kind of crowd-pleasing meals that combine no-drama chicken with a little bit of heat and creaminess, which makes them hard to resist. They’re also quite low in carbs, 

making them good bets for anyone with an eye on their blood sugar.

Enchilada Chicken

Do you look at a five-ingredient recipe and think, “YES!”? Because I do. And this one doesn’t disappoint. It is so, so easy and so, so good – and you don’t even have to stuff and roll any tortillas. A couple of notes: If you’re starting with a 19-ounce can of enchilada sauce, then you can freeze the rest of the can in two ¾-cup portions for the next couple of times you make this dish. And if you prefer dark meat, use boneless, skinless chicken thighs; just set the oven to 400 degrees and plan to keep them in there another 15 to 20 minutes to make sure the chicken is cooked through.

White Chicken Chili

This creamy stew is bursting with more deliciousness than its pale demeanor would lead you to suspect. It’s tangy, and a little bit spicy, and somehow the cauliflower absorbs all of the chili flavors to become more of a subtle, lovely texture than an assertive cabbage-y presence. This stew is even better the next day, so don’t fear leftovers.