Oven Fried Chimichangas

There are very few things that make me happier than a crispy, delicious chimichanga! The only bad thing about ordering one at a restaurant is that it's going to be DEEP FRIED. Of course, that's part of what makes it so delicious. Terrible, wonderful, DEEP FRIED! I discovered I could create a chimichanga just as tasty but WITHOUT the deep fried aspect! (Of course, I make up for the not deep fried by adding a terrific cheese sauce. What's a chimichanga without cheese sauce?)



What You Need
Chimichangas
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cooked)
- 1 cup of rice (cooked)
- 1 can drained black beans
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 2 tsp. oregano
- 1 cup salsa
- 2 chopped scallions
- 1 green pepper
- 1 onion (preferably sauteed)
- low fat sour cream
- 6 whole wheat flour tortillas (burrito size)
Cheese Sauce
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 3 tbsp. flour
- 1 cup of milk
- 1/3 cup shredded cheese

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Now you want to coat your sheet pan or casserole dish (whichever you choose to use) with some cooking spray. While the oven is preheating you can take the time to cook your chicken, rice, and to saute your onion. Shred your chicken up. Go ahead and combine your oregano and cumin into your salsa. Now that your chicken is all shredded, grab a bowl and toss all your ingredients in; the chicken, rice, drained black beans, your scallions, and your onion. (Depending on how you chop your pepper you can toss that in too or just lay them on top of this mixture.)

Now you can start arranging your chimichangas. I start with a dollop of sour cream right in the center of my tortilla, then a little shredded cheese, top that with my chicken mixture, roll, arrange, repeat. Once you've finished up, go ahead and pop those babies in the oven for about 20 minutes. When they come out you can enjoy them as is, add your favorite toppings (tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, guacamole) or go ahead and add the cream sauce, which you can make while the chimichangas bake!

For the cheese sauce, you can either skip this step, take the easy way out and use some queso from the jar (or make your own queso) or go ahead and start melting your butter. Once your butter is melted you want to go ahead and whisk in your flour. Now you want to add in your milk. Once it's started to thicken and bubble, whisk in your melted cheese. Get that all melted and perfect. Remove from heat and set aside to let it thicken up a bit more. Top your chimichangas and ENJOY!