Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Mexican food is one of my absolute favorites types of food and Chicken Enchiladas is my favorite dish.  When I first learned how to make chicken enchiladas, (I downloaded a recipe off of FoodNetwork.com) I said to myself, “This is a super messy dish to make!”  You had to dip the tortillas in the enchilada sauce, put the filling in the middle, then roll it up and put it in the casserole dish.  Trust me, it sounds easy but my kitchen looked like a war zone when I was done.  Also, my casserole dish could only hold 4 maybe 5 enchiladas, which ended up not being enough food for my fiance and I, and if you know me, I like to grub.  So I googled online other recipes for enchiladas and came across a chicken enchilada casserole recipe.  And I was like, BINGO!  Now I have a recipe that utilizes all the space in the casserole dish and makes enough servings for at least 2 days.  The following recipe has been adapted to some of my personal tastes; i.e. chillies, red onions and corn.

Here are the ingredients, I forgot the mexican shredded cheese, 2 cup size bag for the picture.  I used chicken breasts this time because thats all I had in the freezer but I prefer thighs because they are more flavorful and juicy.  Chicken breasts can tend to get dry when cooked.

Then you throw all the spices in a pot of boiling water and add the chicken and boil for about 25 minutes or until cooked all the way through.  While the chicken is boiling I start cutting up the red onion in thin slices and open up the chillies and corn cans.

I saute the onions first in a tablespoon of olive oil first until soft and a little caramelized.  Then throw in the chillies and corn and heat through.  This step is the one I made up because I like these veggies but you can add anything you want.

Once the chicken has cooked I chop it up in bite size pieces and then sprinkle the meat again with the spices.  One thing I learned from all the cooking shows I watch on TV is that you have to flavor as you go.  Flavor in layers.

Take a casserole dish, pour a layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom, put one layer of tortillas on top, then add a layer of chicken, layer of corn and chillies, then a layer of cheese, as seen above.  Spoon a thin layer of sauce on top and then repeat one more time.

After that second layer top off with tortillas, sauce and a bunch of cheese!  Doesn’t it look YUMMY?  Can’t wait to dig into this baby!

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, until cheese is gooey and sauce is bubbling.   Tick tock tick tock…

Ta Dah!  Mine looks a little burnt, I forgot my oven runs a little hot.  Set aside and let cool.  Serve with Cholula and sour cream.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of chicken; thighs preferably
• 1 package of tortillas; corn
• 1 can of enchilada sauce
• 1 can of corn
• 1 can of chopped chillies
• 1 package of shredded mexican cheese
• red onion
• Cumin powder
• Chipotle pepper powder
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Chilli powder
• Red pepper flakes
• Bay leaf
• Salt and pepper

Boil chicken and spices for about 25 minutes or until cooked.

Saute veggies.

Chop up chicken into bite size pieces.

Layer ingredients into casserole dish: sauce, tortillas, chicken, veggies, cheese.  Repeat.  Top off with tortillas, sauce and cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Cool.  Serve!

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