Thursday, February 24, 2011

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

If a post pops up in my Google Reader with the word “enchilada” in the title, it’s pretty much a sure bet that I’ll be starring the recipe to try in the future. When I saw this casserole, then, it was a no-brainer. I knew I’d be trying it, and I knew we’d love it. So I did, and we did.

Although you could definitely use traditional salsa for this recipe if you had it on hand, I strongly recommend the salsa verde. It has a different flavor than red salsa, and I love how that flavor works in this dish. There are a lot of things that I love about this recipe, actually -- the mild spice, the creaminess of the sour cream and refried beans, the melty multitude of cheese, the way it reminds me of a Mexican lasagna with its alternating layers. If you love Mexican food like I do, I think you’ll find that this is your perfect comfort food.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
slightly adapted from The Picky Apple

3 cups shredded, cooked chicken (a rotisserie chicken works perfectly)
1 packet of taco seasoning
2 cups salsa verde
9 small flour tortillas
1 15.5-ounce can refried beans, warmed
8 ounces sour cream
3 cups shredded colby jack cheese

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix chicken, taco seasoning, 1/2 cup water and salsa verde in a skillet. Simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.

2. Coat 13 x 9-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cover bottom of pan with 3 tortillas, overlapping. Pour half of the chicken mixture on the tortillas. Cover with 3 more tortillas. Combine refried beans and sour cream, then spread over the tortillas.

3. Sprinkle half the cheese over the beans and sour cream, and cover with the remaining 3 tortillas. Top with remaining chicken mixture, followed by remaining cheese. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until bubbly.

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16 comments:

Allison said...

Drool.

How many meals did you get out of this? I'm wondering if we'd get 5 (2 1/2 for dinner and 2 1/2 for lunch) out of half the recipe and freeze the other half for later.

Ricki said...

I cannot wait to give this a try! Yum!

Cassie said...

I think you could definitely do that, Allison. We were eating this for a few days -- dinner one night, then lunches for both Joe and me for the rest of the week.

xenacat1 said...

Hello, Cassie!
This looks and sounds delish. When I make it, though, I'm gonna sub in corn tortillas, since the texture of cooked flour tortillas (in, say, a casserole in which the tortillas become "moistened" by other ingredients) skeeves me out. Do you think this will work?
Thanks, Cheryl

Holly said...

I'm with ya any kind of enchilada gets my attention!:) This looks very cheesy good!

Unknown said...

Wow this sounds yummy!

Julie said...

I love casseroles like this! In fact I think I've taken something very similar to work for potlucks and it got devoured. Yours looks super!

Debbie said...

Another one I want to try! This looks great and thanks for posting it!

Cassie said...

Hi Cheryl! You could definitely use corn tortillas -- in fact, the original recipe calls for corn tortillas. I just used the flour tortillas because I prefer them to the corn! :)

Rachel said...

I'm actually really excited that you posted this recipe! My husband loves Mexican food, but so many of the recipes (especially those for enchilada casseroles) call for corn tortillas and for some reason, I can't even stand the smell of them! I literally about gagged the one time I ate corn tortillas and by no means am I a picky eater!!! I never substituted, b/c I wasn't sure if I'd ruin the recipe, but your casserole looks delicious!!!

Atty said...

This looks yummy. I am going to try and make homemade corn tortilla's so will try this with those.
I also wanted to let you know that I posted an award for your blog on my blog. I do follow your blog but don't always leave comments.
Please stop by.
thanks
Donna

Cara said...

So glad you enjoyed this recipe! I loved it too, and I've tried many an enchilada casserole that didn't meet my expectations. I definitely prefer corn tortillas though. This went on my menu for this week!

Tammy said...

anything mexican, this sounds great! hey, on my food blog I posted a taco lasagna, come check it out, just click on my name to find my blog

Stephanie said...

This looks really good. I love Mexican and I love enchiladas. I'll have to try and make this recipe this week coming up.

Abby said...

Definitely making this one!

Liz said...

wow!this looks so adorable and delicious!