Easy Chicken Enchilada
Chicken enchiladas are one of our favorite family meals. They are easy to make, really versatile, and always a crowd pleaser. The way I make this most of the time is actually more of a layered casserole, or what some people will call Mexican lasagna, but we just call it enchiladas.
You can make this with any kind of meat you like, shredded chicken cooked in enchilada sauce is our favorite so that’s what you’ll see below, but I’ve done it plenty of times with pork or beef as well. It’s nice to mix it up. Or you can leave out the meat altogether and use black beans instead. Or just layer the sauces and cheese for cheese enchiladas.
My favorite way to make enchiladas is with my homemade mild enchilada sauce. You can make this of course with any favorite enchilada sauce from the store, but if you really want to make them in a way that your whole family is sure to love, you’ll want to start with my super easy mild enchilada sauce recipe. I came up with this recipe because I love enchiladas but my little kids weren’t fond of anything spicy, so I needed to come up with a flavorful sauce that wasn’t spicy. I love the results so much that I make it all the time, and even make extra to keep in the freezer.
After you’ve got your sauce, the next step for these amazing homemade enchiladas is to cook chicken in the enchilada sauce. This method of cooking chicken is one of my favorites and I make it probably twice a month. You can again do this with a canned sauce, I do it all the time, or you can use my homemade sauce. All you need to do is pile a bunch of chicken pieces, fresh or frozen, in your favorite cooking vessel, and cover them with enchilada sauce, and cook until the chicken is falling apart. You can do this in a pot on the stove, in a dutch oven or casserole dish in the oven, in the instant pot or a slow cooker. And as I mentioned above, you can use the same method with any cut of pork or beef. It’s a great way to use less expensive cuts of meat, as they need to cook longer to get really tender.
Now lets make enchiladas!
I rarely make “real” enchiladas with the filling rolled inside tortillas- all that rolling is just too time consuming for my lifestyle. You of course can do it that way, but I find this method much faster and easier and just as delicious.
What we make here is an enchilada casserole.
It's basically everything you would put in enchiladas, but layered in a casserole instead of rolled up.
Easy Enchilada Casserole Recipe
Easy Enchilada Casserole
A simple layered enchilada casserole that the whole family will love. Kid pleasing, and great for a crowd.
ingredients:
- 2 cups enchilada sauce
- 3 cups grated cheese (a blend of cheddar and monterey jack)
- Cooked meat: browned ground beef, or shredded enchilada chicken
- 2 cans cream soup (cream of mushroom, cream of celery, etc.), or about 2 cups homemade white sauce (optional)
- 1 can diced green chilis
- about 2 dozen corn tortillas
instructions:
This is a simple layered dish, and the ingredients are very flexible. Use your choice of cheeses (we often just buy a bag of shredded "Mexican blend" cheese.
Mix the green chilis in to the cream soup or white sauce if using, otherwise just spread them between the layers. Or leave them out.
We use a standard casserole dish.
Spread a bit of sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish to prevent sticking.
Cover sauce with a layer of corn tortillas. Break up tortillas to fill in any overlaps or gaps.
Top with meat, if using. Then sprinkle with cheese.
Repeat layers of tortilla, filling, sauce(s), cheese... until the dish is full.
Top with shredded cheese and bake at 350 for about an hour, until the whole thing is bubbly and cheese on top is browned.
This can also be done in a slow cooker. Follow directions the same as above, and cook for 4-6 hours on low until bubbly and melted.
Serve with sour cream, extra cheese, salsa, shredded lettuce, diced avocado & tomato.
