Easy and Delicious Layered Chicken Enchiladas
If you’ve ever tried to make enchiladas at home, you know how time-consuming it is to fill and roll each individual enchilada. I’ve taken my mother-in-law’s chicken enchilada recipe and changed up the physical structure of the dish to make it an easy and delicious option to make over the weekend and enjoy throughout the week. Rather than stuffing and rolling each individual enchilada, you’ll create a layered enchiladas bake, similar to a lasagna, only you’ll use corn tortillas rather than lasagna noodles.
First thing, right off the bat, go ahead and boil a pot of water for the chicken. Once the water is boiling, add in two celery stalks, chicken bouillon, and boneless skinless chicken breasts. The celery should still have the leaves attached to the stalk for more flavor. Boil for about 15 minutes then remove the chicken and set aside to cool. While the chicken boils, pour the green enchilada sauce into a saucepot and bring to a simmer. Just have this going on in the background and stir occasionally.
As an FYI, it’s good practice to boil chicken with vegetables like onion, carrot, celery, or fresh herbs. This helps to jazz up the flavor and give you a better-tasting product.
Once the chicken has had a chance to cool a bit, shred with your hands or with a pair of forks. Heat a frying pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil then add the shredded chicken. You’ll fry the chicken for about 5 minutes, then add roughly 2 cups of the enchilada sauce to the pan and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Let’s build this thing!
Now we’re ready to build the layered chicken enchiladas bake. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the enchilada sauce and the shredded chicken from the heat. Add a little bit of the enchilada sauce to the bottom of your baking pan, just as you would with lasagna. Take each tortilla and dip it into the enchilada sauce and overlap them in the bottom of the pan. I ended up using 8 tortillas for each layer. Next, add a layer of shredded chicken and then shredded cheese. Add a little more of the enchilada sauce before moving on to the next layer. To finish it off, top the enchilada bake with a final layer of tortillas, pour any additional enchilada sauce into the pan, then top with more shredded cheese.
Cover the baking pan with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes covered. After 25 minutes, remove the tin foil, and bake for an additional 10 minutes to help brown the top layer of cheese. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.
Serve individual squares of the layered chicken enchiladas bake and top with shredded lettuce and sour cream.
Tools You May Need
If you like these types of flavors, check out our salsa recipes!
Layered Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 56 oz Green enchilada sauce two 28 ounce cans
- 24 Corn tortillas
- 2 Celery stalks tops still on
- 1 tbsp Chicken bullion
- 6 cups Shredded Cheese Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack, and Cheddar are all great options
- Shredded iceberg lettuce
- Sour cream
Instructions
- Boil chicken with celery and bullion for 15 minutes, set aside to cool, then shred.
- Bring enchilada sauce to a simmer in a sauce pan, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally while you boil and shred the chicken.
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan or skillet, add shredded chicken and fry for about 5 minutes. Then add around 2 cups of enchilada sauce to the chicken, cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove chicken and enchilada sauce from heat and start to build the enchilada bake.
- Add enchilada sauce to the bottom of the baking dish. Dip each corn tortilla in the enchilada sauce, then add them to the dish in an overlapping fashion.
- Add a layer of shredded chicken, then a layer of shredded cheese, then add a few additional spoonfuls of sauce.
- Build an additional layer following the previous steps.
- Top the casserole with one last layer of tortillas, spoon over any additional enchilada sauce, then top with more shredded cheese. Top the baking dish with tin foil.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the enchiladas covered for 25 minutes, remove foil, bake an additional 10 minutes.
- Remove the dish from the oven and let cool a few minutes before serving.
- Serve in individual squares topped with shredded lettuce and sour cream.