Chicken Enchilada Casserole

With summer weather, comes laziness. Well, at least that's what it does to me. Having a lazy day in the kitchen is perfectly acceptable, especially when a great meal comes out of it! Such is the case when I just didn't feel like making a traditional Chicken Enchilada meal. I wasn't in the mood to stand there filling and rolling up enchiladas and besides, I wanted to try something a bit different. That's when the idea of preparing it as a casserole came about. This Chicken Enchilada Casserole is so easy to make. The layers of seasoned chicken, strips of corn tortillas, and a creamy sauce with tomatoes, corn and black beans make this Chicken Enchilada Casserole a hearty and comforting spin on traditional enchiladas...

So, the odd ingredient in this dish is cream of chicken soup. When I read the ingredient list I questioned making the recipe at all. I'm not really into cream soups but I figured it was worth trying out.  I happened to make a condensed cream of chicken soup (with super intense chicken flavor) from scratch using my weekly batch of chicken stock but you're welcome to go the easy route and use a can of condensed cream of chicken soup from the store. Essentially, the chicken is seasoned with a wonderful mix of seasonings and then shredded so it can be used in the recipe. The easy route? Use an already cooked rotisserie chicken.  For the casserole sauce, feel free to add whatever ingredients you'd like to make it a heartier dish. I added black beans, corn and tomatoes, which were adaptations I made to the original recipe. So as you can see, you can adjust and substitute ingredients in this dish to your tastes and truly make it your own.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
recipe adapted from AllRecipes

Chicken:
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Casserole Sauce:
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
1 (16 ounce) jar chunky salsa
1 1/2 cup cream of chicken soup (I used homemade, but you can use store bought)
1/4 cup diced onion
3/4 cup canned black beans, drained
1 cup canned sweet corn, drained
2 plum tomatoes, seeded, chopped
6 (12 inch) corn tortillas, cut into strips
4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 stalks green onion, thinly sliced for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Combine the spices in a small bowl and season the chicken breasts. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool until able to handle by hand. Once cooled enough to handle, shred chicken. Set aside until ready to layer the casserole.

In a large bowl, mix sour cream, salsa, cream of chicken soup, onion, black beans, corn and tomatoes.

Layer the bottom of a deep casserole dish or 9x13 inch baking dish with 1/3 tortilla strips. Top with 1/3 cooked chicken, 1/3 bean and corn mixture and 1/3 cheddar cheese. Repeat layering with remaining ingredients.

Bake in the preheated oven 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Let stand about 10 minutes before serving.