Recipe: Chicken and Green Chile Casserole

Today, I had a craving for chicken and green chiles. I'm a big fan of casseroles (or hot dish if you're from the Midwest), and decided to make a kind of lasagna, using crumbled tortilla chips as the "noodles," and layering a mixture of slow-cooked spicy chicken breast, green enchilada sauce, black beans, and cheese. It turned out delicious, and was so, so easy to make!

The beauty of this dish is that it can be assembled up to 24 hours before you need to cook it, and baked whenever you're ready to eat!

(Austin Powers voice) Yeah, baby, yeahhhh!


The top was crisp, the chicken flavorful and creamy, and the green chiles and serrano peppers added a nice kick. Next time, I'd probably add another serrano pepper because I like my food on the scary end of spicy :) As is, it had warmth to it, but the sour cream cooled it off considerably.

Ingredients:

1 Onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 serrano (or jalapeno) peppers
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
3-4 chicken breasts
1 small-ish can, green enchilada sauce (I used Las Palmas)
1 small can of chopped green chiles
1 cup black beans
1 tsp Mexican oregano
2 cups (roughly) water
1 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper, to taste
About 4 cups crumbled tortilla chips

Instructions:

1) in a medium sized pan, over medium heat, pour in a tablespoon of olive oil. Add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are slightly opaque, then add the serrano pepper. Stir around and cook until onions are just starting to brown.
2) Place the chicken breasts on the bottom of the pan, making sure the move the vegetables out of the way so that the chicken rests directly on the cooking surface. Brown chicken on both sides. It doesn't need to be cooked all the way through at this point.
3) After the chicken is browned on both sides (you might need to spike the heat to medium-high for a little bit to do this, if you're impatient like me), pour in two cups of water, or enough so that the chicken is almost covered. Add oregano and salt and pepper. Simmer until chicken is very tender and almost falling apart, about 30 minutes to an hour. Really take your time to make sure it's fully cooked; the chicken is what makes this dish! It should almost be the consistency of shredded chicken, but not quite. You might need to add more water when necessary.
4) After the chicken is done, drain off any extra liquid, but make sure that you don't lose all the onions, garlic, and peppers. Stir in a can of green chiles, cook for a few minutes over low heat until fully combined.
5) Next, pour in the enchilada sauce. Depending on how big the can is, you may only have to use about half of it. Use your judgement... some people like more sauce, others less. I used about half of a 19 oz can. Stir to combine with the chicken.
6) After you've added the sauce, fold in about a cup of sour cream. Make sure that everything is mixed together well. Turn off the heat.
7) Now, it's time for the fun part! Grab a bag of tortilla chips. Corn tortillas would work about the same, I'd think... so use whatever you have :). But since I used chips, I'll explain the process that way. Crumble some up in a bowl. You may need more or less than four cups, depending. If it helps, I used a 9 x 9 inch baking dish.
8) in your dish, place enough of the chips to cover the bottom liberally. Remember, this is like a lasagna, so you want to use enough chips to act as a base for the casserole.
9) Next, add a layer of the chicken mixture, spreading it around evenly on top of the chips. Sprinkle on some black beans, and then add a layer of cheese. Repeat the chips-chicken-beans-cheese process until the dish is full.
10) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cook the casserole for about 30-45 minutes, or until cheese on top is brown and bubbling. Enjoy!


Try it for dinner tonight!