Baked Chicken Enchiladas – Mexican Lasagna

I was going through my frig. looking for something to cook for dinner, as I was looking I found corn tortillas an assortment of cheeses, a couple of partial jars of salsas, and a half of a baked chicken. So I decided to make a baked chicken enchiladas. I went to the store to pick up enchilada sauce, cilantro and green onions.

I make this like a lasagna and layer instead of rolling them. Before we get started I got all my ingredients together and laid them out to prep before assembling.

1lb.12oz. can – enchilada sauce red or green
6 cups – grated cheese cheddar and monterey  jack
3 cups – picked chicken meat
3 ea. – green onions chopped
1/2 bu. – cilantro chopped
1/2 cup – salsa
1 tbls. – garlic chopped
2 tsp. – ground cumin
salt and pepper
24 ea. – corn tortillas
1/4 cup – salad oil

So lets get started: I grated the cheeses I wanted to use cheddar, and Monterey  jack  mixed them together in a bowl then set aside, I picked all the chicken off of the left over roasted chicken, making sure there was no fat, skin, or bones, and put this into another bowl, you want pieces of chicken that are about 1/4 ” wide. In that same bowl I added cilantro, green onions, ground cumin, garlic, some salsa, salt and pepper and a little bit of the cheese mix, stir this up so all the ingredients are mixed well.

Now I heated a 8″ non-stick skillet and added about 3 tbls. of salad oil, once this gets hot you want to turn it down to a med. high heat. Take the corn tortillas one at a time and cook them fast just to soften them about 5 seconds on each side and pile them onto a paper plate with a paper towel on it to absorb some of the oil, you my have to add more oil as you go, once all the tortillas are done you can start to assemble.

I used a 8×11 baking dish or casserole dish. Start by putting a layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom enough to coat the bottom well making sure that it gets to the corners and edges, then put a layer of tortillas over lapping to fit 6 each, then spoon in a layer of chicken mix and spread out evenly, sprinkle some of the mixed cheese on top of the chicken and drizzle more enchilada sauce on top of that, now put another layer of tortillas, press them down a little so everything is even, put a layer of enchilada sauce and start the whole process over again and continue until you have all the layers complete making sure the last layer is corn tortillas finish the top layer with the enchilada sauce  and cheese mix, cover with wax paper and foil, bake at 325 for about an hour and 15 min., remove from oven and let rest for about 15 min..
serves 8-10

I had some Jicima and cut it into finger size pieces, marinated it with some lime juice and cayenne pepper.

Serve with ranch style pinto beans topped with chopped cilantro and green onions and grated cheese as garnish.

Tags: Chicken Recipes