This Chicken Enchilada Casserole recipe is everything you love about chicken enchiladas…stacked into delicious layers instead of rolled up. Easy to customize and always so delicious!
Friends, have you tried my favorite chicken enchilada casserole recipe yet?
I first shared it on the blog about four years ago, as a stackable casserole riff on my favorite chicken enchilada recipe. And in the years since, it has continued to be a regular in my rotation, as well as a total fave with family and friends. It’s made with my favorite easy homemade enchilada sauce, which automatically bumps any enchilada recipe up a mega notch. It’s easy to customize with any of your favorite enchilada fillings. It makes a big batch, making this the perfect casserole to make for a party, or taking to a friend in need, or just having extras for leftovers. It’s made with corn tortillas and is naturally gluten-free. And it is downright delicious.
I’ve tweaked and updated the recipe a tad on my own over the years. So today, I thought I would bump this chicken enchilada bake back to the top of the blog and give it a quick refresh with some new photos and recipe tweaks. Because in case you’ve never tried it…it’s time. :)
Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe | 1-Minute Video
My Favorite Homemade Enchilada Sauce Recipe:
Alright, before we get to the full ingredient list, a quick word about the homemade enchilada sauce included in the recipe. In my opinion, it’s simply the best. It’s irresistibly delicious, and made in the New Mexican tradition (without tomatoes, which I love). It calls for a simply ingredient list that you likely already have in your pantry. And it’s absolutely worth the extra 5 minutes of prep time (plus 20 or so minutes simmering on the stove, which you can multitask) that it requires to make. Thousands of readers have made it and agree — it’s a total keeper!
That said, if you’re absolutely in a hurry, you can sub in some store-bought green or red enchilada sauce instead. But I’d urge you to go homemade if you can. The sauce is the main seasoning in this recipe, and makes all the difference.
Here’s my full post about how to make enchilada sauce. (*Also, be sure to note that this casserole requires a double batch of this sauce!)
Chicken Enchilada Casserole Ingredients:
As I mentioned above, the ingredient list for this recipe is super-flexible, so feel free to add in any of your favorite fillings for chicken enchiladas. I like to use:
- Cooked chicken: Either from my recipe for baked chicken breasts, or I often just shred a rotisserie chicken.
- Veggies: The recipe below uses a quick blend of onion, red bell pepper, diced green chiles and corn. But feel free to add any other favorite veggies to the sauté.
- Beans: Two cans of your faves. I like to use one can of black beans, one can of pinto.
- Enchilada sauce: Homemade or store-bought.
- Corn tortillas: We’ll cut them in half, in order to help them layer a bit more evenly.
- Shredded cheese: Any kind of Mexican blend, Monterrey Jack or Pepperjack will do.
- Toppings: Chopped fresh cilantro, diced red onion, thinly-sliced green onion, diced avocado, sour cream, extra cheese…whatever sounds good to you.
How To Make Stacked Chicken Enchiladas:
To make this chicken enchilada casserole, simply:
- Cook your filling: Sauté the onion and bell pepper until soft. Then stir in the green chiles, beans, corn, chicken and enchilada sauce until combined. This will be your main filling.
- Stack your layers: In this order: enchilada sauce, tortillas, chicken filling, cheese, tortillas, chicken filling, cheese, tortillas, chicken, enchilada sauce and cheese.
- Bake: Covered for 20 minutes, then uncovered for another 10 until the cheese is melted.
- Garnish: Sprinkle on any of your desired toppings. (I vote the more, the merrier for sure.)
- Serve warm: Or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. (The leftovers are fantastic!)
Possible Variations:
Looking to mix things up? Feel free to:
- use a different protein: cooked beef, pork, or shrimp would all be delicious in this recipe (or you could nix the meat entirely)
- add more veggies: as mentioned above, extra veggies/greens would be delicious in this recipe, either sautéed or roasted
- nix the cheese: I’ve made this recipe dairy-free multiple times in the past, and didn’t even miss the cheese with all of the other great flavors/textures happening here
Mexican Side Dish and Drink Ideas:
Let’s make this a meal! Some classic Mexican recipes to go with this chicken enchilada bake could include:
Or as always, feel free to check out our Mexican recipe archives here on the blog for more inspiration.
Love Enchiladas? Check Out These Recipes Too!
- The Best Chicken Enchiladas EVER
- BBQ Chicken Enchiladas
- Ancho Chicken Enchiladas
- Beef Enchiladas
- Turkey Enchiladas
- Crab and Avocado Enchiladas
- Breakfast Enchiladas
- Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
- Vegan Enchiladas
- Easy Enchilada Cups
- Chicken Enchilada Nachos
Enjoy, everyone!
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium white onion, peeled and diced
- 1 large red bell pepper, cored and diced
- 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
- 2 (15 ounce) cans beans, rinsed and drained (I used one can pinto, one can black beans)
- 1 (8 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
- 3 cups (about 1.5 pounds) shredded or diced cooked chicken
- 3 cups red enchilada sauce, homemade or store-bought, divided
- 12 corn tortillas, halved
- 3 cups shredded Monterrey Jack or Mexican blend cheese
- toppings: chopped fresh cilantro, diced red onion, thinly-sliced green onion and/or diced avocado
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375°F. Mist a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
- Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper and sauté for 6-7 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the diced green chiles, beans, corn, chicken and 2 cups enchilada sauce, and stir to combine. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Pour about 1/2 cup of the remaining enchilada sauce in the baking dish, and spread until the bottom of the dish is evenly coated. Top with a layer of about 8 tortilla halves, so that the entire dish is covered. Top evenly with 1/3 of the chicken mixture, followed by 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat with another layer of tortillas, chicken mixture, and cheese. Followed by a final layer of tortillas, chicken mixture, the remaining 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce, and cheese.
- Cover the pan with aluminum foil, then bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove pan and remove aluminum foil. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes, until the cheese is thoroughly melted.
- Remove from the oven and serve warm, garnished with your desired toppings.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
This was wonderful! Can this be made ahead and frozen?
Thanks so much for your recipes.
:)
This was delicious! I made the homemade sauce as well, and only used the 2 cups in the recipe and it worked out fine…I used leftover turkey from Thanksgiving for the meat. LOVED it. Can’t wait to try the green sauce.
Had left over roasted chicken from Thanksgiving (not a fan of turkey), this recipe was very good. Followed recipe exactly. If you are using the home made enchilada sauce, you will need to double the recipe! It’s just me and hubby now so we always have leftover from one roasted chicken. Great way to use it all up and plan on making this again
Thanks
Haven’t tried this recipe yet but I am prepping food for when I have rotator cuff surgery. How does this act after being frozen?? Would you bake it then freeze it or freeze before baking?
O.M.G! So so good! I was looking for a recipe I could make for a family who needed a little support after having a baby, and said they liked Mexican food. I just threw a couple chicken breasts in a slow cooker until they pulled apart easily. I made extra so we could try it. My husband thinks catsup is spicy, so I was hesitant with that home-made enchilada sauce with so much chili powder. He did say it was a bit spicy (so, not spicy for most of us) but he had seconds (!) and agreed it was good and would have it again (in a heartbeat, really!) While cooking it, I was like, “What? No tomatoes?” But we served it with salsa and sour cream. Perfect! I am not a huge lover of corn tortillas or enchiladas in general, but this was a diet changer. We will be making this again, and when 2020 is over, likely taking it to potlucks. Thank you for sharing, for tweaking, for making this your passion!
Really enjoyed this, I’m a young , often tired student and casseroles are the easiest way to make sure I actually eat a proper meal twice day during the week because they are always ready to eat after you’ve cooked them. (No need to cook rice etc to go along with it) I’m a vegetarian so I just subbed the chicken with some soy bits and it came out great. I like my casseroles extra saucy so I poured some extra enchilada sauce over it after plating. Really good and satisfying and now I have hassle-free food for the next four days. I’m going to add broccoli the next time I cook this, I like my meals vegetable heavy.
This may be a dumb question, but I’m not much of a cook. Does the recipe require hard or soft shell tortillas?
Soft shell tortillas will be best. Enjoy! :)
Can you prep a day ahead and bake later?
That is exactly what I am doing. In fact, I made the sauce the previous day. Chili type recipes benefit from allowing the spices to marinate overnight and get acquainted with each other.
Almost everything I cook (chili, gumbo, etc) is designed to be cooked, refrigerated overnight, and reheated the next day. The very best chili I ever had was one that had been frozen for about a year and reheated on the stove.
Worked fine but a little bland. I used the enchilada sauce recipe that is linked to in the recipe. If I did this again, I’d probably put some ground ancho chile into the recipe, not just chile powder, to make the sauce spicier. Another thing to beware of – the casserole recipe calls for 3 cups of sauce, but the sauce recipe it links to only makes about 1.5 cups, so you’ll have to double that recipe. And frankly I’d go a bit further and more than double it, the casserole was not very “saucy,” and I like enchiladas that are smothered in sauce so this casserole seemed too dry to me. But the basic concept and ingredients are sound, and I’ll probably try this recipe again sometime. It’s a great way to use leftover chicken.
I made it tonight with shredded carne asada meat and it is sooo amazing!!! Much healthier than other enchilada casseroles out there, too. I love your website!!