A couple of weeks ago I got a surprise text message from an old friend I used to work with when I was producing a television talk show in Salt Lake City. Julie was the director of the early morning news and occasionally directed my show as well. One of the fun things about working the early morning shift was the sense of “family” we developed. There is something about working crazy hours that is a real bonding experience. :-)
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Because we were all such great friends, we loved to celebrate everyone’s birthdays in some special way. That usually meant FOOD! Since making delicious food for people is part of my “love language” I often made (and remade) dishes that I knew everyone liked. THIS was one of those recipes! Oddly enough I had completely forgotten about it until Julie’s recent message telling me she was making it for dinner that day. I immediately went in search of the recipe in my files, but couldn’t find it. Luckily Julie had my back and emailed me the recipe I’d originally given to her right away. I couldn’t make it fast enough!
The girls and I made it (and photographed it) last Friday and it was every bit as delicious as I remembered it! I couldn’t wait to share it with you! :-)
Chicken Enchilada Lasagna For A Crowd
Mexico meets Italy in this super simple chicken enchilada dish that eats like lasagna!
Note: I added the words “For A Crowd” to the title of this recipe because it makes a HUGE amount! It is perfect if you are having a party or feeding a small army! But if it’s just for the family I would highly recommend cutting the recipe in half and using one 9 x 13 pan.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds chicken, shredded (don’t forget The Secret To Perfect Shredded Chicken In Seconds!)
- (2) 29 oz cans enchilada sauce
- (3) 7 oz cans diced green chilies
- (1) 12 oz can diced tomatillos
- (2) 15 oz cans black beans
- (1) 15.25 oz can corn
- (2) 6.5 oz cans sliced olives
- 1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 bunch green onions, diced
- 1 small red pepper and 1 small yellow pepper, chopped
- 2 1/2 pounds shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese
- (12) 10-inch flour tortillas
Directions
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Set aside 1/2 cup of the chopped red and yellow peppers, 1/2 cup of the sliced olives, and 3 cups enchilada sauce.
Combine the chicken, the rest of the enchilada sauce, green chilies, tomatillos, black beans, corn, the rest of the olives, cilantro, green onions, and the rest of the red and yellow peppers in a large bowl.
Coat a large baking pan with non-stick spray. You’ll need to use (2) 9 x 13 pans or 1 extra large roasting pan.
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Spread a small amount of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan – just enough to cover the pan. Then add 4 tortillas.
Spread 1/2 of the chicken mixture over the tortillas. Then add 1/2 the cheese and layer with 4 more tortillas.
Add the rest of the chicken mixture, 1/2 of the remaining cheese and layer with the final 4 tortillas.
Finally, add the rest of the enchilada sauce and cheese. Garnish with the rest of the black olive and red and yellow pepper. Cover the casserole with foil and bake on the middle oven rack for 1 hour. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. Remove from oven and let the casserole rest or 15-20 minutes before serving.
Making this dish brought back such fond memories of the years I spent with my ABC4 family! We really were one big, happy (if slightly dysfunctional) “family!” :-) Thank you Julie for the stroll down memory lane AND for jogging my memory about this GREAT recipe!
If making delicious food for your friends and family is YOUR “love language” too…I strongly suggest giving this dish a go!
Chicken Enchilada Lasagna
Ingredients:
- 5 pounds chicken shredded (don’t forget The Secret To Perfect Shredded Chicken In Seconds!)
- 2 29 oz cans enchilada sauce
- 3 7 oz cans diced green chilies
- 1 12 oz can diced tomatillos
- 2 15 oz cans black beans
- 1 15.25 oz can corn
- 2 6.5 oz cans sliced olives
- 1 bunch cilantro roughly chopped
- 1 bunch green onions diced
- 1 small red pepper chopped
- 1 small yellow pepper
- 2 1/2 pounds shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese
- 12 10-inch flour tortillas
Instructions:
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Set aside 1/2 cup of the chopped red and yellow peppers, 1/2 cup of the sliced olives, and 3 cups enchilada sauce.
- Combine the chicken, the rest of the enchilada sauce, green chilies, tomatillos, black beans, corn, the rest of the olives, cilantro, green onions, and the rest of the red and yellow peppers in a large bowl.
- Coat a large baking pan with non-stick spray. You’ll need to use (2) 9 x 13 pans or 1 extra large roasting pan.
- Spread a small amount of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan – just enough to cover the pan. Then add 4 tortillas.
- Spread 1/2 of the chicken mixture over the tortillas. Then add 1/2 the cheese and layer with 4 more tortillas.
- Add the rest of the chicken mixture, 1/2 of the remaining cheese and layer with the final 4 tortillas.
- Finally, add the rest of the enchilada sauce and cheese. Garnish with the rest of the black olive and red and yellow pepper.
- Cover the casserole with foil and bake on the middle oven rack for 1 hour.
- Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let the casserole rest or 15-20 minutes before serving.
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I made this in the crockpot with corn tortillas on low…forget 3 hours? I just lined the crockpot with the foil criss cross ‘lifters’. It was amazing!
Really want to try this recipe for my daughter and family coming this weekend. Had some frozen breasts and cooked those up. After rereading your recipe you say a 5 pound chicken, oops, thought you said cups and I don’t know how much the chicken breast weighed. Could you tell me how many cups are in a 5 pound chicken. Thanks so much, love receiving your daily post.
After a little math, it should be about 7.5 cups of cooked chicken :-)
This looks amazing! I can’t to try!
How many people does the dish serve?
I would feed about 20-24 people with the recipe – it’s huge and super filling :-)
This does sound really good, but right now I have a huge amount of highly seasoned shredded pork and I’m thinking it will work nicely as a substitute for the chicken. I might even just make burritos out of it. Thanks, Jillee!
Sounds delicious!
This looks delicious! I’m sensitive to gluten as is my daughter and I know you have a son who can not eat gluten either. Have you tried this with corn tortillas? I’m wondering if they would hold together in this dish.
Great tip for shredding chicken!
It would be delicious! Maybe even better than flour tortillas :-)
Thanks, Jillee. I’ll try it!
Didn’t see reply to earlier question..could this be frozen? Would be so handy to line pan with foil till frozen, wrap it in plastic, and then be able to pop it in again to bake. Or freeze in aluminum pan.
It will do great in the freezer :-)
Jill….I just made this yummy chicken enchilada lasagna a couple of weeks ago. I have an entire file of my favorite recipes from a GTU. So happy to hear that heard from Julie, I miss her. Oh….the GTU memories! I loved this post. Thank you for sharing. One of my family’s favorite recipes.!!
SO much fun!! I just might need to sneak a peek at that file ;-)
As a Texan who loves Mexican food, this sounds really good! Since I’m allergic to both wheat and corn, I’ll use layers of cooked rice instead of the tortillas, and sub another veggie for the canned corn, like lightly sauted celery or even a chopped green leafy veggie. So many possibilities! Thank you!
Sounds great, hope you enjoy it :-)
Hi! I’m a subscriber and love all your column, advise and expertise. I’m only commenting now because I grew up eating enchiladas in Mexico, and I would like to humbly clarify that enchiladas are never made with flour tortillas; always with corn–burritos, yes, but never enchiladas. That said, be sure your corn tortillas are always organic since almost all corn in this country is GMO.