Chicken Enchilada Bake

~Amanda~

I absolutely love Mexican food – it is always packed with so much flavor and warmth, the ingredients are fresh and delicious, and the best part is that many Mexican recipes are naturally gluten free! Whenever we’re on vacations or going out with friends and I don’t know the restaurants very well (i.e. which ones will make me sick when they say they’re GF, but actually aren’t), I always go for Mexican. It’s the safest bet for getting a good gluten free meal and pretty much everyone likes it, so I know the people I’m with will be happy too. Oh and #tacotuesday is pretty much the best thing ever. Other than tacos, one of my favorite Mexican dishes has always been enchiladas… I love the warm tortillas stuffed with all the delicious fillings, smothered with that beautiful red sauce and covered in cheese of course. Because cheese = goodness.

The only bad thing about making enchiladas at home is that they can be sooo time consuming; stuffing each tortilla, rolling them up, lining them up in the pan, etc. Whew, exhausting right?! That’s why this Enchilada Bake is pretty much the best thing ever, layering all your ingredients in a ‘casserole’ is way less time consuming than rolling up individual enchiladas. And because it hardly takes any time to pull this dish together, it is a go to meal for me on weeknights when I’m short on time or just feeling a little lazy. It’s also a great dish to make when you’re feeding a large group of people; again, it’s quick to pull together so you’re not slaving away in the kitchen missing out on the fun, but the ingredients are also simple and fairly inexpensive so you’re not breaking the bank.

So how do you actually make this amazing dish? Let’s start with the ingredients; for the chicken, I almost always buy an unseasoned rotisserie chicken from the store and shred it when I get home rather than cooking my own. Rotisserie chickens are so moist and juicy and I love getting all the different parts of the bird for flavor and texture in the dish rather than just roasting a chicken breast. When it comes to enchilada sauce, I have to say that homemade is always best. However, I said this is my go-to QUICK dinner so I rarely have the time to make my own so I buy it at the store. This is one ingredient I will not go cheap on though, I get the good stuff that’s about $5 a can at Sprouts or Whole Foods, it is 100% worth it as it will make or break the dish! The rest of the ingredients are simple and self explanatory; peppers and onion that get a quick saute, corn, beans, corn tortillas (GF of course) and lots of shredded Mexican cheese!

Now comes the layering: coat the bottom of your dish with sauce, add the tortillas, chicken, beans, corn, peppers and cheese. Then again, but switch the order or the tortillas and sauce. And one last time! Each time using about ⅓ of each ingredient. Once everything is layers in there, cover the pan with foil and bake for about 20 minutes then remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. This last 10 minutes is the most important – you want to get that cheese on top totally melted and bubbling. I will sometimes even broil it for the last minute to get some of those mouth watering golden brown bubbles on top. Once it’s done, you HAVE to let it cool for a little bit before cutting into it so it can set a little and then dig in! Serve with your favorite toppings; I like to keep mine fairly simple with some plain greek yogurt, cilantro or green onion and avocado. Enjoy and Happy Enchilada Baking!!