Last updated on May 5th, 2018 at 11:01 am
Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole – 4 ingredients is all it takes to make this popular Mexican dish. It’s cheesy, it’s spicy, it’s sinfully delicious.
Mexican food is my weakness. Totally! I love all Mexican food. I love going to Mexican restaurants and trying everything on the menu. But I also love to make Mexican food at home. This chicken enchilada casserole only requires 4 ingredients, so it doesn’t get any easier than this.
MY LATEST VIDEOSI love chicken enchiladas and this casserole is even easier to make than making regular chicken enchiladas because you just layer your ingredients. Even a kid could make this.
And if you want to have some fun, have a mojito while you make this, or with it, before or after or during, doesn’t really matter. If you have a sombrero you might even want to wear that and make this chicken enchilada while dancing to the Mexican hat dance song.
Ok, now I have that song stuck in my head. Anywho here’s how you make this awesome dish. Pretty simple, I cooked the chicken in the enchilada sauce, just so it gets that nice flavor from the sauce and it’s nice and moist, but if you want you could also use roast chicken and make this even easier. But you will love this chicken cooked in the enchilada sauce. It’s amazing.
Although that looks like a lot of chicken, it’s only 2 breasts. Once the chicken is cooked, you just have to layer your casserole. I started with a bit of sauce at the bottom of the baking dish just so that it’s all nice and gooey and the corn tortillas don’t stick to the bottom. I got 3 layers here so to layer is simple. After you put some sauce on the bottom of the dish, you layer with 2 tortillas, 1/3 of the chicken, 1/3 of the sauce, 1/3 of the cheese and repeat 2 more times.
I used Monterey Jack cheese just because I think it goes really well in Mexican food, it’s milder and creamier, so it’s perfect in this casserole.
After you bake it, I dare you not to eat a piece right away. I don’t think you can do it. The smell just drove my poor beagle crazy! Not only her, but me as well.
This chicken enchilada casserole, 4 ingredients only, one of the best Mexican inspired dishes you’ll ever have.
Check out the video for these awesome Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole from my book:
Love enchiladas as much as I do? Try these:
- Quick and Easy Green Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole
- White Chicken Enchiladas
If you guys love this recipe, and most importantly make it yourselves, please let us know. Take a picture and tag it #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole - 4 ingredients is all it takes to make this popular Mexican dish. It's cheesy, it's spicy, it's sinfully delicious.
- 1 lb chicken breasts boneless and skinless (about 2 large chicken breasts)
- 14 oz Enchilada sauce
- 6 medium corn tortillas
- 3 cups Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- Cut each chicken breast in about 3 pieces, so that it cooks faster and put it in a small pot. Pour Enchilada sauce over it and cook covered on low to medium heat until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. No water is needed, the chicken will cook in the Enchilada sauce. Make sure you stir occasionally so that it doesn't stick to the bottom.
- Remove chicken from the pot and shred with two forks.
- Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
- Start layering the casserole. Start with about 1/4 cup of the leftover Enchilada sauce over the bottom of a baking dish. I used a longer baking dish, so that I can put 2 corn tortillas across. Place 2 tortillas on the bottom, top with 1/3 of the chicken and 1/3 of the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese and repeat starting with 2 more tortillas, then chicken, sauce, cheese. Repeat with last layer with the remaining ingredients, tortillas, chicken, sauce and cheese.
- Bake for 20 to 30 minutes uncovered, until bubbly and cheese has melted and started to brown on top.
- Serve warm.
Make your own enchilada sauce using my recipe.
I've made this casserole with both flour tortillas and corn tortillas. For a true Mexican inspired casserole I recommend using corn tortillas, however flour tortillas work as well. Some people have mentioned that flour tortillas turn out a bit soggier than corn tortillas, but I thought it was just fine.
I used a 5x7 casserole dish here, but please feel free to use a 9x13 or 8x8 casserole dish.
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating below!
I’ve made the easy chicken enchilada casserole at least 6 times. And we love it!!! Thanks for sharing. Sandra
Added a layer of refried beans too. So good. Must try some of Rich Says tricks next time.
Chicken enchiladas are my FAVORITE. Only 4 ingredients? That’s what I love to hear!
why doesn’t the recipe match the video? I found the recipe I was looking for (yes it was from you). the confusion is in the similar titles -one is “quick and easy green chile chicken enchilada casserole” and the other is “easy chicken enchilada casserole”. On this page the video is for the first one and the recipe is for the second….however, I did find the other video and recipe -as I said…just a heads up.
Made this for my friends birthday tonight he really liked it
I know you love your IP and I like mine, I just made Chicken Enchiladas the other night in the IP, in fact I used the same sauce as you, two chicken breast, once cooked, I made my Enchiladas the same way… Muy Bueno.
Yum…will have to try enchiladas then in the IP. 🙂
One question…why is the sodium content over 1000???!! 47% DV??? Is that a mistake? I was going to make this but no way am I going to if that’s the case.
I modified the nutritional info, the answer is that it’s coming from the enchilada sauce.
Wow. Just 4 ingredients to make this delicious Mexican dish. Will surely try this recipe soon.
So love your recipes….
Thank you!
This was delicious. The second time around I sautéed some sweet red pepper diced, a can of diced tomatoes (10 oz.) with green chilies, can of black beans (15 oz.) drained. I added the enchilada sauce, pepper/tomato mixture, chicken, cheese & sauce in layers. Excellent.
Just came out of the oven for the first time and it smells amazing! I just made enchiladas last week and used the seasoning I had already put together – through tomatoes, oil, flour, and seasoning in the Blendtec for a few with some water and called it good. Had leftover chicken from a roaster last night and used that for the chicken. Great way to use up the leftovers and looking forward to the next go around! Thanks so much for a great addition to our monthly meal plan 🙂
I have made this multiple times now, sometimes sticking to the exact recipe for the homemade sauce, other times giving it a little tweek for variation or just for the hell of it. A very popular meal in our household. Thanks for the original posting.
My pleasure!
Very happy with this meal! Made fresh enchilada sauce. I cooked the chicken in the sauce, then added taco seasoning for a bit more flavor. Totally awesome!!!
Love this is one of my family’s favorite I’ve also added refried beans and Mexican rice mixed together and layered that with the layers
My son’s favorite
Served the Chicken Enchilada for Easter Brunch and everyone loved it.
Had a small bit leftover prefect for a breakfast taco.
Great selection.
Thank you.
My pleasure!
Yummy this was delicious! Very easy too! Thanks
This is one of our favorite recipes! Thank you! I like to make it with my homemade tortillas (Maseca) and homemade enchilada sauce (15-18 chiles guajillos, 2 cups of water, 8 garlic cloves, and one tsp. of salt).
5 stars!
Loved it. We added lettuce, tomatoes, onions, olives,sour cream , and salsa .
Do we warm up the tortillas first?
Nope no need to warm them up first – they’ll cook up and get nice and hot in the oven.
no
Can you put this together the day before you want to bake it?
You could, but I just wonder if it would get too soggy with the enchilada sauce and tortillas. What I would do is get all the ingredients ready, like cook the chicken and shred it and everything, and don’t actually layer it until before ready to place in the oven.