Made with no condensed soups, this cheesy chicken tortilla casserole is loaded with Mexican flavors, and can be easily prepped ahead for a weeknight!
Looking to spice up Mexican night at your house? This cheesy chicken tortilla casserole is packed with great Mexican flavors, made easy with a rotisserie chicken, and uses no condensed soups!
Casseroles are just so convenient and perfect for feeding a family! Our favorite’s so far are this ultra cheesy Mac and cheese, and this chicken cordon bleu casserole.
This tortilla casserole uses cooked shredded chicken, so you can use a rotisserie chicken, or cook your favorite kind of chicken and shred it. If you’re looking for a great tasting chicken recipe to use for this, I highly recommend my tequila lime chicken… it lends a great flavor!
One thing I love about this tortilla casserole is that it uses no condensed soups!
Although, just because it’s made from scratch… that doesn’t mean it takes forever or is complicated. You can make the sauce in about 10 minutes or less, then all you have to do is layer things and bake! But if you’re short on time, here are some great prep-ahead tips:
- Shred your chicken earlier in the day, or the day before and keep refrigerated
- Crunch up the tortilla chips and keep sealed in a bag until ready to use
- Make creamy salsa verde sauce ahead of time, stir in chicken and beans and keep refrigerated until ready to use. Just heat it in the microwave before layering it in the baking dish
I don’t think it’s any secret that my favorite part about this meal is the CHEESE!! Just look at all the gooeyness!
As far as which cheese to use, that’s up to you. I like to use either Monterey Jack or pepper jack, but shredded Mexican blend cheese or regular cheddar work perfectly as well.
As far as the spiciness goes, I don’t think it’s spicy, although you could certainly make it that way if you’d like. To increase the heat:
- Use a can of hot green chiles
- Saute a jalapeño with the onion
- Use a spicier salsa verde
I like to top my casseroles with something fresh, like a nice sprinkle of minced fresh cilantro or parsley, but it’s optional.
I hope you guys give this cheesy chicken tortilla casserole a try… it’s perfect for both a weeknight or relaxed weekend dinner!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 cups reduced sodium chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/2 cups salsa verde (use your favorite brand)
- 3 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 15 oz can of cannellini or other white beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 oz can of mild diced green chiles, drained
- 1 cup minced fresh cilantro
- 15 oz bag of tortilla chips, roughly crushed
- 3 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
- additional fresh cilantro, for garnish
- diced avocado, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 3 qt. baking dish (like a 9x13 pan) with nonstick spray and set aside.
- Add butter to a deep pot (I like to use my enameled dutch oven), over MED heat. Add onions and cook until softened and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook about a minute more, stirring frequently.
- Add flour, cumin, oregano, cayenne and salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine. Slowly pour in chicken stock and cream, stirring as you pour, until combined. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened (enough that it coats the back of a wooden spoon).
- Add 1 cup of the cheese to the cream sauce, stirring in until melted. Remove from heat and add shredded chicken, white beans, green chiles, salsa verde and cilantro and stir to combine.
- Add a handful of the crushed tortilla chips to the bottom of prepared baking dish, enough to loosely cover it. Top with 1/3 of the chicken mixture, more crushed tortilla chips and 1/3 of the remaining cheese.
- Repeat with another 1/3 of the chicken mixture, more tortilla chips and 1/2 of the remaining cheese. Top with last bit of the chicken mixture, the last bit of the tortilla chips and remaining cheese.
- Spray some aluminum foil with nonstick spray and cover the baking dish (sprayed side down), and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 8-10 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.
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Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Peggy Streeter says
This is the recipe I always use for chicken tortilla casserole! Today I roasted 2 jalapenos and 4 tomatillos I had on hand in place of the canned green chiles and 1 cup of the salsa verde. We really like this all scratch version! Delicious!
Paula says
I happened upon this recipe a few days ago and decided to put it on the menu for this week. I just made it and the family is raving. Flavorful, easy, quick, inexpensive, and goes a long way. A total win for me!
Laurie says
Do you use plain tortilla chips when making this recipe or flavored chips such as nacho cheese Doritos or lime cilantro tortilla chips? Has anyone tried it with black beans? Thank you.
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve not tested this recipe with black beans, but I’m sure it would work well (just might change the appearance and color of the casserole). We use plain tortilla, but lime chips would probably work well too.
Sharon says
Absolutely loved this recipe! My husband even went for seconds. Since I only substituted the can of green chilis (could not find at the grocery store) with a chopped up jalapeno.
Jean says
The sauce is absolutely delicious. The casserole was very heavy and dense. I think I’d make the sauce and substitute rice for the beans and tortilla chips. Would definitely make the sauce again.
Charlene says
This has become a family favorite! Thank you for sharing
Cindy says
Love this recipe. I have made it several times. It goes well with salsa on the side. I followed the recipe as written with two exceptions. To give it a little more spice I sometimes use all Pepper Jack cheese. Otherwise I use a mix of Monterey and Pepper Jack. I also use a little more cheese than the recipe calls for so that all the chips on the top layer are covered with cheese (so roughly 4 to 4.5 cups). This prevents the chips from getting too crispy. When I first made the dish I was a little nervous about using crushed tortilla chips. But you wouldn’t even know that chips were used because they get nice and soft inside the dish. If you shred your cheese and chicken and chop your cilantro and onion earlier in the day or the night before, this dish is really easy to make and assemble. I typically use a precooked rotisserie chicken from my local food store and it works great. Sometimes this type of chicken can taste bland in Mexican recipes, but that is not the case with this recipe due to all the other ingredients. The next time I make this dish I’m going to see how I can lighten the calories a bit without affecting the taste too much. 784 calories per serving is pretty high. Not sure if light cream or skim milk could work or light cheese. But I’m assuming these are big drivers of the high calories.
I’ve cooked several recipes from the Chunky Chef and so far all have been very good. Thank you Chunky Chef.
Jeff says
Easy to make and fantastic flavors. I’ve made it twice this month because it has become a family favorite. I used high-quality canned chicken (2 12 ounce cans), making this easy to make after work on a week night.