This easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole is a cheesy, flavorful, comforting, family-friendly meal that’s easy enough to make on a weeknight! Added bonus: it’s perfect to make-ahead and freezes beautifully.
Table of Contents
- This recipe is…
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Chicken Enchilada Casserole Ingredients
- Recipe Variations and Modifications
- Video
- How to Make This Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Recipe Tip
- How to Serve
- How to Store and Reheat
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Favorite Casserole Recipes
- Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe
- Recipe Contributors
This recipe is…
Chicken enchilada casserole is one of those dishes that really brings me back to childhood. It was one of my mom’s go-to dishes, which was absolutely fine with us because we loved it so much! The beauty of enchilada casserole is that you get all of the flavor of enchiladas without the work. If you’ve never made enchiladas before – it can be a long process that involves dipping tortillas in hot oil, rolling them around cheese and chicken and hoping they don’t tear, then topping with sauce and cheese and baking.
Instead of going through all of that work (and mess) this chicken enchilada casserole is made lasagna-style! You’ll layer the sauce, add tortillas, chicken, cheese, more sauce, and repeat. For a fun little spin on the traditional casserole, we also topped it with diced avocado, a sour cream lime sauce, and cilantro. That’s the stuff of Tex-Mex dreams!
We love a good casserole over here. If you do too, be sure to check out our Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole, BBQ Chicken Casserole, King Ranch Chicken Casserole, and Chicken Divan Casserole recipes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s not fussy – as mentioned above, this recipe is as easy as they come. Traditional rolled enchiladas can be pretty time consuming to make, but this enchilada casserole checks all the flavor boxes without the fuss!
- It’s family-friendly – who doesn’t love the bold Tex Mex flavors here?! This casserole is one that the whole family will ask for more of.
Chicken Enchilada Casserole Ingredients
You’ll make your own enchilada sauce for this dish, so be sure to add those ingredients to your list, plus the chicken, tortillas, and cheese. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Shredded chicken – keep things super simple by shredding a rotisserie chicken for this recipe, or, if you have chicken breasts or thighs on hand already, simply cook and shred about 2 pounds of that instead following one of these easy methods: slow cooker shredded chicken, Instant Pot shredded chicken, or shredded chicken from frozen in the Instant Pot.
- Enchilada sauce – while this recipe calls for a handful of ingredients to make homemade enchilada sauce (and it’s worth the extra effort if you have the couple of minutes it takes to pull it together), you can absolutely buy your favorite store-bought sauce instead, if you’d like.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
- Change the sauce – salsa verde or a classic Tex-Mex chili gravy are both great options, as is a store-bought enchilada sauce, if you’d prefer.
- Use a different protein – feel free to use any shredded meat you love here! You can absolutely sub the shredded chicken for shredded pork or shredded beef.
- Add beans – mixing a can of black beans in with the chicken would be a wonderful addition.
- Add veggies – if you want to get your daily serving of veggies in with this casserole, you can easily add in some spinach, diced bell peppers, onions, or even shredded zucchini!
- Make it dairy-free – to make this recipe dairy-free, simply sub the regular sour cream for a non-dairy alternative. You can also skip the sour cream drizzle altogether!
- Make it grain-free – to make this recipe grain-free, simply use grain-free Siete tortillas instead of corn.
- Make it gluten-free – as long as you’re making this recipe with corn tortillas (vs. flour), this recipe is gluten-free.
Video
How to Make This Chicken Enchilada Casserole
This recipe is incredibly easy! Follow along below for the full how-to.
Step 1: While you can use a pre-made enchilada sauce, this one comes together super fast with pantry staples and adds tons of flavor. You’ll simply add some tomato paste, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and spices to a bowl and whisk to combine.
Step 2: To start assembly, spoon a bit of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the dish.
Step 3: Next, break the corn tortillas in half, and spread 10 tortilla halves across the bottom of the dish to cover it.
Step 4: Next, layer on the chicken, then the shredded cheese, then repeat the layers (enchilada sauce, tortillas, shredded chicken, and cheese) to finish. Once assembled, bake the enchilada casserole at 350°F for 30 minutes, until the cheese is browned and bubbling.
Step 5: While the enchilada is baking, add the sour cream and lime juice to a small bowl, and whisk until well combined.
Step 6: Top the finished enchilada casserole with avocado, cilantro, and the sour cream sauce, and dig in!
Recipe Tip
If you have a busy week ahead, consider making this recipe over the weekend and just reheating on the night-of.
This is also a great recipe to make ahead and stock your freezer with. It’s reheats from the freezer beautifully – just pop it in a 350°F oven, covered, for 45 minutes, then uncover it and continue baking for another 15 minutes, or until fully warmed through.
This casserole all makes for an incredible meal train dinner. Pair it with a simple arugula salad and a batch of chewy chocolate chip cookies to round the meal out.
How to Serve
This chicken enchilada casserole is delicious and complete as-is, but if you want to round it out with a green veggie, you can’t go wrong with this lemon arugula salad or, for something festive and different, this Mexican street corn and kale slaw.
How to Store and Reheat
Store your leftover chicken enchilada casserole either in the casserole dish (covered with a lid or aluminum foil) or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
To reheat, simply pop the casserole back into the oven until warmed through, or microwave one serving at a time for about 1 minute, until warm.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can definitely use salsa instead of enchilada sauce here. You may lose a little bit of that signature “enchilada” flavor without the enchilada sauce, but it’ll still be really flavorful and delicious.
Sure! This enchilada casserole can be made with either corn or flour tortillas – you pick whichever you like best. Do note that flour tortillas tend to get a little bit soggier than corn tortillas, but the end product is still really delicious.
This may surprise you (because restaurant enchiladas are often not the healthiest choice), but if you can tolerate dairy, this recipe is actually a pretty balanced, well-rounded meal. With corn tortillas, shredded chicken, and cheese, you’ll get a healthy dose of carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats.
More Favorite Casserole Recipes
Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients
- 2, 8- ounce cans tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 cups shredded chicken*, or about 2 pounds chicken breast, cooked and shredded
- 10 corn tortillas, torn in half
- 4 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 1 large avocado, diced, for garnish
- ¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Whisk together the tomato sauce, tomato paste, chicken broth, salt, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and pepper, until smooth.
- Spread ½ cup enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 3-quart, 9×13 inch pan, then layer 6 tortilla halves over the sauce, until it is fully covered. Layer 2 cups shredded chicken over the tortillas, then pour over 1 cup of enchilada sauce, and 2 cups shredded cheese.
- Repeat step 3 to build the next layer, using up the rest of the tortillas, enchilada sauce, and cheese, then bake the casserole at 350°F for 30 minutes, until the top is browned and bubbling. Remove the casserole from the oven and let cool.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice and sour cream, then drizzle it over the casserole. Garnish with the avocado and cilantro, then serve!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Like this recipe?
Leave a commentRecipe Contributors
Cassy Joy Garcia
Recipe Developer and Copywriter
Jessica Gaertner
Photographer
Really good, and equally important, toddler approved. This will be added to the rotation. Love how it comes together so easily.
Oh my goodness just the best feeling when the littles love it! We are so happy you found a new favorite!
Love this recipe! It comes together easily, can be made ahead and is easily sized up for guests. We made it for Christmas dinner two years in a row and it looks like this will be our tradition!
This recipe is very easy and delicious! Love it for a freezer friendly option as well.
I make this at least 1x per month and it’s always a hit! It’s an easy delicious recipe.
Woohoo! We are so happy you love it, Abby!
Love this recipe! Having a simple recipe for delicious enchilada sauce is so nice to have! Much tastier and better ingredients than the store bought stuff! Have shared with many friends too!
That is so kind, Mallory!!! We are so so happy you love it and that you found the recipe easy to follow!!
My family loves this recipe. It’s easy to make and delicious. The leftovers are great too.
Awww yay! We are so happy it was a hit with your family, Chrissy!!
Could this freeze well? I am thinking of making it for my sister to have in the freezer when baby is born and then thaw out and bake. Do you think this would work well?
I made it for the first time tonight and it was delicious! My husband and I both went back for seconds. Its definitely a keeper.
My wife and I were surprised by how delicious this was. We will be making this again. We added some cayenne for heat. Used 1 rotisserie chicken… and maybe not all the cheese. Loved it!
We’re so glad y’all loved this recipe, Charlie! Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us!
The flavor of the homemade enchilada sauce was delicious! Mine, however, came out soupy. Any suggestions?
Oh no, Desiree! I’m so sorry. I wish I had an answer for you, but it’s hard to know what went wrong without being in the kitchen with you!
I made this last night and it was easy and delicious! My boys (5 and 7) and be be picky eaters — and they loved this! And as long as the chicken is already cooked, this is super fast to assemble and get in the oven. I’ll definitely be adding this to our regular rotation. Also, I only put in half of the chili powder it called for because my boys don’t love spice. I couldn’t notice any spice (just great flavor) so I will try the full amount next time.
We are so glad to hear that this recipe was a win, Stephanie! As long as you use a chili powder (vs chipotle chili powder or ancho chili powder), it should add spice, just flavor! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with us. We really appreciate it! -Team FF