Accidental Fiesta Chicken Recipe By An Easy Gourmet

How Accidental Fiesta Chicken Recipe can happen:
We’ve all been there:
“
You come home to a half-empty fridge,
so you throw a pot on the stove and proceed to dump the remnants
of every half-full condiment bottle into it
with whatever sad vegetables and meat scraps you can find.
You take a bite straight from the pot, and it tastes amazing.
“
firstwefeast.com

Accidental Fiesta Chicken Recipe

Our accidental Fiesta Chicken recipe scenario was more that our fridge was too full rather than too empty.

We had an appointment that included a drive home in rush hour traffic, leaving us only two hours to put a nice meal on the table for our son and his family.

We had a recipe fail a few days before, and the cheese sauce left over from that was awaiting further inspiration in the fridge.

Let me assure you, the cheese sauce didn’t need to feel insecure.  We used some of the cheese sauce and it was fine.  Kim was going to make a quarter recipe of the sauce to try a frozen casserole idea for her Kim’s Kitchen clients.  She made a whole recipe by mistake, so the rest of that cheesy goodness didn’t get used.

So that sauce wouldn’t feel unwanted, we decided to make a quick chicken enchilada casserole for our last-minute meal for the family.

We also happened to have chicken left over from a different Kim’s Kitchen offering, which had been marinated for Fiesta Lime Chicken.

And so

the Best-Husband-Ever sliced and diced chicken

while I added a few ingredients to the insecure cheese sauce.  Forgotten homemade flour tortillas whined their insecurity from the freezer, but now they realized they had been saved for just such a time.

And this became

the accidental casserole that

Got A Compliment

from a son who eats mostly without comment.

So then I know…

if he speaks words of affirmation

It Is Worth Listening To.

I now present to you the recipe for this amazing casserole.

And you will say, “Hmmm…  well….  okay.”

But keep in mind that we are easy gourmet, and our bar isn’t very high.

Quick, Simple and Delicious is the motto invisibly lettered on my kitchen wall.

Prep the Chicken

Marinate the chicken according to the package directions. I often let it marinate overnight, then bake the chicken in the oven on a cookie sheet.

If you choose baking instead of grilling, heat the oven to 400º F. Brush your pan with olive oil and spread on evenly sized pieces of chicken. Slip the pan into the oven for 10 minutes, then remove and flip the pieces over. Heat again for 10 minutes. Check with a meat thermometer, but typically, 20 minutes is long enough.

Let the chicken cool, and dice it for the casserole. Set aside while you mix the cheese sauce.

The Cheese Sauce

I do this step in the microwave, in an 8 cup mixing bowl. Melt the butter for 20 to 30 seconds on high, if you’re starting out with fridge cold butter. Be sure to cover the bowl while melting the butter, in case of spatters. Whisk the half-melted cube of butter until it’s evenly melted. Add the flour and whisk until it’s smooth. Add 1/2 cup of milk with the whisk. When that’s all smooth, add the rest of the milk. Heat this mixture until it’s thick and creamy. Drop in the shredded cheese and stir to melt. Whisk in the sour cream and green chilies.

Assemble the Casserole

Use a 9″ x 9″ casserole dish. Spread a thin layer of cheese sauce on the bottom of the dish. Tear the flour tortillas and layer the pieces on the cheese sauce. Add more cheese sauce on the tortilla layer, and sprinkle with chicken and the Mexican blend shredded cheese. Make another tortilla layer, then sauce, chicken and cheese. Do this until you have 3 layers of tortillas and end with sauce, chicken and cheese.

Bake the casserole right away, or cover tightly and freeze until that meal when you don’t have time to cook. Let the casserole thaw before baking for half an hour at 350º F.

Print the Accidental Fiesta Chicken Recipe

I know you’ll want to print this recipe and prove how wrong good it is, so here you go…

This is a super easy recipe, which we think you’ll want to pin…

Enjoy your easy gourmet casserole!