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Chicken Enchilada Casserole

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This Chicken Enchilada Casserole recipe is everything you love about chicken enchiladas…stacked into delicious layers instead of rolled up. Easy to customize and always so delicious!

The BEST Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe

Friends, have you tried my favorite chicken enchilada casserole recipe yet?

I first shared it on the blog about four years ago, as a stackable casserole riff on my favorite chicken enchilada recipe. And in the years since, it has continued to be a regular in my rotation, as well as a total fave with family and friends. It’s made with my favorite easy homemade enchilada sauce, which automatically bumps any enchilada recipe up a mega notch. It’s easy to customize with any of your favorite enchilada fillings. It makes a big batch, making this the perfect casserole to make for a party, or taking to a friend in need, or just having extras for leftovers. It’s made with corn tortillas and is naturally gluten-free. And it is downright delicious.

I’ve tweaked and updated the recipe a tad on my own over the years. So today, I thought I would bump this chicken enchilada bake back to the top of the blog and give it a quick refresh with some new photos and recipe tweaks. Because in case you’ve never tried it…it’s time. :)

Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe | 1-Minute Video

The Best Homemade Enchilada Sauce Recipe

My Favorite Homemade Enchilada Sauce Recipe:

Alright, before we get to the full ingredient list, a quick word about the homemade enchilada sauce included in the recipe. In my opinion, it’s simply the best. It’s irresistibly delicious, and made in the New Mexican tradition (without tomatoes, which I love). It calls for a simply ingredient list that you likely already have in your pantry. And it’s absolutely worth the extra 5 minutes of prep time (plus 20 or so minutes simmering on the stove, which you can multitask) that it requires to make. Thousands of readers have made it and agree — it’s a total keeper!

That said, if you’re absolutely in a hurry, you can sub in some store-bought green or red enchilada sauce instead. But I’d urge you to go homemade if you can. The sauce is the main seasoning in this recipe, and makes all the difference.

Here’s my full post about how to make enchilada sauce. (*Also, be sure to note that this casserole requires a double batch of this sauce!)

Chicken Enchilada Casserole Ingredients

Chicken Enchilada Casserole Ingredients:

As I mentioned above, the ingredient list for this recipe is super-flexible, so feel free to add in any of your favorite fillings for chicken enchiladas. I like to use:

  • Cooked chicken: Either from my recipe for baked chicken breasts, or I often just shred a rotisserie chicken.
  • Veggies: The recipe below uses a quick blend of onion, red bell pepper, diced green chiles and corn. But feel free to add any other favorite veggies to the sauté.
  • Beans: Two cans of your faves. I like to use one can of black beans, one can of pinto.
  • Enchilada sauce: Homemade or store-bought.
  • Corn tortillas: We’ll cut them in half, in order to help them layer a bit more evenly.
  • Shredded cheese: Any kind of Mexican blend, Monterrey Jack or Pepperjack will do.
  • Toppings: Chopped fresh cilantro, diced red onion, thinly-sliced green onion, diced avocado, sour cream, extra cheese…whatever sounds good to you.

How To Make Stacked Enchiladas

How To Make Stacked Chicken Enchiladas:

To make this chicken enchilada casserole, simply:

  1. Cook your filling: Sauté the onion and bell pepper until soft. Then stir in the green chiles, beans, corn, chicken and enchilada sauce until combined. This will be your main filling.
  2. Stack your layers: In this order: enchilada sauce, tortillas, chicken filling, cheese, tortillas, chicken filling, cheese, tortillas, chicken, enchilada sauce and cheese.
  3. Bake: Covered for 20 minutes, then uncovered for another 10 until the cheese is melted.
  4. Garnish: Sprinkle on any of your desired toppings. (I vote the more, the merrier for sure.)
  5. Serve warm: Or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. (The leftovers are fantastic!)

Easy Chicken Enchilada Bake Recipe

Possible Variations:

Looking to mix things up? Feel free to:

  • use a different protein: cooked beef, pork, or shrimp would all be delicious in this recipe (or you could nix the meat entirely)
  • add more veggies: as mentioned above, extra veggies/greens would be delicious in this recipe, either sautéed or roasted
  • nix the cheese: I’ve made this recipe dairy-free multiple times in the past, and didn’t even miss the cheese with all of the other great flavors/textures happening here

The BEST Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe

Mexican Side Dish and Drink Ideas:

Let’s make this a meal! Some classic Mexican recipes to go with this chicken enchilada bake could include:

Or as always, feel free to check out our Mexican recipe archives here on the blog for more inspiration.

Stacked Chicken Enchiladas

Love Enchiladas? Check Out These Recipes Too!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole with Avocado

Enjoy, everyone!

Favorite Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe

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Chicken Enchilada Casserole

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 140 reviews
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 0 About 8 servings 1x

Description

This chicken enchilada casserole recipe is easy to make, naturally gluten-free, and full of the BEST flavors!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium white onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 large red bell pepper, cored and diced
  • 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
  • 2 (15 ounce) cans beans, rinsed and drained (I used one can pinto, one can black beans)
  • 1 (8 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
  • 3 cups (about 1.5 pounds) shredded or diced cooked chicken
  • 3 cups red enchilada sauce, homemade or store-bought, divided
  • 12 corn tortillas, halved
  • 3 cups shredded Monterrey Jack or Mexican blend cheese
  • toppings: chopped fresh cilantro, diced red onion, thinly-sliced green onion and/or diced avocado

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 375°F. Mist a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
  2. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat.  Add onion and bell pepper and sauté for 6-7 minutes, or until softened.  Stir in the diced green chiles, beans, corn, chicken and 2 cups enchilada sauce, and stir to combine.  Remove from heat and set aside.
  3. Pour about 1/2 cup of the remaining enchilada sauce in the baking dish, and spread until the bottom of the dish is evenly coated. Top with a layer of about 8 tortilla halves, so that the entire dish is covered. Top evenly with 1/3 of the chicken mixture, followed by 1/3 of the cheese.  Repeat with another layer of tortillas, chicken mixture, and cheese.  Followed by a final layer of tortillas, chicken mixture, the remaining 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce, and cheese.
  4. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, then bake for 20 minutes.
  5. Remove pan and remove aluminum foil. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes, until the cheese is thoroughly melted.
  6. Remove from the oven and serve warm, garnished with your desired toppings.

Notes

*To make this recipe gluten-free, double check the labels of all ingredients to ensure that they are certified gluten-free.

*This recipe was originally published in April 2014, and updated in July 2018.

Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

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570 comments on “Chicken Enchilada Casserole”

  1. This was amazing. I did mine in a deep lasagna pan and just eyed the filling ingredients. I cooked it maybe 30 minutes covered and then about 10-15 uncovered.

  2. Made the enchilada sauce (GF) and lightly fried tortillas in avocado oil. Great recipe! Thanks for sharing.






  3. I love enchiladas but not the time it takes to make them properly. This takes the work out of making them and is better than any enchiladas I’ve made. I diced my chicken and marinaded it in lime juice and a little olive oil and taco/fajita spice blend. I also used a mix of monterey jack and cheddar cheeses. Like Gina S, I’d be interested in recommendations for preparing this and freezing it.






  4. I made this for dinner tonight and it was so delicious. I used only 2 cups of cheese to save a few calories. I used Bush’s Chilli Recipe Pinto Beans in a mild sauce. I rinsed the beans before adding them. The beans turned out to be so creamy. This recipe is a keeper. I served chopped cilantro and sour cream on the side.






  5. This was excellent and easy to make. I used the homemade enchilada sauce which was also easy and good. However, I needed more enchilada sauce. The enchilada recipe calls for 3 cups of sauce but the homemade sauce only makes two cups.






    • Love your recipes. How long ahead of time can I assemble this recipe? Can it be refrigerated several hours before baking? Plan on making this for my husbands tex/mex birthday party. Tkd

    • The recipe explains this, or somewhere in the writing it does.

  6. My first time making this DELICIOUS Casserole was for a men’s transitional living center. I made 6 pans for about 30 men. There was ONLY about 1/4 of the 6th pan left. I made it exactly as written using purchased enchilada sauce. They LOVED it!! Since I barely got to taste it I made it at home 2 nights later using your homemade enchilada sauce. It was even more amazing with the home made sauce!! Thanks for a great tasting, easy to make casserole.






  7. I am about to make this and discovered a glitch in the recipe when it prints: the middle of the recipe doesn’t print. Step 1 and part of step 2. I’ll go ahead and give you stars because it looks good!






  8. Delicious and easy!






  9. I love this cause it relatively healthy. I used half the cheese I was supposed to and I grilled the chicken and did not use any corn. It was so so yummy. I even made it with the home made sauce that was recommended.






  10. This was seriously so good and such an easy to follow recipe! Definitely recommend also using the homemade enchilada recipe included. Best enchilada casserole ever!!! Thank you.






  11. Can i use flour tortillas instead of corn?

  12. This was Fabulous! Followed the recipe exactly with the homemade enchilada sauce and oh my goodness. I will definitely be making this again! Thanks for such a tasty recipe!






  13. Just made this for dinner, so good! We like our veggies crunchy so I tossed the bell pepper and some zucchini into the chicken mixture for just minute or so before layering. I made the sauce as well, swapped out 1 tbsp of chili powder for 1 tbsp smoked paprika + a dash of cayenne! My heat loving boyfriend would definitely go spicier but I think the heat level is perfect for a crowd!






  14. Easy, healthy and delicious. The three things that I look for in a recipe. Thanks!






  15. Delicious!!!!!!! Tastes kind of like Chili’s chicken enchilada soup… dare I say it. Aldi ran out of soft corn tortillas which I’m assuming is what this recipe called for so I used tostadas and I would 100% recommend.






  16. We don’t eat corn products here. Can flour tortillas be used?

  17. So delicious!! Made as written with the homemade sauce, and it was so, so good!






  18. A good recipe. A little frustrating though for a single father trying to feed a group of kids. I followed the recipe at top and the ingredients then, while looking for the temperature are supposed to turn the oven up to found another recipe for the same thing at the bottom saying that I needed to oil the pan first. Oil was not in the ingredients listed on the top of the recipe or on the top of the webpage. Still a good recipe but when you got kids screaming and yelling for supper you don’t want to hunt and peck on your phone to try to find a temperature or that you need oil after you’ve already made it

  19. This was definitely delicious. I omitted the green chilies
    Because I did not have. I was out of pinto beans so I substituted for a can of refried beans. I also made the enchiladas sauce. It was so easy to make.
    Will make again. My husband inhaled the first serving
    ?






  20. This is absolutely delicious! A real crowd pleaser! I have made it twice, once with shredded rotisserie chicken and the second time as a ‘vegetarian’ option, using vegetable stock for the enchilada sauce and an additional can of beans (used 1 can each of black, white & pinto) to allow for the missing chicken. Both versions were to die for. My guests raved! Both times I made this a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator overnight. I let it sit out for an hour before baking so as to not put into the over super cold. Worked great…so easy for entertaining to do it this way. I HIGHLY recommend…this will become an entertaining staple from now on. Everyone loves this dish!

  21. Amazing….I made the homemade enchilada sauce, which needed more but that alone had my family drooling. This recipe has made it top of family favorites!!






  22. Very good. Easy recipe. The while family loved it






  23. I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve made this recipe since I found it 6 months ago… probably 8-10 times. It has become on of our go-to recipes, great for leftover carnitas after we make a big pork loin, and we OF COURSE use her recipe for homemade tortillas–we make a big double batch, have burritos for a night, quesadillas the next day, then make up two of these casseroles and freeze one for later. Big hit with our friends as well.






  24. This yummy dish became one of our 2020 Quarantine favorites. Thanks for the easy and delish recipe! Great comfort food for the whole family.






  25. Awesome recipe! Added two jalapeño peppers for a bit more zip. Husband loved it. Will definitely be making this again.






  26. Can you tell me what the calorie count is for 1 serving. Thank you.






  27. Fantastic recipe! I made it as written, including the sauce and chicken baking recipe. I did saute fresh jalapenos with the onion and bell pepper. Will definitely make again.!!!






  28. This was absolutely delicious & my family loved it! I seasoned & baked the chicken breasts in the oven then I shredded it. I made the homemade enchilada sauce but did not add the corn & my husband can’t eat spicy food so I left out the green chilles. We added black olives, green onions, red onions, avocados, lettuce, tomatoes & sour cream as toppings… It was soooo good! I will definitely be making this again!! Thanks for the recipe!






  29. This was a hit!!! I made the enchiladas using the homemade sauce recipe (so easy to make) and the baked chicken recipe. I added jalapenos since we like a LOT of heat. I will never buy enchilada sauce again.

  30. Can this recipe be frozen?

  31. YUMMY !!!!!!
    made 4 , 1 exactly as recipe , 2nd with ground beef, 3rd with beans only [black , pinto, white beans] 4th with tofu “meat” seasoned like taco meat. All were a hit. 2 for family [ beef and bean] other 2 for a girls nite out get together. served with quac, chips , salsa , green onion, cilantro on the side.
    will defiantly make again and again and again

  32. This was delicious, love the homemade enchilada sauce! It’s so easy to make and really beats the canned version:)






  33. Delicious!!!






  34. Absolutely delicious. I’ve made this with chicken and with roasted cauliflower and both were great.






  35. We’ve made this twice in the last two weeks. It’s so good!






  36. Holy wow! Just made this for dinner and it was amazing. I bought the enchilada sauce bc I didn’t have time but it still was so good. Topped it with sour cream and jalapeño sauce. My boyfriend and I both went back for seconds! Makes a ton so now we can have it for lunch too. Thanks for the great recipie!






  37. This is a family FAVORITE! We LOVE LOVE LOVE this especially with thr homemade enchilada sauce! Has anyone made this ahead and frozen it? This is such a pleaser I’m hoping to have it prepped and ready!






  38. Not only is this recipe delicious, it is a crowd pleaser. I use this recipe every time I visit one of my childhood friend who has celiac. I have shared it with other friends who also rave. I have not tried the home made enchilada sauce, but I would love to in the future and I eventually plan on trying to make the sauce. Thanks for sharing the recipe!!






  39. This was a great recipe. So easy to make that even my friend who does not cook is going to make it. It was delicious






  40. This was so good!






  41. This is extremely delicious and easy to make! The only enchiladas I will eat!






  42. OMG!!! THIS RECIPE NOW RESIDES IN MY BETTY CROCKER COOKBOOK, WHICH CONTAINS 3 GENERATIONS OF RECIPES. EASY, EASY ON THE WALLET, AND FUN. TO PUT TOGETHER.






  43. This recipe is so good!






  44. I m so sorry I wanted to love this after all the great reviews. For me this has WAY TOO much chili powder. It ended up tasting like chicken chili to me. I love chili powder but it over powers EVERTYHING. I may try this again with about 1/2 the chili powder and add more green chiles and lots more mexican spices. I personally thought the homemade sauce ruined it . I have such a large pan of it now that we are pouring it over tostitos chips and making nachos with it to get it gone.






  45. Love this recipe AND the homemade enchilada sauce. I have made this a few times now, with different “insides” and its a hit every time! I have made with corn and flour tortillas, with chicken, ground turkey, ground beef and veggie style – all delicious! The only nuance I would add is that I dredge the tortillas in the sauce rather than pouring it on in a layer. Makes it a little more uniform and less saucy – which is our family preference. If I could give more stars I would!!






  46. Delicious! I use rotisserie chicken and the homemade that’s recommended. This is a family favorite and we make it about once a week!






  47. loved it made it for my family






  48. Can I make this one day ahead? Taking it to a pot luck tomorrow. I worry the tortillas might be too soggy. Any advice? Thank you.

  49. I’m not the most confident cook, but this recipe makes me feel like a pro! (anything that starts with a roux feels pretty fancy.) This has gone into very heavy rotation at my house, and is super forgiving of substitutions (different vegetables, different cheese, no cheese, beef instead of chicken). It’s really wonderful.