Layered Chicken & Bean Enchilada Casserole

My husband loves Mexican food, especially enchiladas.  I have three enchilada recipes that I constantly rotate and was looking for something a little different.  Enter my chicken & black bean enchiladas.  We all thought this was pretty tasty, and it made for great leftovers the following few days.  If you don’t like mushrooms just take them out – I threw them in because, well, I love mushrooms, and because I had a pack of them in the fridge that I knew would rot if I didn’t use them.  That’s how I cook – whatever is in the fridge goes in.

You can get away with less than a pound of chicken in this recipe really.  I used about 10 oz (again, used what chicken breasts I had left in our freezer).  You could also skip out entirely on the chicken and just use the beans and mushrooms (heck, throw some spinach in there too).  That’s what I love about enchiladas – you can do whatever you fancy and 9 times out of 10 it tastes wonderful!

Enjoy!

Layered Chicken & Bean Enchilada Casserole

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 yellow onion, cut into ½-inch dice

10 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded*

1 14.5 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups enchilada sauce

9 corn tortillas, about 6-inch in diameter

1 ½ cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Sliced green onion for garnish

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. * Place a large saute pan filled about ¼ high with water over medium-high heat until it begins to boil.  Place chicken breasts into boiling water and turn heat down to medium.  Allow chicken to simmer/poach until cooked through.  Set aside to cool.  Once cooled, shred the chicken and set aside.
3. In another saute pan over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil.  Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add the mushroom slices and saute for another 7 minutes, or until mushrooms are fork-tender.  Add in drained beans and cook until warm.  Season with salt and pepper and remove from pan.
4. Add cooked chicken to mixture and stir to combine.
5. In a 3 ½-quart round Dutch oven, pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on bottom (you can also do this with an 8×8 inch baking dish).  Arrange 3 tortillas over the bottom in a single layer, making sure to cover the sauce (tortillas will overlap).  Top with 1/3 of the chicken mixture then top with ½ cup sauce and ½ cup cheese.  Repeat two more times: corn tortillas, chicken mixture, sauce, cheese; finishing with the sauce and cheese.
6. Transfer to the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until mixture is heated through (the sauce bubbling) and cheese is melted.    Remove from the oven and garnish with onions and cilantro.

Used these to add a little more flavor to the dish

First layer in the Dutch Oven

Right out of the oven and topped with sliced green onion