Chicken Enchilada Suiza Casserole

I've never been a big fan of enchilada sauce, but everything else about an enchilada is right up my alley.  Then one day I discovered that there are enchiladas made with verde sauce.  I was thrilled!  I started ordering them all the time when we went out for Mexican food but I wanted to make them at home.  That being said, I'm super lazy so I decided to make a casserole out of the same ingredients to save myself the step of rolling up the individual enchiladas.

I usually make these with diced, grilled chicken but I had a couple of huge chicken breasts in my freezer so I decided to make them in the crockpot instead.  I literally put them in still frozen, dumped on a jar of Trader Joe's salsa verde, and cooked on high for about 4 hours.  Partway through Josh shredded the chicken for me so that it would absorb more of the flavor.

Start out by mixing up your sauce.  Take some salsa verde, fat free Greek yogurt (or sour cream) and chopped cilantro and stir it all together.  I like to use the little cubes of chopped cilantro TJ's carries in their freezer section when I'm running behind (and I was today because our dishwasher broke, hence the paper plate).  Since there was a full jar of salsa in the chicken this time, I used less than I normally would in the sauce.  The recipe at the end is the way I usually make it but I'm including the modifications if you want to make it how I did today.  It was so moist and flavorful that I will always make it this way in the future.

In a separate bowl combine your chicken (either the shredded salsa version or the diced, grilled version), some jack cheese, and some roasted peppers that have been chopped up into bite sized pieces.  I like to use this jar of red and yellow peppers from Trader Joe's.  They are really flavorful and super easy to chop up.

We are a small family so I usually split this into two square pans, one to eat and one to freeze, but you can make this in a 9 x 13 instead if you have more people to feed.  Spray your pan with some cooking spray and then spread a little bit of your sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.

Cover the sauce with a layer of corn tortillas.  I usually just tear them up to make a full layer, but if you are feeling fancy you can cut them into strips and then lay them on.

Cover your tortilla layer with some of the chicken mixture and then a little more of the sauce.

Repeat the layers (tortillas, chicken mixture, sauce) one more time.   Then put on another layer of tortillas and pour on the rest of your sauce, using a spoon to spread it around.  Cover it all with the rest of your shredded jack cheese.

Cover your baking dish with foil and bake at 425 for about 15 minutes.  Then take it out, take the foil off, and bake it for another 10 minutes or so, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Let it cool for a few minutes before you cut into it and serve.  It doesn't look as beautiful as if you rolled them into enchiladas but it tastes just as delicious.  That being said, you can choose to roll these into enchiladas instead if you want.  Just pour some sauce on the bottom of your pan,  put a little of the chicken mixture in each tortilla, roll it up, and place it in the pan.  Once all of your enchiladas are rolled up, pour the rest of the sauce on top and follow the baking and cheese instructions as written.  Enjoy!

Chicken Enchilada Suiza Casserole

• corn tortillas
• 1 1/4 cups green salsa
• 1/2 cup - 1 cup fat free Greek yogurt (depending on how spicy you want it)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 cups diced, cooked chicken
• 8 oz. jack cheese, shredded
• 1 jar roasted peppers, diced

1. Mix salsa, sour cream, and cilantro.  Spread a little over the bottom of your baking dish.
2. In another bowl, combine chicken, 2/3 of the cheese, and the roasted peppers.
3. Place a layer of tortillas on top of the sauce in the baking dish.  Top with chicken mixture and some more of the salsa mixture.
4. Repeat layers one more time.
5. Put on one more layer of tortillas  and top with the remainder of the salsa mixture.
6. Cover with foil and bake at 425 for 15 minutes.  Uncover, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and bake 10 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

**If using crock pot chicken instead, combine 2 large frozen chicken breasts and a jar of salsa verde in the crock pot and cook on high about 4 hours.   Shred chicken.  Then change your sauce amounts to to a scant cup of salsa and a full cup of Greek yogurt.


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