Culinary yoU: King Ranch Chicken Or Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Well thanksgiving is over and now that the relatives are all gone, what are you going to do with all the turkey leftovers? Canning is one good way of preserving any leftover meat and it has the added advantage of not having to be refrigerated once it has been properly processed, however many of you living on a food budget may not have access to the proper equipment to do so. Freezing is always an option, but if you are like my family, sometimes it gets thrown into the back of the freezer and get forgotten until it is almost to late.

Most often I have found one of the best ways to use any leftover turkey is to cook with it as a replacement for chicken in various dishes. One of the most affordable and easy type meals to make are casseroles. Like soups and stews, casseroles are a one dish meal in which all the ingredients are combined together and layered in one form or another into a dish and then baked in the oven. Popular in the 1950's and 60's they somewhat fell out of favor during the 80's and 90's as more people began to abandon leftovers and head to the fast food restaurant.

We make quite a few casserole dishes here on the homestead, as they are great way to use leftover ingredients from previous recipes. I have not blogged about many of them because casseroles just do not take good pictures. They just look like...well casseroles. Having said that casseroles are an important way to stretch your food budget and use up any leftovers you may have in the fridge. Now I am not saying you only have to make casseroles when you have leftovers, but they are a good tool to keep in your recipe box. In this article I will show you how to make one of our favorite casseroles “King Ranch Chicken” sometimes called “Mexican Lasagna” or “Chicken Enchilada Casserole” with leftover turkey in place of chicken. We also use rabbit in this recipe (which is delicious BTW) as we always can some up and place in the pantry after butchering. This recipe uses few ingredients, is a great budget stretcher, tastes great (no matter which meat you choose), is quick to make and is minimalist pantry friendly.

King Ranch Chicken

This casserole is a layered casserole such as the filling is placed between two or three layers of flour or corn tortillas depending on the depth of your casserole dish. We have a plethora of corning ware dishes here on the homestead that we use for a variety of dishes. Another great option is to make a few extra casseroles in small aluminum foil containers and freeze them uncooked so that you can pop one from the freezer straight into the oven. This can be a life saver if you are short on time. Below is my basic recipe for this dish, however I often modify or add ingredients depending on what I have leftover in the fridge. This time I added some sauteed banana peppers which are still growing in the garden and added about 4oz of green chile salsa leftover from making breakfast burritos. I did not put my additions in the basic recipe. I have included two recipes in this article, a small recipe for 2 to 4 people and a family size recipe for 4 to 6.

Small Recipe

8 ounces leftover chicken, rabbit, or turkey, diced

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

4 to 5 flour or corn tortillas

1 (10.5oz can) condensed cream of chicken soup

½ (10oz can) tomatoes and green chilies (total of 5oz)

1 teaspoon cumin, ground

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon cilantro, dried

½ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients except the tortillas into a large mixing bowl and mix completely. Spray your casserole dish or aluminum foil pan with non-stick cooking spray. Then tear the tortillas into small to medium sized pieces and cover the bottom of your casserole dish. Then place half of the casserole mixture ontop of the tortillas and spread evenly as much as possible and cover the filling with another layer of tortillas. Add the remaining filling and top with one last layer of tortillas.

Chef's Note: If using frozen tortillas you have may saved before they expired, you may want to cut them into wedges with a knife as they do not tear easily. If you do not have any tortillas, the crushed small pieces leftover in the bottom of a bag tortilla chips work great. We save these small pieces in a bag in the freezer and use them in place of the tortillas we we get enough.I generally do not add any salt when using the tortilla chips as they are usually lightly salted already.

Add a layer of cheese to the top of the casserole and lightly garnish with dried cilantro, cover and place in a pre-heated oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 60 minutes or until the filling is bubbling around the edges and the top of the casserole has browned. If you like your casserole to be more crunchy or brown on the top then remove the lid during the last 10 to 15 minutes.

Chef's Note: If you are cooking a pre-made casserole that has been frozen and take straight from the freezer or even if you bring it out to thaw and hour before it will probably take and additional 15 to 20 minutes to cook completely.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. This allows some of the filling to firm up and cool some as it can be a mouth scourcher if you attempt to eat it strainght from the oven.

Large Family Recipe

16 ounces leftover chicken, rabbit, or turkey, diced

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

8 to 10 flour or corn tortillas

1 (10.5oz can) condensed cream of chicken soup

1 (10.5oz can) condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 (10oz can) tomatoes and green chilies (total of 5oz)

1 – 2 teaspoons cumin, ground

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cilantro, dried

¾ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon salt

Conclusion

Using leftovers to create additional meals for your family is a great way to stretch your food dollars. By using the strategy of menu planning you can maximize your food dollars and minimize food wastage. If I take a pound of cooked meat from the freezer, I think of how many different meals can I use it in. Items like tortillas (flour and corn), tortilla chips and bread can be placed in the freezer when they near their expiration date and can be used in casseroles such as this without any loss of quality. I have in fact used corn tortillas that even had a fair amount of frost on them and they taste great in such recipes as 'King Ranch Chicken'. Don't forget to save the small pieces from the bottom of your tortilla chips to use instead of tortillas. Throw them in the freezer in a zip lock bag until you get enough, then make a casserole of goodness for your family.

This casserole is quick, fast, delicious and a whole lot easier than making chicken enchiladas. Give it a try, I am sure you and your family will enjoy it as much as mine does. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.