Rolling enchiladas one at a time is a lovely way to spend an evening, if you happen to have an evening. Most Tuesdays you do not. This is the other way to get there: stack everything in a 9x13 like a lasagna, slide it into the oven, and pull out a bubbling, cheesy pan that tastes like you fussed over it.
The chicken comes off a rotisserie bird, which is the whole reason this is a weeknight dinner and not a project. The black beans and the corn come out of cans. The only part that asks anything of you is one minute with the skillet, toasting the Rock Yo’ Taco into the hot filling before the sauce goes in — and that minute is where the depth comes from.
October suits it. The last of the sweet peppers are still at the Carolina markets, the yellow onions and garlic are out of the fall harvest, and if you would rather cook what is actually coming out of the ground right now, there is a North Carolina sweet potato swap in the Chef’s notes that stands up beautifully to the ancho and cocoa in the blend.
Build it tonight, or build it this afternoon and bake it later — it sits happily in the refrigerator fully assembled. Either way, give it the ten minutes on the counter before you cut it. That rest is the difference between clean squares and a delicious mess.
Chicken Enchilada Casserole with Rock Yo’ Taco
A layered chicken enchilada casserole with corn tortillas, black beans and organic Rock Yo’ Taco taco seasoning. No rolling, one dish, serves six.
Ingredients
For the filling
- 4 cups cooked shredded chicken (about one 3 lb rotisserie chicken)
- 1 Tbsp avocado or olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 red or orange sweet pepper, diced
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups corn kernels, canned and drained or frozen
- 2 Tbsp Rock Yo’ Taco organic taco seasoning
For the layers
- 2 cans (10 oz each) red enchilada sauce, about 2 1/2 cups
- 12 corn tortillas (6 inch), cut in half
- 3 cups shredded Monterey Jack or Mexican-blend cheese
To finish and serve
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 avocado, sliced
- A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
- Sliced scallions or pickled red onion, if you like
- Kosher or flaky sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375°F and lightly oil a 9x13-inch baking dish. Pull the chicken into shreds now, while the oven comes up, so the rest of this moves quickly.
- Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the diced onion and sweet pepper and cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until they are soft and browning at the edges rather than merely limp.
- Add the shredded chicken, black beans, corn and the 2 tablespoons of Rock Yo’ Taco. Stir for a full minute so the seasoning meets the hot pan. This is the step most people skip, and it is the difference between a casserole that tastes layered and one that tastes like sauce.
- Pour in 1 cup of the enchilada sauce and stir until everything is glossy and just moistened, not soupy. Take the pan off the heat.
- Spread 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce across the bottom of the baking dish. Lay 8 tortilla halves over it, straight edges to the sides of the dish, overlapping slightly so there are no gaps.
- Spoon half the filling over the tortillas, spread it flat to the corners, and scatter over 1 cup of the cheese.
- Repeat: 8 more tortilla halves, the rest of the filling, another cup of cheese. Finish with the last 8 tortilla halves, the remaining enchilada sauce poured evenly over the top, and the last cup of cheese.
- Tent a sheet of foil over the dish so it does not touch the cheese, and bake 25 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted through and the sauce is bubbling up the sides.
- Let it rest on the counter for 10 minutes before you cut it. This is not patience for its own sake: the starches set in those ten minutes, and that is what lets you lift out squares instead of scoops.
- Cut into six, and put the sour cream, avocado, cilantro and scallions on the table so everyone finishes their own. Salt at the table if it wants it.
Toast the seasoning in the pan, do not stir it into the sauce
Rock Yo’ Taco is built on organic cumin, New Mexico and ancho chiles, and a little organic cocoa powder. Those want heat and fat to open up. Sixty seconds in the hot skillet with the chicken and beans pulls far more out of them than stirring the same two tablespoons into cold enchilada sauce ever will. The cocoa is the quiet part — nobody tastes chocolate, they just ask why a thirty-five minute bake tastes like it simmered.
Cut the tortillas in half
Rounds leave thin spots in the corners of a rectangular dish, and a thin spot is where the layer collapses. Halves tile flat, straight edge to the wall of the dish, and every square comes out of the pan with three clean tortilla lines in it. Twelve tortillas cut in half gives you exactly three layers of eight in a 9x13.
The ten-minute rest is the recipe
Straight out of the oven this is molten and structureless and it will slide off the spatula. Ten minutes on the counter and it sets into something you can serve in squares. Cover it loosely if the table is not ready; it holds its heat for a good while in a hot dish.
What is good right now
The sweet peppers are the last of the season at Carolina markets and worth grabbing while they are there. The yellow onions and the garlic are out of the fall harvest and will keep all winter, and the cilantro has come back now the nights are cool. The corn is honestly canned or frozen in October, and there is a better October answer if you want one: swap the corn for a cup and a half of NC sweet potato, peeled and cut small and roasted twenty minutes at 400°F while you build the rest. The harvest is on, it goes beautifully with the ancho and cocoa in the blend, and it makes the dish feel like the month it is in.
Feeding more, making it ahead, and the day after
This is a sturdy make-ahead. Build it completely, cover and refrigerate up to a day, then bake it straight from cold with 10 extra minutes under the foil. Two dishes feed a crowd and bake side by side on one rack. Leftovers keep four days and reheat best covered in a 325°F oven rather than a microwave, which turns the tortillas to paste. A cold square with a fried egg on it is a very good breakfast.
One seasoning doing the whole job
Rock Yo’ Taco is our USDA Certified Organic taco seasoning — eleven real ingredients, no MSG, no fillers, no anti-caking agents and no added starch, which is what most supermarket packets lead with. The seasoning itself is gluten free and kosher. Corn tortillas usually are too, but canned enchilada sauce is often thickened with wheat flour, so read that label if it matters at your table. Buy the 5 oz resealable pouch rather than the glass jar — better value, and far easier to pinch from with one hand while the skillet is going.
More of the same seasoning
Rock Yo’ Taco Chicken Tortilla Soup is where the rest of that rotisserie chicken should go. Rock Yo’ Taco Pie is the beef-and-crescent-roll cousin of this dish, Rock Yo Taco Nachos and Rock Yo’ Taco Queso are what to put out while this bakes, Mexican Rice is the side, and Country Salsa is worth a bowl on the table.