King Ranch Chicken

This is one of my most popular recipes. It is great in the summer and in the winter. It’s a great side dish at a barbeque, and it stands completely alone as a dinner with enough left over for a late night snack and lunch. I would like to dedicate this post to my roommate who, for anonymity’s sake, we will call Peg Bexsen.  She won my heart before we lived together when she said “you always know a good recipe when it has a coupl’a’ cans’a soup in it”. She knows what she's talking about. She has stuck by that and absolutely loves this dish: almost without fail, each time she walks in to the kitchen and sees me cooking Peg asks “Are you making your Mexican casserole?”

So I am sharing it with you. If you have Texan roots, like me, I am sure you are pretty familiar with this recipe – but it’s a good one to always have at the back of your mind when you’re in a pinch.

King Ranch Chicken

2 chicken breasts (split breasts, bone in skin on)

1 large onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 tablespoon chili powder/ red pepper (or more)

1 teaspoon garlic salt/powder

12 corn tortillas

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

2 cans RoTel tomatoes (I buy 1 original and 1 hot – but gauge it based on hot spicy you like)

Fill a pot about 2/3 with water and boil. Boil the chicken breasts in the water (remembering it takes some time for them to cook through). When they are cooked, take them out and keep the water. Quickly soak tortillas in broth from cooked chicken (I've skipped this step no problem). In a greased 9x13 inch pan make a layer the tortillas and then layer the chicken. Mix the chopped onion and pepper in a bowl. In another bowl combine soup, chili powder, and garlic salt. Sprinkle the onion and pepper over the chicken and tortillas. Pour some globs of the soup mixture and part of 1 can of RoTel over and sprinkle with the cheese. Repeat layers until your casserole dish is full. Sprinkle the top layer with remaining cheese and pour over the remaining can of RoTel.

Bake, covered at 325 F for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 more minutes. Make sure it’s brown-ish on top.

Serves 6 at least.

Another of my roommates calls this “Mexican Lasagna”. In all truthfulness, as she knows, I find this term hideously irksome – but it does help in understanding how to make it. Imagine the tortillas are the noodles and work your way up.  

This is fantastic for dinner on a Friday night, and even better when you come in and microwave it at 3am – and eat it on chips!