White Chicken Enchilada Lasagna is like white chicken chili but in the form of enchilada lasagna. Cheesy and delicious, a family favorite!
How about some cheese, cheese and more cheese??
Oh yeah and some chicken. But mostly cheese because this is one cheesy dinner. I don’t make dinners like these too often but every once and again I crave a ultra comforting meal in the form of cheese dinner. Of course there’s more to this than a brick of cream cheese and 4 cups of cheese. There’s shredded chicken, bell pepper, onions, green chiles and tortillas, stacked in layers and baked until hot and bubbly. It’s sort of like (my personal favorite) white chicken chili but in the form of enchilada lasagna. Ya dig?
You can serve this how ever you like; heaped onto a plate with a few splashes of Frank’s Red Hot or with diced avocado and or salsa, but typically I just serve this with tortilla chips along with a side of napping.
In a large bowl add 4 cups of shredded cooked chicken. Roast the chicken yourself or use rotisserie… I leave it totally up to you.
Plop down a brick of softened cream cheese. Trust me it’s a whole lot easier to mix this mess together when a softened brick is involved versus a straight-from-the-fridge brick. #cantbedone
Then add in 1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper, 3/4 cup of finely diced yellow onion, 4 green onions that have been sliced and 1-1/2 cups of the 3-cheese blend. This time I wasn’t paying attention to my chopping and diced the onion and pepper a little to big and they were still a bit crunchy in the end. Still totally edible and the texture of soft-yet-firm vegetables wasn’t all that bad to be honest. But just keep that in mind when you’re making this… or you could saute them first in a skillet with little butter or totally omit them all together.
Give it a quick mix to get the cream cheese throughout before adding in 2 (ish) tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro, 1 teaspoon of both cumin and garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander.
Mix until the herbs and spices are throughout and then set this off to the side to make The White Sauce.
In a 10-inch skillet add 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter and heat over medium…
…until melted.
Whisk in 1/4 cup of all purpose flour and continue to whisk while it cooks for 2 to 3 minutes.
Whisk in 1-1/2 cups of chicken broth…
…until smooth and luscious.
Turn the heat off and season with a pinch or two of kosher salt and a couple of grinds of fresh black pepper.
Add in 1 cup sour cream…
1 (4.5 ounce) can of diced green chiles…
…1 cup of the shredded cheese blend…
…and lastly, 3/4 teaspoon cumin.
Stir slowly…
Until the heat of the sauce melts the cheese and all the ingredients are incorporated.
Spread 2/3 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
Place three flour tortilla halves on top of the sauce…
Add 1/3 of the chicken mixture on top of the tortillas…
…and drizzle with 2/3 cup of the sauce.
Top with 3 more tortillas…
…another third of the chicken mixture and 2/3 cup of the sauce.
Three more tortillas, the remaining chicken mixture, NO SAUCE but three more tortillas…
Now, pour the remaining sauce over the top…
…and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Cover the baking dish with foil and slide it into a preheated 375 degree oven to bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 15 more minutes, it should be melted and bubbly.
Sprinkle with some torn cilantro leaves…
…and dig right on in it.
So creamy, so luscious and so cheesy!
It’s borderline ridic. Comfort food at it’s best.
Ps. Is there really such a thing as too much cheese? I don’t think so, not in my world. (Insert new cheese emoji here)
Enjoy!
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White Chicken Enchilada Lasagna
Ingredients
FOR THE MEXICAN 3-CHEESE BLEND:
- 8 ounces monterey jack cheese, or about 2 cups
- 1 cup freshly grated colby cheese
- 1 cup freshly grated pepper jack cheese
FOR THE CHICKEN FILLING
- 4 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 8 ounces softened cream cheese
- 3/4 cup finely diced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
FOR THE SAUCE:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 pinches salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 6 6-inch flour tortilla cut in half , (12 halves total)
Equipment
Instructions
MAKE THE THREE CHEESE BLEND:
- In a large bowl combine all the cheeses, toss to combine.
MAKE THE CHICKEN FILILNG:
- To a large mixing bowl add chicken, cream cheese, yellow onion, green pepper and onions. Mix until combined. Add in 1½ cups of the cheese mixture, cilantro, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander. Toss to combine and set it off to the side.
MAKE THE SAUCE:
- In a 10-inch skillet melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Once melted whisk in the flour and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in broth until smooth and bring to a bubble until slightly thickened. Turn off the heat and season with salt and pepper. Whisk in sour cream, green chiles, 1 cup of the cheese mixture and 3/4 teaspoon cumin.
MAKE THE LASAGNA:
- Preheat your oven to 375°.
- Pour 2/3 of a cup of the sauce onto the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
- Place 3 tortilla halves on top of the sauce, 1/3 of the chicken mixture and then top with 2/3 cup of the sauce.
- Then lay 3 more tortillas down, top with 1/3 of the chicken mixture and 2/3 cup of the sauce.
- Lastly top with 3 more tortillas remaining chicken mixture and then 3 more tortilla halves.
- Pour remaining sauce over top and sprinkle with remaining cheese mixture.
- Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
- Allow the enchilada lasagna to cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
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Laurie, this looks like the most delicious thing I have ever seen! I can’t wait to make it! Yum!
Yummy! I make a similar, but different, Mexican lasagna and it is sooo good! Yours looks equally delicious, great job 🙂
I know I don’t need to tell you how delicious this looks! Oh wow. All that cheese on top, you are speaking my love language. SO thankful bathing suit season is finally over. Thank you Spanx. Can’t wait to chow down on this.
I made this. It was so good!
Glad to hear it, Alysia!
Could this be frozen?
Does this do well to assemble the day before? Can’t wait to try it!
I don’t see why not!