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a serving of chicken enchilada casserole on a plate with fresh cilantro and sliced limes, next to a bowl of sour cream and a stack of corn tortillas

Slow Cooker Chicken and Cheese Enchilada Casserole

Christine Miller
A satisfying comfort food recipe that can be made ahead, portioned and frozen for future use
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours 20 minutes
Total Time 5 hours 40 minutes
Course casserole, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine American, Mexican
Servings 12 servings

Equipment

  • 1 9 inch by 13 inch baking pan
  • 1 Cutting Board
  • 1 ktchen knife
  • 2 Mixing Bowls
  • 1 kitchen tongs
  • 1 kitchen spoon
  • 1 large sauté skillet
  • 1 Rubber Spatula
  • 1 pair nitrile gloves or latex
  • 1 slow cooker

Ingredients
  

Chicken for Filling

  • 2 lb. chicken boneless and skinless thighs
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1½ each jalapeño depending on the size of the jalapeño or how spicy you want it, you can use more or less.
  • ½ cup cilantro you could throw the whole sprig with the stem if you want
  • ½ tsp. ground cumin
  • ½ tsp. chili powder
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp. black pepper
  • ½ tsp. dried oregano
  • 3 each dried bay leaves
  • 1 each medium yellow onion large dice
  • 1 19 ounce can red enchilada sauce
  • 1 19 ounce can green enchilada sauce

Chicken and Cheese filling

  • 2 lb. the above recipe, cooked chicken thighs
  • 8 oz. diced green chiles you can use canned or roast and peel your own (instructions below)
  • 8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
  • 8 oz. cream cheese
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 each salt and black pepper to taste

Building the Casserole

  • 25 each corn tortillas white, blue, or yellow it's your choice
  • 3-4 cup cooking liquid from the above chicken recipe
  • 10 oz. shredded cheddar cheese you can add more if you want to
  • 1 can pan release spray it makes it easier to get the casserole out of the pan, as well as easier to clean

Instructions
 

Cooking the Chicken for the Filling

  • Season the chicken thighs on both sides with salt, black pepper, oregano, chili powder, and cumin
  • Heat the large sauté skillet on high, add the olive oil
  • Add the chicken 3 pieces at a time, as to not crowd the pan
  • Sear the chicken, controlling the heat so you don't burn it, turn over creating a brown delicious crust on both sides
  • Remove the first 3 pieces and place in the slow cooker, repeat the process with the remaining chicken
  • Once all of the chicken is seared, add some of the enchilada sauce to the skillet to deglaze any browned bits.
  • When the liquid has come to a boil, pour enchilada sauce over the chicken in the cooker, scraping the pan clean.
  • Add all of the remaining enchilada sauce to the slow cooker.
  • Add all of the remaining ingredients from this step of the recipe to the slow cooker.
  • Set the cooker to high for four hours.

Roasting and Peeling Green Chilis

  • Place 3 Anaheim fresh green chilis (or hatch New Mexico chilis, Colorado Pueblo green chilis) in a bowl with about a teaspoon of cooking oil, rub them with the oil
  • Turn on your gas burner, using kitchen tongs carefully place the chili onto direct flame moving until charred evenly on all sides, ( if you have electric you could place the chilis onto a roasting pan into a 400℉ oven until the skin begins to char and loosen) .
  • Place the charred chilis into a heat safe bowl, and cover with plastic wrap
  • Place the bowl in the refrigerator until cool
  • Remove the chilis and use you hands to peel the skins off and remove the stem and seeds
  • Dice the prepared chilis into small pieces for your filling

Chicken and Cheese Filling

  • Remove the chicken thighs from the cooking liquid and place in a mixing bowl
  • Add the diced green chilis ( canned or fresh prepared) to the bowl
  • Add the shredded cheddar cheese ( 8 ounces) to the bowl along with the cream cheese, 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, and salt and black pepper to taste
  • For this step I put on nitrile gloves and mix it up with my hands, pulling the chicken into bite sized pieces as I go (the chicken will be on the hot side so be careful, that's why I use the gloves)

Building the Casserole

  • Preheat oven to375℉
  • Spoon about a cup of the cooking liquid into the bottom of the 9 inch by 13 inch baking pan that has been sprayed with pan release
  • Place 6 corn tortillas on top of the sauce 2 by 2
  • place ⅓ of the filling mixture on top of the tortillas, drizzle with more cooking liquid, and sprinkle with shredded cheddar (from the 10 ounce portion)
  • Place 8 corn tortillas on top of this layer and repeat the process of adding so cooking liquid, ⅓ of the filling mixture, and sprinkling shredded cheddar cheese
  • Place 6 corn tortillas on top of this layer and repeat the process ending with 6 tortillas on the top
  • spoon cooking liquid over the top and the remaining shredded cheddar cheese
  • Place casserole in the preheated oven on the center rack
  • Bake for 25 minutes, remove from oven
  • Cut into desired portion and enjoy!

Notes

 
We recommend serving with a bit of the extra cooking liquid, sliced avocado, lime wedge, chopped fresh cilantro and sliced green onion.
Keyword budget friendly, chicken casserole, chicken thighs, Chili Colorado, enchilada, gluten friendly, make ahead