Chicken Enchilada Casserole is a great way to use up leftover chicken for a gluten free, grain free, GAPS diet meal. Enjoy the flavors of enchiladas without the fuss or the grains!
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Although leftover chicken appeals to some people, it can be bland and boring to many. Give your plain old chicken some new zest with a sauce and plenty of veggies! Use beans if you want, or don’t. This chicken enchilada casserole recipe is very adaptable to your taste, your diet, and the ingredients you have on hand.
(Try either a slow cooked chicken or an oven roasted chicken!)
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The key is to make your own enchilada sauce!
If you have never made enchilada sauce, you may be surprised at how simply and quickly it comes together. The first time I made it, the reason was that I didn’t have a can of it. I kept making it because it was so easy and inexpensive, and tasted great! A can of enchilada sauce would also work fine in this recipe, though.
I didn’t make this casserole for over a year while we were on GAPS, mainly because it is hard to thicken the sauce without any starches. Cornstarch or arrowroot starch are easier for thickening. However, after my son began to get past his egg allergy, I could use egg yolks to thicken without any starch. More expense and effort, but much more nourishing!
(I attribute the several allergies he lost to GAPS, since he began to add those foods midway through that year, having tested high on those allergens the month before we started GAPS.)
Chicken enchilada casserole is not a pretty dish. It is tasty, though. Not to mention that it is nourishing, filling, and flexible. Once you fuss a little with the sauce, it is pretty simple to make, and you can make it ahead if you want to. You could even freeze one!
What to Do
Assuming you are using leftover cooked chicken, this casserole will take very little time to assemble. First, chop whatever vegetables you would like. I used onion, garlic, and jalapeño.
Sauté the veggies in a little fat over low heat until soft.
Mix the veggies with the chicken, and beans if you are using them. I sometimes use a container of beans I previously soaked, cooked, and froze this way. A can of beans would also work. If you are doing GAPS, use navy beans or lentils at an advanced stage.
I also like this recipe with a couple of cups of extra veg instead of beans– more onion, bell peppers, celery, zucchini, or anything else you think sounds good or want to use up! The whole mixture goes into a greased baking dish. Either an 8″ square pan, a 9×13″ pan, or any similarly sized baking dish will be fine.
Now make the sauce
I like to warm the spices a bit before adding the liquid. You can measure them out and just them for a minute or two in a hot skillet, or use some fat. I used butter.
As soon as the spices release their fragrance, whisk in your liquid. I used GAPS meat stock, but broth or even water work just fine.
(If you wanted to use cornstarch or arrowroot, you would whisk it into your cold liquid before adding to the skillet, about 1 tablespoon per cup of stock, and the sauce will thicken as you bring it to a boil, whisking as you go. It is ready to use once it thickens. But don’t do this if you are on the GAPS diet! No starches.)
Return the skillet to the stove to come to a boil.
While the liquid comes to a boil, whisk your egg yolks. You need at least 2 egg yolks per cup of liquid; I used 6 to begin with and about 3 cups of chicken stock. I ended up adding 2 more yolks to make the sauce thicker. Sometimes 6 are enough, though.
The one tricky part…
This is the part that may be unfamiliar if you have never needed to “temper” anything, like eggs or chocolate. To your whisked egg yolks, add a spoonful of hot liquid and whisk. Then add another and whisk; repeat until you have incorporated all the hot liquid into the egg yolks.
As you go, you can add more liquid at a time. We want it to be fairly smooth with no bits of cooked egg yolk separating from the mixture.
If it ends up grainy, there is a fix– keep reading because it isn’t time to fix it yet!
Pour the sauce mixture back into the hot skillet, return it to a low-medium heat, and bring it back to a gentle boil, whisking constantly. As it boils, it will thicken and become smoother. The ingredients will incorporate after the sauce boils.
The pretty red color will go away using the egg yolk method, but you won’t have any starches. That is important for GAPS!
Turn the heat off once it thickens.
What if I have problems with my sauce?!
If the sauce isn’t thick enough:
You can add more egg yolks. Unfortunately, you will need to temper them as well. Repeat something like what you did before: whisk the yolks, add a spoonful of sauce, whisk, and add some more.
You can probably do that process just a few times, then whisk it all into the sauce in the skillet if you aren’t adding very many egg yolks, like maybe 2. They will be tempered more quickly because there are fewer. Just be sure to whisk well and keep whisking as you incorporate them into the sauce.
If your sauce has a grainy look:
It is probably because you added the hot liquid to the egg yolks a little too fast or didn’t whisk it quite enough. An easy mistake to make, and a fixable problem. Actually, you can go ahead and use the imperfect sauce; it will taste fine. It won’t look quite as nice, and that is all.
If you want to make the sauce look smooth, I have had good success with pouring it into a container that can accommodate an immersion blender and giving it a quick zap. Or whiz it in a blender for a few seconds. Kind of an extra hassle, but it will smooth out easily and look nicer.
Pour the sauce over the chicken mixture.
Shred some cheese and spread that over the whole thing.
It is worth shredding your own cheese. Not only does it melt better, but it doesn’t contain the questionable ingredients that lurk in convenient bags of pre-shredded cheese. One of those ingredients is generally an antifungal, natamycin, that isn’t good for gut health. The cellulose and starches in pre-shredded cheese are also not GAPS compliant. If you need another reason to shred your own cheese, you also get more cheese for less money by shredding your own. It melts and tastes better, too.
Pop the casserole in a 350 F oven for 20-30 minutes, until it is all bubbly and the cheese is melted and toasty.
Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 C cooked chicken
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1-2 jalapeños
- 2 C soaked, cooked beans OR 1 can beans OR 2 C extra veggies (more onion, bell pepper, zucchini, celery,carrots, etc.)
- 1 T preferred cooking fat
- 3-4 C chicken stock or broth or water
- 6-8 egg yolks
- 1-2 T chili powder
- 2 tsp smoked paprika or regular paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 C shredded cheese
Instructions
- Set oven to 350 F. Chop onion, garlic, and jalapeño. Heat fat in a large skillet and sauté gently until soft.
- In another skillet, heat another tablespoon of cooking fat. Add spices and stir for a minute or two until the fragrance releases. Stir in chicken stock until it boils.
- Whisk egg yolks in a bowl large enough to hold one quart of liquid.
- Add a spoonful of the hot liquid for the sauce and whisk into the egg yolks. Add another spoonful and whisk. Add a couple of spoonfuls of liquid, whisk, and keep going until all the liquid is whisked into the egg yolks.
- Return all the sauce mixture to the skillet and bring back to a boil, whisking the whole time. Once it boils, it will thicken and the ingredients will incorporate. Salt and pepper to your taste.
- Mix cooked vegetables, chicken, and beans if using. Spread in greased 8" square or 9×13" baking dish. Pour sauce over the top and spread as evenly as you can. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the top.
- Bake 20-30 minutes at 350 F until the casserole is bubbly and the cheese is melted and toasty.
- Allow to cool a bit before serving. Serve as is or add salsa, sour cream, guacamole, fermented jalapeños, etc.
Make Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole Your Way
- If you don’t want to use egg yolks and you can use starches, dissolve 3-4 T cornstarch or arrowroot starch in the COLD chicken stock before adding to the skillet. (If your stock is already hot, then mix the starch in 1/4 C cool water and stir that into the hot stock and spices in your skillet.)
- Add other veggies, like bell pepper, or leave something out. This is very flexible.
- If you don’t want to use beans, just leave them out. I like to add other vegetables to bulk it up.
- Reduce or increase the spices to suit your taste.
- You can leave out the cheese, or use a cheese substitute if that works better for you.
- For GAPS, use the egg yolk method, not the starch. This would work only on full GAPS, but you can use soaked navy beans or lentils if you tolerate them.
- Other meat than chicken works fine, such as leftover turkey!
Quick and Easy Chicken Enchilada Bake is a very tweak-able recipe. What vegetables and toppings do you want to try?
Chicken enchilada casserole with extra veggies and no beans at all.
Chicken enchilada casserole with beans
This recipe does not seem like leftovers at all.