Recipe Spotlight: Layered Chicken 3-Cheese Enchiladas

Almost everyone loves enchiladas, but they can be a little time-consuming to prepare one at a time. That’s why the Williams-Sonoma Test Kitchen developed this recipe for Layered Chicken Three-Cheese Enchiladas, a casserole-style dish that stars in our Fiesta with Friends menu.

 

Taste testers were wowed by the beautiful presentation created by tortillas, chicken and ooey gooey cheese stacked in a Dutch oven. But according to Test Kitchen cook Sandra Wu, the dish is deceptively easy to pull off.

 

“This is a simplified enchilada,” Wu explains. “You don’t have to roll up the individual enchiladas  and arrange them in the pan just so; you can just layer them like a lasagna and put the whole thing in the oven.”

 

In fact, Wu says you can easily prepare this recipe as a one-pot meal by poaching the chicken and sauteeing the onion in the Dutch oven before you start layering.

 

“You can definitely use leftover chicken, too,” she says. “Since this recipe serves 4 to 6, it would make a great weeknight meal for a small family.”

 

Layered Chicken Three-Cheese Enchiladas

 

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 yellow onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 1/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 3/4 cups red enchilada sauce

9 corn tortillas, each about 6 inches in diameter

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

3/4 cup shredded white cheddar cheese

3/4 cup shredded yellow cheddar cheese

Sliced green onion tops for garnish

Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

 

Preheat an oven to 350°F.

 

In a large nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.

 

Add the chicken to the onion and stir well to combine.

 

Spread 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 3 1/2-quart round wide Dutch oven. Arrange 3 tortillas in a single layer on the sauce, overlapping them as needed to cover the sauce. Top with a generous 1 cup of the chicken-onion mixture, 1/2 cup of the sauce and 1/4 cup of each cheese. Repeat the layering 2 more times, alternating the direction of the tortilla layers and finishing with 1/2 cup sauce and 1/4 cup of each cheese.

 

Transfer to the oven and bake until the ingredients are heated through and the cheese is melted, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and garnish with green onions and cilantro. Serves 4 to 6.