Recipe #27: Cheater Chicken Enchiladas

Everyone loves enchiladas right? Right. But you know what every does not love? Making them. I hate having to roll the tortillas and do all that. It’s too much work. My first solution to this problem Enchilada Casserole. In that dish, you omit tortillas and add noodles instead. But what if you want tortillas but don’t want to roll them? What’s a girl (or guy) to do? I’ll tell you!

You cheat.

In this recipe, instead of rolling tortillas, you layer the ingredients. First, you put down a layer of tortillas to cover the bottom of the pan. Then, you put down your sauce, then cheese, then sauce, then tortillas, then cheese again. So that’s tortilla, sauce, cheese, sauce, tortilla, cheese. The result is a delicious dish that tastes JUST like tortillas. You can do this with any tortilla recipe, but I made one up for this meal. We were having the missionaries over for dinner and I wanted it to be delicious, but I was really nervous to just make up a recipe.. but I did it anyway. It turned out AMAZING. Ready to see what I did?

Ingredients for easy cheater enchiladas:

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion

2 green bell peppers

1 lb ground beef (or chicken)

Tapatio

Cayenne pepper

taco seasoning

3/4 cup salsa

3/4 cup sour cream

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 can enchilada sauce

4 cups grated cheese

(I used cheddar, but a Mexican blend would be good too)

6 tortillas

Instructions for easy cheater enchiladas

Turn on the oven to 350

In a frying pan, saute your onions and green peppers. Add the meat and brown it. While you’re browning it, add your desired amount of tapatio, Cayenne pepper, and taco seasoning. Remember, the more tapatio and Cayenne pepper you use, the more kick this dish will have.

Once the meat is browned up, turn the burning to simmer. Pour in the 3/4 cup salsa and let it simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal.

In a bowl, mash up the cream cheese so it will mix well. Pour in the sour cream and about 3/4 of the enchilada sauce. Mix it well. Add the meat mixture.

I sprayed my casserole dish. I don’t know if that’s necessary or not, but better safe than sorry. Put down your first layer of tortillas. Then, put down a layer of sauce. Then, a layer of cheese, followed by another layer of sauce. Spread a top layer of tortillas, another layer of cheese, and the rest of the enchilada sauce. If you didn’t cover all the top layer with cheese, the tortillas will go crispy in the oven. Not a big deal, just a heads up.