Bad news. We have termites, maybe.
A few weeks ago, we decided to buy a table from the downtown market. Who knew getting downtown and back could take all day? Traffic here is out of control and efficiency is not a strong point of the market experience. But in the end we hauled our large wood table and six chairs straight up into our apartment and gazed upon the beauty of a piece of real furniture.
And when I say we hauled it, I mean that maybe my job was holding the McDonald’s that we picked up on our way home and supervising the lifters.
We’ve had friends over for dinner (four friends, to be exact) and we’ve had some sweet kids from the shelter over to make cookies. Since it’s really the only group-friendly furniture we have, everything centers around that table. We love it.
Then, the discovery.
Bjork found a little pile of mystery dust under one of the chairs. A hop, skip, and a jump through Google images confirmed, unofficially, that we have termites. And then a search of the apartment confirmed that those ants we have? Are actually termites. Probably. It’s kind of hard to tell because they’re small and fast and we try not to look at them.
Whatever they are, they’re EV-ERY-WHERE. Bedroom. Office. Kitchen. Coming out of the electrical sockets. How does that even work?
The plan is still TBD. Right now option #3 (ignore the situation and put out more a few more of those sticky ant traps) is looking mighty appealing.
But come on now. That was gross of me to talk about termites when I really needed to talk THIS.
This is a Chicken Enchilada Casserole and it’s sososososo delicious. It’s like taking all the goodness of an enchilada, stacking it up, and baking it under a layer of cheese. It’s also incredibly easy. Hello, did you see that there are only FIVE ingredients here? As I was writing the recipe out I kinda couldn’t believe it. It looks and feels and tastes like something that took a really long time to make. It’s like free work or something.
Here’s whatcher gonna do.
Put some sauce down. Now layer away. We’ve got tortillas, beans, chicken, cheese and sauce all up in there. Go for it.
Now let’s top it all off with ze cheese. You pick! I used Mozzarella because I had it. You could use Monterrey Jack or Provolone or Colby Jack or Mexican flavored cheese or anything you want. Naturally. It’s a “casserole” after all, right? Lots of cheese is necessary.
Now bake it.
And wait a while.
And now, dig in.
If I’m being honest, I ate this at 9am on a Sunday morning while Bjork was still asleep.
And that, my friends, is the definition of food blogging.
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 19 ounces (about 2 ½ cups) enchilada sauce
- 2 cups shredded cheese (I used Mozzarella because I had it on hand)
- 6-8 small flour tortillas
- 1 can refried beans (I like Amy’s Organic Refried Black Beans – so yummy!)
- Cook and shred the chicken. I do this by boiling a large pot of water and cooking the chicken breasts in the water for about 30 minutes until cooked through. Then I shred the chicken with 2 forks. You can do this ahead of time.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place a few spoonfuls of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a glass square baking dish to prevent sticking. Place 2 tortillas in the bottom of the dish, overlapping to cover the entire surface. Layer the beans, chicken, cheese, sauce, and tortillas; repeat once to make a total of 2 layers. For me this was about ⅓ cup refried beans, 1 cup of the chicken, ½ cup cheese, and about ¾ cup enchilada sauce in each layer.
- Cover the top with the remaining enchilada sauce and 1 cup cheese. Cover the baking dish with well-oiled aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake uncovered for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is starting to brown and sauce is bubbling.
- Allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before cutting and serving (otherwise it will be a soupy mess – delicious, but not ideal). Top with sliced green onions or cilantro.
Now go eat this for dinner with your family or friends on a termite-free table and you’ll be livin the good life.
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Ewww termites. Yummm chicken enchiladas! I’ll forget about termites long enough to eat that!!
This is calling my name. Love, love, love. Hopefully you can live a termite free life soon
Chicken enchilada bakes are one of my all time favorite go-to dinners! Talk about mass with class. This is one of the most simple, yet clearly delicious, versions I’ve seen.
And UGH on the unwanted house guests. Hope you can get it sorted out soon!
My eyeballs are totally freaking out.
Looks delicious! Sorry about the termites ;(
Such a bummer about the termites!
This looks totes delish though!
Sorry about the termites! Just pretend they aren’t there…
“Lots of cheese is necessary” – I find this is usually the case!
Oh noooo, termites sound terrible
At least you have this to cheer you up (in the morning)?
I love enchiladas, but hate making them, so this is a great solution. Looks fantastic.
Hope the landlord can do something about the termites. Soon.
This is how I do it if I’m feelin’ lazy and don’t want to roll them. I’ve done all kinds of variations, usually in a pie plate, and you’re right, it’s so dang easy and so dang good. I’m partial to the green sauce, but both are, as Tony The Tiger would say, Grrrrrrreat! I’m thinkin’ I need to get it on the menu for next week.
Good luck with the bugs. Ick.
Green sauce. Yum.
Why does your food always look SO good??!! It’s only 9am here and now I’m hungry
Ugh, termites! We had them in the walls of an old apartment. Super gross, I agree. However, the exterminators used orange oil to get rid of them, so there are solutions. At least you have some delicious enchiladas in the meantime!
Good to know! We’ll have to check that out.
I think there’s nothing better for breakfast than these enchiladas! yum!
Eeek! Termites, I however enjoy your solution of just ignoring them – it generally is my first reaction to bug issues. These enchiladas will help forgetting about them, at least for a little while!
That is a tasty looking recipe…my wife is the queen of enchiladas…i think she would dig this!
This dish looks great and I will be making it asap!! Wish I had the ingredients in the fridge tonight but it will have to wait for the next grocery trip. So sorry to hear about your termites. Luckily they don’t want to bite people…but that is little help when they are eating your possessions! We had the buggers in Hawaii and it was so upsetting. Hope you find a solution soon.
I’m such a huge fan of your website. Thank you for all the pictures that make my day brighter…
THANKS
Shoot I really hope is not termites. I just made an enchilada casserole two days ago as well, we love it
Yours looks delicious!!
I hope you manage to find a solution to your termite-woes; we’ve had them before and they’re a complete and utter pain. I can imagine that a big plate of cheesy enchilada goodness would make it all seem a bit less painful though.
The pictures make my mouth water. This recipe looks so delicious.
i love mexican food…this sounds soooooo good….and totally bums about termites
I could not imagine.
Saw this post before grocery shopping just when I was in need of a new menu item. These were easy and delicious and sadly were so popular there is not much leftover! Will be making this again soon. New to your blog but love it!
Awesome! Thanks Sarah!
Thanks so much for the great recipe! I made it tonight with the addition of two ingredients–black beans and black olives. I sprinkled both on top of each of the refried bean layers. It came out so good that my family had huge servings and my daughter even went back for seconds. Luckily I made a bigger version in a 9 x 13 pan so we have leftovers for tomorrow.
Yum! Sounds great! I love your additions – I’ve also added roasted vegetables which is reeeally yummy too!
Everyone agreed that this Chicken Enchilada Casserole tasted even better the second night than it did the first! I love finding recipes that make both my kids and my husband happy. I’ll definitely be making this one again and again! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Awesome! I thought the same thing – makes perfect leftovers.
Oh, dear… termites?! You are a brave soul.
BTW… Are you able to cast an absentee ballot from so far away?
“And that, my friends, is the definition of food blogging.” Haha! That made me laugh so hard because I have definitely found myself doing the same thing! This dish looks delicious. Hope you figure out the termite situation!
Oh goodness, yes let’s talk about this casserole because to me it doesn’t get much better than that.
This looks SOOOOOO good! Good luck with the termites.
Oh no! I feel your pain. Somehow we went 2 years with not a single bug in our kitchen and now we have ants. I’ve emptied the kitchen twice and cleaned every surface and I swear there’s nothing for them to eat but they keep coming. Good luck with the termites – at least it’s a “rental”.
That is our line of reasoning too.
termites – what a buzzkill. not on your post but on your dinner party! that stinks Lindsay and Bjork! Sorry guys.
This casserole though – saving my LIFE. I need something like this this week. I have a terrible work week ahead but coming home to THIS would undoubtedly make work that much more tolerable – esp as I approach the 5 o’clock hour!! Saving this recipe. And my god, I more more in love with your photos post after post guys
First of all, sorry to hear about your house and the uninvited “termites” guests. Hope you can find a solution that fits better to your family!
Last week I made some chicken enchiladas for my family and my husband (who has become a food critic, somehow) was mentioning that it needed something, more sauce, to be exact. Your chicken enchiladas looks like it fits his pallet a lot better, I’m for sure giving it a try!
the recipe looks super but the picture is totally awesome.
This looks so simple and so yummy . . . cannot wait to try it!
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it. Good luck on the unwanted pets. As always love reading your blog – makes me smile everytime
Thanks Stephanie!
So sorry about the termites! But these enchiladas are absolutely to die for! I’m totally making this for Jason when he comes back to town!
Printed this one! Looks yummo! And I LOVE simple, few ingredient recipes.
Praying those termites catch a train out of your apartment!
Could corn tortillas be used in place of flour with similar results?
I think so! They are a bit more fragile but if you used 4 per layer instead of 2 I think you could have similar results. And I love corn tortillas! Yum.
Thanks! I’m GF so I always try to modify yummy recipes.
That really sucks about the termites! I can’t even imagine having to deal with something like that!
At least the enchilada casserole looks amazing…
That looks ridiculously amazing! I must try this recipe.
This is insanely good and oh-so easy!!
THANK YOU!!
Glad you liked it Lea!
Did you know that this recipe is the second-most “favorited” recipe on foodgawker in the last 7 days? wooo!
I think I need to make this for my hubby tomorrow night. Love the video you and Bjork made! I don’t know how you fit everything in. If your lovely mom is still with you, give her a big Hello for me. Love you all!
I made this last weekend. It was a great meal to heat up all week long. Very cheesy!
Hi Lindsay, I just want to say thank you for the generosity in sharing all of the information you do here. We’re new to food blogging, still crawling, and my husband has become your blog’s most ardent fan, probably. We’re Filipinos and we enjoy the stories you share about the Philippines, yes, even those of termites! We hope you get it treated soon! And, by the way, Mexican is my favourite cuisine and this casserole dish looks wonderful, thanks!
That’s awesome! You are officially the first Filipina that I know who really loves Mexican food. I miss my Mexican food so much and it seems like people here aren’t really into it! What part of the Philippines do you live in?
My mom’s crazy about Mexican food (she used to live in California) so passed that love down to me and my siblings. We used to live in Davao City and now are based near Toronto. I have a sister-in-law in Cebu.
I made this the other night for my husband and we ate the whole thing. Yes, the. Whole. Thing. In one sitting. Stop making things that are so delicious or we will get fat.
We added some things to feel less guilty about eating all of it. I roasted about 1 cup of corn with 1 diced jalapeno and some garlic cloves and oregano, and layered that with the chicken. We also used black beans instead of refried because my husband is addicted to black beans.
Then, we drizzled the whole thing with honey, probably one tablespoon, right in the middle layer before adding the cheese. The honey accented the spiciness of the jalapeno just perfectly.
And then we ate the whole thing. It was just too delicious.
This looks like a lasagna, not enchiladas. If you look at the can sauce those are enchiladas!
Mine turned out watery/soupy… should I have cooked it longer? I followed the directions and it tasted great but it didn’t look as good as yours in the pictures.
Did you let it cool for a while? It needs to rest a while after baking so that it all kinda soaks together.
Yeah I let it rest for 15 minutes and it helped it set a little bit but it was still runny. I think next time I wont put in the entire 19oz can of enchilada sauce and see how it goes!
This recipe is fantastic! I’ve made it twice – the first time for a potluck – and everybody wanted the recipe!
Delicious… and easy. I added a small can of sliced black olives and used a rectangular glass pan, but otherwise stuck to the recipe. Looking forward to serving leftovers to my son and fiance.
Looks great! Can’t wait to make it. My “go to” tip for shredded chicken is to throw a few breasts along with broth into a slow cooker on low for 4 hours. I always make this ahead of time when I’m around home on the weekends and freeze it for later use! Shreds much easier than when it’s boiled, although if you don’t have 4 hours and a slow cooker, boiling works just fine!
This recipe looks amazing! Would be perfect for an upcoming potluck I have. I was wondering, will the enchiladas hold up if I assemble it the night before and refrigerate overnight?
I think so! Using stale tortillas might help…as weird as that sounds…because if they’re too soft they might just get soggy and fall apart.
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times now and it always comes out great! Next time I’m going to try it with green chili sauce.
This recipe is to die for I’ve made it 100 times!! I’m on a diet now so it’s hard to fit it in …. Would you happen to know the calorie content per serving??
Not offhand but I use this site a lot for my calorie info: http://www.laveem.com/ so you can give that a try!
Love this recipe!! I added another layer of sauteed sweet onions and yellow peppers on top of the chicken. Excellent!!
This is one awesome blog.Thanks Again. Much obliged.
I cooked this tonight. I used whole wheat flour tortillas. Turned out great. It’s always a compliment when our 4 year old likes something right away