Retro King Ranch Chicken Casserole
20 May 2010 10 Comments
in comfort food, food traditions Tags: king ranch chicken, recipe
I normally start meal planning by asking my husband whether there’s anything we haven’t eaten in a while that he’d like me to fix. I was a little surprised when his response was “king ranch chicken.” I was not so surprised when, in the next breath, he said, “The real one – like your mom makes.” Like the one my mom makes … with cans of condensed soup and Ro-Tel tomatoes. Whee! Honestly, you can’t blame him.
Old school King Ranch Chicken Casserole is the ultimate comfort food — a slightly spicy, cheesy combination of tortillas, chicken, cream and peppers.
While this is the retro recipe, I substitute in my homemade “cream of” recipe and use fresh tomatoes and chiles rather than Ro-Tel. The taste and consistency is the same.
Ingredients
- 1 roasted 2 1/2 – 3 lb chicken (cook with cumin, onion, celery and garlic … or use a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket), remove skin and shred the meat. I usually end up with 4 – 4 1/2 cups
- 10 corn tortillas
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, seeded and deveined, diced
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 can of Ro-Tel tomatoes (or two cups of diced fresh tomatoes with 1/4 cup of diced green chiles, such as a jalapeno)
- 1 teaspoon chile powder
Directions
Heat oven to 350.
Combine soup, broth, Ro-Tel tomatoes and chile powder, and then blend until smooth.
Layer the ingredients in a greased casserole dish: chicken, tortillas, onion, bell peppers, cheese, sauce. Repeat, ending with cheese.
Bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes until brown and bubbly.
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May 20, 2010 @ 12:08:21
My father-in-law recalls this dish with great fondness. I’m looking forward to trying your version.
May 20, 2010 @ 21:02:53
This looks like a yummy way to use up leftover roasted chicken. Thanks for the recipe!
May 20, 2010 @ 21:17:22
I’ve never even HEARD of this dish before, which really ticks me off cause it looks SO GOOD!
Thanks so much for posting this!
Oct 05, 2010 @ 12:57:39
It’s funny, I had never heard of King Ranch Chicken Casserole before but I recently bought the Whole Foods Cookbook and there’s a recipe for it in there. I was just looking at it last night thinking I’d love to make it. And now you’ve posted a recipe for it, lol. This is definitely something we would like. Sounds amazing!!!
Oct 05, 2010 @ 13:20:17
Brenda – you should definitely give it a try! It makes excellent leftovers!
Oct 05, 2010 @ 16:52:07
Hi Trina, So happy that you linked up to the hearth and soul hop this week! I want to welcome you to the hop and let you know that I grabbed your RSS feed. This recipe is exactly what my husband would love as well. It’s simply good comfort food and the Memory of the dish adds to the soul satisfying nature. My husband’s favorite, that I make EVER birthday for him is Chicken divan–yes, the campbell’s soup recipe one!
Thanks so much for sharing this lovely bit of home with us on the hearth and soul hop and I look forward to seeing more of your recipes in the future. Alex@amoderatelife
Oct 05, 2010 @ 17:20:03
King Ranch is an “oldie but goodie” and your version looks great. It is a great casserole.
Thank you for sharing.
Oct 06, 2010 @ 12:21:36
I’ve never heard of this recipe before. I’m usually up on my comfort food classics. Welcome to the Hearth and Soul hop, thanks for sharing.
Oct 06, 2010 @ 22:32:04
LOL – I love it “the real one, like your mom makes”! I want some “like your mom makes” please! I make an enchillada lasagna very similar but it doesn’t have the cream of soup in it – I need to try this. Thanks for linking up to the hearth and soul hop!
Oct 07, 2010 @ 07:29:38
“the real one…” LOL!! This sounds amazing…although I’ve never had it…I know it’d be a hit over here. Plus, homemade cream of chicken…off to check that out to. So glad you’ve joined us at the hearth and soul hop this week…looking forward to seeing more in the future