Crockpot White Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe
This Crockpot White Chicken Enchilada Casserole is easy to prepare ahead and then enjoy for a weeknight family dinner. Chicken breast is shredded into tender pieces and then layered with tortillas, sauce, and cheese. The sauce is a simple creamy white sauce with onions, garlic, green chilis, and warm spices. It all comes together in the slow cooker or crockpot for warm, creamy, cheesy and delicious family dinner!
Servings 6 servings
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
Chicken (Tip: you can also buy a rotisserie chicken to replace these ingredients)
- 8 ounces Chicken Breast Skinless and Boneless
- ½ teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive oil
- 2 teaspoons Chili Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt enough to season before roasting
- 1 teaspoon Pepper enough to season before roasting
White Enchilada Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
- ½ Yellow Onion, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 4 ounces Green Chilis ~or finely diced jalapeno or poblano pepper about ½ cup
- 2 teaspoons Chili Powder
- 2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
- ¼ cup Fresh Cilantro, Chopped
- ½ cup Chicken Broth
- 2 tablespoons Cornstarch
- ¼ cup Milk
- ¾ cup Sour Cream
Layering Ingredients
- 4 Scallions (Green Onions)
- 12-14 Corn Tortillas 6 inch
- 16 ounces Cheddar Cheese Shredded split into thirds to ensure enough for the 3 layers
Optional for Garnish
- 1 Tomato diced
- ½ cup Sour Cream
- 1 Scallion finely sliced
Instructions
Prep-Ahead
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
- Rub the chicken breast with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until internal temp reaches 165 degrees F. Take the chicken out and let cool for 10-15 minutes until cool enough to shred. Shred into small bite-size pieces. TIP: buy a cooked rotisserie chicken so all you have to do is shred it!
- While the chicken is roasting... Dice the onion, mince the garlic, chop the cilantro, and thinly slice the scallions (scallions are for adding into the layers). You can also make the cornstarch slurry by mixing the cornstarch into the cold milk until completely dissolved.
Make the Sauce
- To a small sauce pot, add the olive oil and onions and cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Then add the garlic, green chilis, chili powder, cumin, chicken broth, cilantro, and cornstarch slurry. Bring to a simmer, stirring until it gets thick.
- Turn off the heat and whisk in the sour cream completely.
- At this point you can either move on to the assembly or put the scallions, sauce and the chicken in the fridge until you are ready to assemble.
Assemble the Enchilada Casserole
- Spread a very thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish, so that the tortillas don’t stick. Next, place corn tortillas in a single layer to cover the bottom and making sure you have enough for 3 layers.
- Spread a layer of the sauce over the tortillas.
- Spread ⅓ of the shredded chicken over the sauce. Then sprinkle scallions over the chicken. Add ¼ of the shredded cheese.
- Repeat for 2nd layer. Add another layer of tortillas over the cheese, then sauce, and another ⅓ of the chicken, scallions, and ¼ of the cheese.
- Repeat for 3rd layer. Add another layer of tortillas over the cheese, then sauce, and the final ⅓ of the chicken, scallions, and ¼ of the cheese.
- Add the final layer of tortillas making sure to fill in any holes with broken tortillas. Spread the final layer of sauce over top and top with cheese and scallions.
Cook!
- Set the slow cooker to 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low (default to the fewest hours for high/low depending on your slow cooker settings)
- Serve and Enjoy!
