This is the MOTHER of all recipes ever posted on Simple Daily Recipes.
Anyone who's been around here long enough, knows I don't cook meals that call for too many steps. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only other extensive recipe I've ever posted was Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas.
Even though this recipe has a lot of steps compared to my usual recipe format- Folks, believe me when I tell you, it's ALL WORTH IT IN THE END.
The only regret you will have is that you didn't double the recipe.
LET'S GET THIS DINNER STARTED
I want to first demonstrate the steps involved. The ingredients and measurements are at the bottom of the post.
Roast the 4 Chicken breasts. Follow my regular roasting technique. Allow the chicken to cool down enough to handle. You can either cut the meat into bite size chunks or shred it. It's up to you. Set aside.
While the oven is hot, set it to broil and roast one red bell pepper and one poblano pepper. Roast until they start turning black, turning to cook all the sides. My broiler element is old, so it took me about 10 to 15 minutes to get these peppers tender.
Allow peppers to cool, then peel away skins and seed core and discard. You can rinse the peppers after you're finish cleaning them. It doesn't remove their flavors in anyway.
Dice all the peppers; start by cutting across making 1/4 inch strips, then cut lengthwise with 1/4 inch cuts.
Voila! Chopped peppers set aside.
Now for making the creamy mushroom sauce from scratch. DON'T be tempted to go buy a can of cream of mushroom to save a step - you'll ruin the recipe!
Chop onions and mushrooms. Cook in oil and butter until tender.
Add flour, stirring continuously, cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add chicken broth, still stirring until smooth, and cook until sauce starts to thicken, 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.
Using a stick blender or regular blender, carefully blend mushroom sauce until pureed. Stir in 1 cup of nonfat sour cream until smooth. Set aside.
Spray a 13x9x2 inch casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Pour about a 1/2 cup of mushroom sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Lay down 6 corn tortillas in pan. Add 1/2 the chopped chicken and top with shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheese. Drizzle a little cream sauce on top. Save most of it for the top layer.
Lay down another 6 corn tortillas. The rest of the chicken and diced peppers come next. The poblano is too spicy for the kids, so I left it off on one third of the dish. The red bell pepper is sweet, so I dropped a little for color and introduction. Pour on ALL mushroom cream sauce.
Finish with a layer of cheese
Cover with foil.
Starting with a cold oven; place dish on middle rack, set oven to 350F degrees. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until hot and bubbly.
SHOO! You are READY TO EAT the BEST KING RANCH CHICKEN you've ever eaten!
NOW FOR THE GROCERY LIST AND MEASUREMENTS
- 4 chicken breasts, skin on, bone in
- a little oil to coat the chicken
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 poblano pepper
- 4 tablespoons butter (for cream sauce)
- 1 tablespoon oil (for cream sauce)
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2 cups chopped mushroom
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 3/4 cup nonfat sour cream
- salt & pepper to taste
- 12 corn tortillas
- 2 to 3 cups cheddar and jack cheese, blended
Like I said earlier, this dinner IS WORTH EVERY STEP and you really will wish you doubled the recipe.
I sure did and next time, I will.
Nice job tackling the extra steps. It certainly looks delicious.
Good morning Andy!
Thank you for noticing. I’ve had this recipe on the back burner for 2 weeks. Knowing that most of the readers here prefer simple and quick recipes (I do, too), I wasn’t sure it would be worth my time to actually post this one. You know what I mean?
There’s the time it takes to prepare a meal and then adding in the time to edit images, relive the cooking process in my mind, then write it down in easy to follow instructions. It took 2 1/2 hours to get this recipe posted.
If one person cooks this recipe and comes back to tell me, then I know it was worth writing about.
I just wanted to add a note here about the creamy mushroom sauce.
It’s not absolutely necessary to blend the mushrooms and onions with a stick blender or regular blender. You can skip the blender and go straight stirring in the sour cream, if you want.
Remember, I have little kids that don’t like strange brown bits or onion pieces in their food. I use the stick blender, OFTEN, to hide onions, garlic, mushrooms, etc.
Its looking great and great really great.I like its presentation too.
This stuff rocks! It’s good for lunch the next day too. I like the creaminess of it along with the spicy flavor. It’s like comfort food with a kick.
I love chicken and this appear vey good i hope it will be one of the best chicken
[...] King Ranch Chicken Casserole [...]
This looks like a great recipe with plenty of flavor. Thanks for sharing that little extra.
oh my gosh, this reminds me of a thing my mother used to make that was absolutely the best! cream of mushroom soup and canned chilis and shredded chicken and tortillas… i LOVE that this is all homemade/from scratch! Yummm!
Hi Corinne!
I am very familiar with the recipe your Mom made. It was all I knew too. But after learning to make sour cream enchiladas and roasting peppers, I realized I could make King Ranch chicken without the canned soups. So I did.
I don’t think I can go back to the cans ever again. I know the difference now.
Thank you Thank you! for taking the time to post this one. My family including my twins love this! I did use a red pepper and green pepper instead of the spicy pepper. It was awesome. Well worth the effort.
Please keep the receipes coming!
Thank you Denise!
I like your idea of using a green bell pepper instead of a spicy poblano. I’m going to throw one of those in next time, so I can have a mild side with color!
And thank for confirming that this recipe IS WORTH THE EFFORT.
I’m working on your Chicken Cacciatore recipe today and I’ve invited my neighbor over to help us judge whether I did a good job.
I’ll keep you posted.
Jill, Just wanted you to know that I posted this recipe on my blog. As I am sitting her I am thinking I should have ask you first. Please read it or if you want me to remove please do not hesitate to tell me. I dont want to offend you by no means.
I made this last night and it was awesome again!
Oh Denise, you’re cool. You told your readers where the recipe came from and that’s what linklove is all about.
It’s the spamblogs that take my recipes, wrap them with ads and never share the revenue that bother me.
It’s time to make this again. I’m going to use Denise’s idea with the green bell pepper this time, because I have 4 mouths that like the mild side.
I’m saving the spicy kick for the salsa & chips on the side.
What would be a good dessert to finish this meal?
Our Supper Club made this dish and to be honest- maybe we didn’t season it enough- but ours was really bland. I think if I ever made it again I would add lots of garlic to the mushroom cream sauce and instead of corn tortilla inside the dish- I would make it without and eat it with nacho chips. We all loved the creaminess- but to us it needed more seasoning. (Just as a side note- non of us have kids- we were making it for all adult eaters.)
Thank you Philly Supper Club!
How cool is that? A supper club! I want to be in one!
You know, by all means, kick up the heat if you love spicy. This dish normally calls for a can of spicy Rotel tomatoes to be mixed into the sauce.
If it were just me, I’d roast the chicken with habenero sauce or chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Then add more spicy adobo sauce drizzled over the top of the dish.
Garlic would be a great in the mushroom sauce!
Thank you for coming back and sharing how you would enjoy it. When/if you make it again the way you’d eat it, PLEASE LET US KNOW what you did different. There’s other spicy food lovers reading this blog and they’d appreciate your input, too.
Jill you are welcome to join us anytime you find yourself in Philadelphia on a Sunday evening….we meet at 8 and eat soon after!
Thanks for all the great ideas!
I tried this last weekend and my wife liked it very much. Thanks.
Jill, this looks amazing! I don’t make casseroles very often, I will have to try this.
GINA!! ((BIG HUG))
Oh my friend, this IS one of the best recipes I’ve ever cooked. Go ahead and double the ingredients and put the second casserole in the freezer. The first will be eaten in a flash!
This was delicious and your photos were beautiful. I spiced things up a bit by adding: 2 cloves garlic; 1 tsp cumin; 1 TBSP chili powder; 2 chopped jalapenos and 1 cup of corn (I love corn) – awesome!
Oooh, just came across your site, in desperate need of some new chicken recipes, and I am loving this recipe! I can’t wait to try it!
I also appreciate that you take the time to explain the difference between actually making the mushroom/onion cream sauce, as opposed to throwing in a blob of cream of whatever soup! It never occurred to me that it was a few more steps than a basic cream sauce!
Thank you for some refreshing recipes that go beyond noodles, meat, and blob of creamed soup!