Weeknight Enchilada Casserole

Now more than ever these days I am making a conscious effort to use up all the leftovers. This is what inspired my recipe for Weeknight Enchilada Casserole. There was a point after we became a family of five, that I noticed the fridge was becoming an infinite abyss. Between our family food staples, leftovers, many containers of fruit (my daughter cannot get enough strawberries), and myself grocery shopping on the fly, it was getting hard to even see what we had in there.

I cleaned it out one day and never looked back. My new goal is to keep it at a minimum, buy what we absolutely need and use up whatever is hanging around in there before it spoils. I must say, I am proud at how well it’s been going. I have also tried to limit the grocery store trips to once a week or less (unless something like fruit or milk is needed) in an effort to make me really plan out our meals and eat everything in the fridge and freezer.

With these new ways came a new family favorite. Weeknight Enchilada Casserole. A staple in our house is the $5 Costco rotisserie chicken. I buy one whenever I go. We get 2 meals just slicing it up. Then I boil the rest of the chicken and pick off all that leftover meat. You’d be surprised at how much you get. And it makes yummy stock that I try to incorporate into the meal (soup, rice, etc.). Then I either freeze the leftover stock or toss it depending on what my freezer stash looks like.

A few weeks ago, I still had leftover chicken and decided to go shopping in my pantry. I found enchilada sauce, black beans, and corn tortillas. Not too surprising since by husband loves Mexican food. I decided to whip up an incredibly easy and tasty casserole.

First I quartered about 6-8 corn tortillas and layered them on the bottom of a 9X13 pan. I personally like to put my corn tortillas on a hot pan and grill them a bit. I think it adds a nice toasty flavor and prevents the tortillas from getting overly mushy, but you can skip this step.

Then I covered the tortillas with 1/2 can of enchilada sauce. I cooked up 1/2 cup of quinoa with my homemade stock and then layered that on top of the tortillas. Then I added the shredded chicken, frozen corn, and black beans.

I topped with another layer of quartered tortillas and the rest of the enchilada sauce. The casserole was finished with shredded cheddar jack cheese. The enchilada casserole went into a 350 degree oven for 20 mins. You’re essentially just warming the ingredients and melting the cheese.

This weeknight enchilada casserole was so tasty! My husband raved about it and even told me the next day as we were eating leftovers that he wanted it added into the rotation. This casserole checks all the boxes for my family. Tasty, healthy, easy, and budget.

Enjoy!