King Ranch Chicken Casserole is a Tex-Mex casserole dish made with chicken, tomatoes, green peppers, and onions. This recipe gets its name from the King Ranch in Texas, a large ranch also known as the world's largest cattle ranch.
This recipe is a southern family favorite that stretches all the way from Mexico. This cheesy and flavorful chicken casserole recipe is a great way to get your family together for dinner.
⬇️ Table of Contents
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Prepare all within 15 minutes. How quickly it all comes together. Making it the perfect weeknight dinner plan, baking the King Ranch Chicken Casserole to golden brown perfection takes 40 to 50 minutes.
What How To Make
🥘 Ingredients
- Roasted Chicken (option: using chicken breast, chicken thighs).
- Corn Tortillas (using flour tortillas will result in a chewier texture).
- Use Corn Tortilla Chips as a replacement for corn tortillas.
King Ranch Casserole Sauce
- Butter
- Onion
- Red Bell Pepper
- Poblano Pepper
- Rotel
- Adobo Sauce
- All-Purpose Flour
- Mushroom Soup
- Cream Corn
- Chicken Stock or Chicken Broth
- Black Pepper
- Sea Salt
- Green Chile / Hatch Chiles
Dry Ingredients For The Sauce
- Chili Powder
- Garlic Powder
- Sea Salt
- Cumin
- Oregano
The Cheeses
- Mexican Cheese Blend
- Monterey Cheese
- Queso Fresco
Queso Fresco is a slightly salty and drier cheese with a flavor like mozzarella. It is awesome. Look out for this cheese in your grocery store if you haven't tried it before. It's common in grocery stores nowadays.
Garnishes
- sliced Jalapeno
- sliced Roma Tomatoes
- Queso Fresco Cheese
- Sour Cream
- Roasting a Whole Chicken (Optional)
🥣 How To Make King Ranch Chicken Casserole
First, cut one large onion into small and medium dice. This will offer additional textures to the King Ranch casserole.
Next, clean and slice the red bell pepper and the poblano pepper. Begin by cutting off the top of the bell pepper, then remove the seed and rib.
Use a mandolin if you have one; if not, slice thin or dice to a size you enjoy.
Add two tablespoons of butter to the bottom of a medium-sized pot. Over medium-high heat, add bell peppers, poblanos, and onions. Begin by sweating the vegetables.
The idea is to remove some of the natural water. This will help the King Ranch Chicken not be soggy.
Tip: Add a solid pinch of salt to bring out the flavor and allow the peppers and onions to release their natural water.
The next ingredient is Rotel. A great ingredient that can be used in so many ways. Add 3 tablespoons or to taste.
Rotel has new flavors: Serrano, Chipotle, Fire-Roasted, Mexican Style, and Chili Fix'Ns.
Secret Ingredient Alert:
Ingredient: Chipotle Peppers in Adobo sauce - 1 Tablespoon
Add even more to bump up the spice profile.
Chipotles are not as hot as some like to believe. They're roasted Jalapenos. The roasting process sweetens the peppers. Still spicy...
Easy to make yourself at home. Here's our Adobo Sauce recipe. I always keep some in the refrigerator. The image below is of our Adobo.
Or, just buy chipotle in adobo sauce at the grocery store. The recipe does not use the entire can. It will keep in the refrigerator for a few weeks, stored in an airtight container. It works nicely with BBQ. Try using some in your BBQ sauce next time.
Time To Add Some Thickening Agents
The thickening agents will help create that luscious creamy sauce texture everyone loves.
- Add 1 ½ tablespoons of all-purpose flour to the pot with the onion, peppers, and Rotel. The flour will start to thicken the sauce quickly. Be sure to stir while adding the flour to help reduce any lumps.
- Add in 1 can of cream of mushroom soup. If you would like to move past the canned soup stuff, here's our chef version: Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Then, add the chicken stock or broth to start thinning out the flour. Add 2 cups to start. Add in up to 4 cups. Add more if needed. Recipe: Le Cordon Bleu Chicken Stock
- Add five tablespoons of sweet cream corn.
Add The Dry Ingredients Next
- 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ teaspoon Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Cumin
- black pepper - to taste
Evaluate if it needs a splash of chicken stock. Now is the time to get the consistency where you want it.
🥘 Construction
The layering of the King Ranch Chicken casserole is equally important to the selection of ingredients to achieve the properly finished texture.
Start by soaking corn tortillas in chicken stock for about 40 seconds. Add cooking spray to the bottom of the casserole baking dish to avoid sticking.
Layout 6 tortillas in a 9 by 13 casserole dish. Then cover with a layer of roasted shredded chicken.
Add some of the amazing sauce we made right on top of the chicken.
After adding the sauce, sprinkle some of the Queso Fresco & Mexican cheese all over.
Repeat the steps above to create a second layer.
Use the same steps, starting with the soaked corn tortillas, the shredded chicken, more sauce, and the cheese layer.
Now it is time to add Monterey Jack cheese right on top.
Finish by topping with more of the special Mexican cheese blend and garnishing with tomatoes or diced tomatoes and jalapenos. The jalapenos will sweeten while baking, reducing the spice level.
De-seed jalapenos if you're concerned about them being too spicy.
Top each tomato with a sprinkle of Queso Fresco and black pepper.
I purchased a grocery store rotisserie-cooked chicken and removed all the meat. In the video, I demonstrate how to remove all the chicken meat from the bones.
How Spicy Is This King Ranch Chicken Casserole?
This recipe is very mild in terms of heat. You can add more jalapenos or hot sauce if you want it to be spicier.
🍗 Chicken From Scratch
✏️ Planning Tip: Start the day before and roast a whole chicken. The flavor will improve in the refrigerator overnight. The advantage of roasting a chicken at home is that you can control the size of the chicken. I like a lot of chicken in my casserole.
The chicken will not be piping hot fresh from the oven. Removing chicken meat off the bone when it's hot is very hard.
Here is the link to the Perfect Roast Chicken - Every Time
💭 How To Truss A Chicken
Take 2 Minutes - Technique Right Here
Watch the short video, and you'll learn an invaluable skill for life.
Preparing the Chicken
Lay the chicken flat on a cutting board and start by cutting off the legs and thighs, moving on to removing the breasts and wings.
Finish by using your fingers to remove the rest of the chicken from the bone. I demonstrate this in the video found on the recipe card below.
I have 2 posts covering how to cut up a whole chicken ↩️
⏲️ Baking Temp & Time
Pics - Before Baking
After Baking
How Long Will It Last In The Refrigerator?
Can I Use Beef As A Replacement Protein?
If you want to reduce the amount of fat, you can par-cook the beef on the stovetop, then drain the fat away.
What If We Don't Like Jalapenos?
📖 Recipe
King Ranch Chicken Casserole
Suggested Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups Roasted Chicken shredded
- 16 Corn Tortillas / 4 extra in case some are broken, use the best looking pieces
King Ranch Sauce
- 2 tablespoon Butter / to saute the onion & peppers
- 1 large Onion / small and medium dice
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- 1 Poblano Pepper
- 3 tablespoon Rotel / onion & peppers mix
- 1 tablespoon Chipotle In Adobo Sauce / be sure to try our recipe, so good!!!
- 1 ½ tablespoon Flour
- 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 5 tablespoon Cream Corn
- 4 cups Chicken Stock / start with 4 cups and add more if desired
- Black Pepper / to taste
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt / taste and adjust before construction
Dry Ingredients - The Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
- ½ teaspoon Cumin
- ½ teaspoon Oregano
The Cheeses
- 16 oz Mexican Cheese Blend / 1 whole bag
- 6 slices Monterey Cheese
- 1 ½ cups Queso Fresco
Garnish
- sliced Jalapeno
- sliced Roma Tomatoes
- Queso Fresco Cheese
- Shredded Cheese
Instructions
Preparing The Chicken
- Roast a whole chicken or purchase a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Our link to "Roasting the Perfect Chicken".https://www.butter-n-thyme.com/perfect-roast-chicken/
- Shred the chicken away from the bone once the roast chicken is at a temperature you can handle. The whole chicken will be used. Cut the chicken into medium pieces, then mix all parts of the cooked chicken evenly. Tip: Keep chicken bones for chicken stock
Making The King Ranch Sauce
- Start by cutting the onion, poblano pepper, and red bell pepper into medium/small dice; use a mandolin if you have one. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a medium-sized pot and melt; once melted add onion and sweat for a few minutes, then add the poblano and red bell pepper along with a pinch of salt. The salt helps the sweating process and releases the natural water.
- Next, add the chipotle pepper and Rotel (add to taste). Stir together, then add in the flour. Once mixed, add the cream of mushroom (you could use cream of chicken soup as well) add 5 tablespoons of cream corn. Then add 2 cups of Chicken stock to start, add up to 4 cups of chicken stock to get the consistency you enjoy. If the sauce seems too tight/thick, you can add more chicken stock.
- Add all of the seasonings next, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, black pepper. Taste and adjust your season, salt level, etc.
Building the Casserole
- Spray 9 by 13 casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Then dip the corn tortillas into chicken stock for 40 seconds. Layout 6 corn tortillas per layer, then spread out one of the layers of chicken, sauce, the Mexican cheese blend, and then some Queso Fresco. Repeat the same layering steps over to build the next layer.
- On the presentation layer(top), use 6 slices of Monterey Cheese slices, then add the Mexican cheese blend on top of it, followed by laying out sliced tomatoes. If you like jalapenos, add them to the top layer for presentation. Finish with Queso Fresco over the tops of the tomatoes.
Cooking / Baking
- Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. If you want to add additional browning, you can place the casserole under the broiler for a few short minutes.
Notes
- Make-ahead dinner plans. Prepare the full recipe, minus baking. Make sure everything is cooled down to around room temperature before baking. Then cover and seal with plastic wrap or an air-tight container. It will last in the refrigerator for 1 week.
- Ingredient Idea: Adding different cheeses like parmesan or pecorino to top the casserole.
- Using low-fat cream of mushroom soup will change the recipe to require a little more flour, around ½ tablespoon.
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