For holidays such as Easter, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, my family always gets together to make my grandma’s amazing tamales and her chicken enchilada casserole. Although the tamales always taste like perfection, the chicken enchilada casserole is a dish that I always wanted to to make – that day has finally come.

The chicken enchilada casserole is a different way of making the typical chicken enchilada. The casserole is one large dish with three layers of tortillas lying flat instead of the typical enchilada dish with stuffed and rolled up tortillas.

When I asked my grandmother for the recipe, she sat down and told me that if I made the enchiladas exactly how she made them, I would become even more broke as a college student. We ended up using a more affordable recipe that costs under $20.

Cooking time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 chicken

18 corn tortillas

30 oz. can green enchilada sauce

1 can chopped olives

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup chopped onions

Oil for frying

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and start boiling six cups of water in a pot. The frozen chicken will need to defrost and boil for about 30 minutes until it is fully cooked.

Next, prepare the oil and tortillas for frying. Heat ½ -¾ inch of hot oil in a frying pan, grab one tortilla at a time and place each one in for 15 seconds on each side. Slowly add more oil as needed. To keep the tortillas from getting burned, keep the oil over medium heat.

Once all the tortillas are softened – and the chicken has about 10 minutes left – start grating the block of Monterey Jack cheese. After the cheese is grated, drain the water from the pot of chicken and get ready to shred the chicken.

If the chicken looks white, then it is ready to be cut. First cut the chicken into halves, or thirds, to make it easier to shred. Plant one of the pieces with a knife or fork and use another fork to gently pull away shredded bits.

Since all of the ingredients for the casserole are ready to go, it is time to put the casserole together.

In a 13×9 oven-safe pan, lay down six tortillas for the first layer. After the tortillas comes the chicken.

Sprinkle the chicken over the tortillas and then add both the grated Monterey Jack cheese and mozzarella cheese on top of the chicken. For added flavor, throw some chopped olives and onions into the mixture. I personally think the chicken enchilada casserole wouldn’t be the same without the olives, so I highly suggest adding them.

Lastly, drizzle green enchilada sauce over the top of the layer and then repeat those steps one more time.

For the top layer of the casserole, everything but the chicken will go on top. Another difference with the top layer is you will pour some green sauce on the tortillas before and after you add the cheeses, onion and chopped olives.

Once the casserole is completely done, put it in the oven for 30 minutes. Six to 10 slices can come out of this casserole, depending on how big the servings. Also, if you don’t plan on feeding anyone else, this casserole can be used for lunch and/or dinner for several days – hooray for leftovers.

Candice DeVries can be reached at [email protected]