Enchilada Pie

I can't remember why I originally started making enchiladas like this.  Probably out of laziness.  Rolling everything up individually is time-consuming when you're trying to get dinner on the table.  This way, dinner is made and in the oven with the quickness.

I've made them all different ways, using all different meats and sometimes just beefing up the beans and leaving out the meat altogether.  I normally use green enchilada sauce, but the fam requested red this time, so that's what I bought.  If you have a homemade enchilada sauce that you like, by all means skip the store bought.  Rotisserie chicken would make this meal even quicker, and I've done that, but it really takes no time to boil up a few pieces of chicken.

Here's the basics - feel free to add or subtract to suit your family:

Enchilada Pie
Makes two pans - I used a square baking dish for the second one and put it in the freezer without baking it.

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 28-oz can enchilada sauce
1 16-oz can refried beans (you can add or substitute whole beans)
1 7-oz can diced green chiles
1 lb jack cheese, shredded
Flour tortillas (corn would work in a smaller dish or if you overlapped them.  I've also used polenta)

Put your chicken in a pan with enough water to cover and boil for 10 to 15 minutes.

Let cool enough to handle and shred.

Stir in enough enchilada sauce to coat.

In a pie plate, add enough sauce to cover the bottom.

Lay a tortilla on top of the sauce.

Spread beans on top of tortilla.

Add chicken and green chiles.

Add cheese.

Repeat with another tortilla, beans, chicken, chiles and cheese.

Add one more tortilla.

Pour enough sauce on top to cover.

Add more grated cheese.

Cover with foil.

If your cheese is at the top of the pan, lay down a piece of parchment first, or spray your foil with non-stick spray.

Otherwise, you'll sacrifice all your melty cheese to the foil gods.

P.S.  If your baking dish is really shallow, you may want to set it on a cookie sheet to bake it.  

I now have burnt enchilada sauce all over the bottom of my oven.  

Good times.

Bake, covered, at 350 for 30 minute, or until heated and bubbly all the way through.

Remove foil and parchment.

Cook another 5 - 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned.

Let cool at LEAST 10 minutes. 

Cut into triangles, like a pie, and serve with desired toppings.

We had sour cream, avocado, cilantro, salsa and hot sauce.

I made a mixed green salad and we had tortillas chips to go with.

Here's dinner on my plate: