When pasta meets enchiladas, it’s basically the best thing to ever happen and that’s exactly what’s going on with this Chicken Enchilada Pasta Bake.
Quick and easy weeknight meals are the name of the game for me. I might not be a parent yet, but between my husband and I we are running around like crazy people during the week. A simple but delicious dinner is exactly what we want come dinner time and this Chicken Enchilada Pasta Bake fits the bill perfectly.
It’s basically the most glorious dinner and it all came about when I was out of traditional pasta sauce and only had Mexican ingredients on hand. Typical. I do love a taco night and if I ever was running low on Old El Paso enchilada sauce, I might have a small panic attack. Anyways, I did a mash up of pasta and chicken enchiladas (my husbands favorite meal) and the rest is history! It’s perfectly easy to make and it doubles as leftovers for a few days too! Chicken Enchilada Pasta Bake for the win!!
Chicken Enchilada Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 2 cups medium shell pasta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pound chicken thighs sliced into thin strips
- kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 5 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 15 oz crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups red enchilada sauce
- 1½ cups frozen corn
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 1½ cups grated monterey jack cheese
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- Heat olive oil over medium high heat in large skillet. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and some garlic powder and sauté until cooked, about 10 minutes, then remove onto a plate. Chop into small pieces.
- Add extra oil if the skillet if needed. Add onion and garlic, cook for 90 seconds until starting to soften. Add bell pepper and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, corn, enchilada sauce and bring to boil and reduce to a simmer for cook down for 15 minutes. Once simmering, add the pasta and chicken and stir to combine.
- Sprinkle the top with cheese then broil until golden and bubbly, about 10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro. Serve.
Photo by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling by Adam Pearson / Recipe from What’s Gaby Cooking
totally the best comfort food!!! looks so good!
Why have i never thought go this? Genius!!
My whole fam would flip over this! It looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it!
could you use a rotisserie chicken in this recipe?
100% yes
This is genius! I LOVE Old El Paso, and their enchilada sauce is seriously amazing! I can’t wait to feed this to my busy family!
I could not agree with you more about the need for quick weeknight dinners. I could faceplant into this one!
All of my favorite flavors in one! Love!
You mean I DON’T have to choose between pasta and Mexican for dinner!? Is this real life? Love it!!
I love a lot of your recipes. I love to cook and I dabble a little in changes of ingredients. But you have some really good tasting ideas. Love your site.
Thank you
Dianna
This is WONDERFUL, The flavors are awesome! I followed the recipe exactly except I forgot to add the cilantro and the broiling time was just a tad over 5 minutes. Timing was perfect for everything else. Definitely a keeper and will be a nice change for company! Loved it! Thank you!!
I took a few liberties, namely I added one 8oz container of whipped cream cheese, added in sauteed mushrooms so I could use a bit less meat, and then used less shredded cheese on top. So creamy and good!
omg delish!!
Can this be made a day ahead?
absolutely
Now this is my kind of dinner!!
This was sooo delicious! My kids gobbled it up. I used ground chicken and had to make my own enchilada sauce and it was still a quick cook. I also might have splashed a bit of heavy cream at the end. Oops!
Thanks again for another great one.
Super, super yummy!
Question: Any reason there are no serving sizes or nutritional info? Is there a blog post explaining why you don’t include these? This isn’t meant to be rude, genuinely curious.