Chicken Salsa Bake

I got this recipe from my Rachael Ray magazine (Nov 2008). The actual recipe is called Chicken Salsa Verde Bake but I didn't use salsa verde so I don't think I can call it that. I have made this twice now and the 2nd time it was Steve's idea. Steve's dad, sister, and brother-in-law were stopping by on their way to Minneapolis. I like it when I can tell Steve really likes something. Oh and Shikhar loved it too, I think he had 4 helpings?

If you can't tell, I love casseroles. I like that I can clean up after myself while it is cooking in the oven and I like that it is easy to pack up for lunch the next day.

Chicken Salsa Bake

2 T vegetable oil
2 1/4 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I think I have used 3 good sized breasts each time)
2 16 oz. jars salsa (I actually used only 1 jar but I guess this is up to you as to how much you want)
1 15 oz. kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 onion, finely chopped
1 C sour cream
3 C crushed tortilla chips
1 8 oz. bag shredded Mexican-style cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet, heat the oil over med heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until cooked through, 10-12 minutes. I actually put the lid on the skillet so it would cook faster, it doesn't get nice and brown this way but it doesn't really matter since you are going to shred it up anyway. Let stand until cool, then shred the meat into a large bowl. I shred the chicken by dropping the cooked breasts in one at a time and then using 2 forks I pull at the meat until it is in small pieces.

2. This isn't called for in the recipe, but I found that if you don't cook the onion a little bit before adding it to the mixture it doesn't get quite cooked enough in the baking process. So I add a little bit more oil to the skillet if needed and then sweat out the onions a little bit on med-low heat. Stir in the salsa, kidney beans, onion, and sour cream with the chicken.

3. Grease a 9x13 in. baking dish, scatter 1 C tortilla chips on he bottom and top with half of the chicken mixture and half of the cheese. Repeat the layers and cover with the remaining 1 C tortilla chips. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

This is a relatively easy dish. The hardest part is shredding the chicken. In the future, I plan on trying to plan ahead and if I am cooking chicken earlier in the week I am going to try to cook up some extra and store in the fridge specifically for this meal. That way all I would have to do to prepare this is shred up the chicken and cook up the onion. Easy as that.

I think next time I will try to add some fresh cilantro if I have some. I think that would make it even better.