Quick Chicken Chalupa Casserole Recipe

What makes this 6-8 serving recipe a quick one is it is made with a store-bought rotisserie chicken, which already has flavor to it.

Quick Chicken Chalupa Casserole

Ingredients:
  2 lbs cooked shredded chicken
  8-10 tortillas (depending on size)
  2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  1 cup green chili salsa
  1 cup red salsa (or picante)

Steps:

1. Bone and skin the chicken a head of time so the meal prep is quick.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 13x9 glass dish with cooking spray
3. Layer tortillas overlapping, then cover with chicken, 1/2 cup cheese, and 1/4 cup each salsa.  Then repeat layering tortilla, chicken, salsa until you end up with salsa and cheese on top.
4. Bake for 25 minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted.  Serve hot.

Tips:

• You can bake or boil a chicken at home and just add spices to give it a Mexican flavor, if you want to make sure it is lower-calorie.  You may also use canned chicken (or scrambled/cooked hamburger meat if you prefer beef) as long as you have at least 2 cups of cooked meat for layering steps. 
• I found similar recipes on-line that called for flour or corn tortillas - so decide which texture you like best to use in your own version of the casserole.  
• As for salsas, you can use mild, medium, or hot to your tastes.  Try it the first time with mild and then go up heat levels until you find the flavor that best suits your family and friends.
• If you prefer a creamy casserole, I have seen recipes where they use cream of chicken (or cream of mushroom) soup and small can of green chilies instead of the green salsa.  So you might want to try that too.
• Serve with possible topping options of sour cream, avocado or guacamole, cilantro or chopped green onions, and black or green olives.

If you try some of the variations or come up with ones of your own, please let me know in the comments for this post what you think.