by Texas Homesteader ~
This simple Cheesy Chile Chicken Casserole recipe can be cooked the traditional way in a standard oven. But I often cook it outside in my solar oven.
So whether or not you have your own solar oven – read on, dear friends!
Cooking Outside When The Temperatures Rise
When the temps outside are spiking and humidity is on the rise I like to utilize my solar oven to keep cooking heat outside.
But the recipe card below uses regular oven instructions.
* Now let me say first of all that I purchased my solar oven myself. But Sun Oven offered a discount for my Sun Oven door upgrade in exchange for my honest review of it. If you decide to make a purchase through one of the links contained in this post I may receive a commission. But the price you pay will NOT be changed. It’s an easy way to support this blog without anything coming out of your pocket.
*About My Solar Oven: For those of you asking, I have a Sun Oven brand solar oven and I LOVE IT! If you’ve been waiting to get a solar oven of your own – now’s the time!
But you don’t have to have a solar oven to whip up this easy cheesy recipe, regular oven cooking instructions are in the recipe below.
Solar Cooking!
I’ve used my solar oven to cook many things such as:
Baked Potatoes
Homemade Marinara Sauce
There’s a whole list at the bottom of this post of my favorite solar cooking recipes, or you can click this button to see more:
I think it’s safe to say I love my solar oven! And living with the heat & humidity of NE Texas it’s certainly been a lifesaver for me. I’ve been able to keep that electric oven that pumps heat into our living area turned off and use my solar oven outside to cook our food instead.
And it’s helped when our electricity was out for various reasons – storms & such. It’s a great Emergency Preparedness Tool.
Casseroles are wonderful things to make in the solar oven, so today I’m making the Cheesy Green-Chile Chicken Casserole that RancherMan’s been jonesing for.
This recipe makes good use of leftover cooked chicken. But you could start with raw chicken breasts if that’s what ya have, just cook it seasoned with a mixture of chili powder, cumin, cayenne, garlic powder and paprika to your tastes.
To cook the chicken I used my slow cooker’s crock in my solar oven. That way I might not have to dirty up every stinkin’ dish in my kitchen! But, knowing me, I’ll make up for it later. I simply cannot cook without dirtying up massive quantities of dishes! LOL
I seasoned 3 chicken breasts and placed it all into the crock trying to spread it all out best I could. Then I put the lid back on and set the crock in the solar oven.
EZ Sun Tracker Simplifies Oven Alignment
I used to have to try to guess when my solar oven was pointed perfectly toward the sun. That’s the best way to get the most efficient heat.
But I’m apparently not a very good guestimater. 🙂
The newer solar ovens come with a Sun-Tracker Cube. But mine was an older model so I bought a retrofit kit to get the tracker cube. I couldn’t be happier about how much easier it’s made aligning my oven. (the skies open wide and choirs sing!)
The result is a higher temperature achieved in the oven in a much shorter time. YEA! I love this thing!
Can You Use A Solar Oven On A Partly-Cloudy Day?
Even if you get some dotted clouds in the sky it’s not a problem cooking in a solar oven, you just cook the food a little longer. For this partly-cloudy day it took about 1.5 hrs to get the chicken’s internal temps to reach 165 ºF.
Then I brought the chicken inside, allowed it to cool and diced up the cooked chicken breasts. It resulted in about 3 cups of cubed chicken.
Chicken Casserole Filling
Now that the chicken’s ready I turned my attention to the filling.
First I chopped a large onion. Then into my skillet I added just enough bacon grease to sauté the onion. When the onion was translucent I added a minced clove of garlic.
When the onion was translucent I started piling in the other ingredients:
One can green enchilada sauce
One un-drained can of diced tomatoes
One can of Cream of Chicken soup (which you can TOTALLY make yourself, but purchased is fine too).
1 drained 7-oz can of diced green chiles
I dumped everything into the pot, got the mixture hot and then stirred in the 3 cups of diced cooked chicken.
Layering The Casserole Ingredients
Now it’s showtime! Here’s how to layer the Cheesy Chicken Chile Casserole:
Spread a little sauce on the bottom of baking dish
Layer 3 corn tortillas on top of the sauce
(Note, I totally make my own Corn Tortillas too, but purchased is fine)
Top tortillas with 2 cups of chicken meat mixture
Add about 1/2-cup of shredded Mexican-blend cheese
Repeated layers twice more
Top with remaining cheese
Just because I like the way it looks, I often top it with a few sliced black olives. Then just slide your casserole into a 350ºF oven until the cheese melts. It only takes about 15-20 minutes.
What Goes With Cheesy Green-Chile Chicken Casserole?
There are a few our our favorite Tex-Mex sides that I like to serve with this chicken casserole:
Whatever you serve with it, give this savory chicken casserole a try!
Did you make this Cheesy Green-Chile Chicken Casserole? Please rate the recipe in your comment below!
Cheesy Green-Chile Chicken Casserole
I use my solar oven for this delicious casserole with a Mexican flair. But you can use a regular electric or gas oven as well. ~TxH~
Ingredients
- 3 cups Cubed, leftover cooked chicken (about 3 medium breasts)
- (If using raw chicken, season & cook chicken breasts with chili powder, cumin, cayenne, paprika to taste)
- 1 can Diced Tomatoes, undrained
- 1 can Green Enchilada sauce
- 9 corn tortillas
- 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
Instructions
If you don't have leftover cooked & cubed chicken breast you can cook chicken breasts that are seasoned to taste with chili powder, cumin, cayenne and paprika.
-
Chop cooked chicken breasts into cubes (or about 3 cups, cubed) and set aside.
-
Make casserole filling by sauteing onion and garlic in a small amount of oil until translucent.
Then add 1 un-drained can diced tomatoes, 1 can green enchilada sauce, 1 can Cream-of-Chicken soup and 1 can drained chopped green chiles.
When heated through add cubed cooked chicken and stir gently - heat until warmed through.
-
In a casserole dish spread just enough sauce to coat bottom of dish. Then layer 3 corn tortillas on top of sauce.
Ladle 2 cups meat mixture on top of tortillas and spread to edges of dish. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over all.
-
Repeat these layers twice more and top with remaining cheese. Add sliced olives to top if desired.
-
Place in preheated 350℉ oven until cheese is melted, about 15 - 20 minutes.
Recipe Notes
SOLAR COOKING: If cooking chicken in a solar oven, season & place in covered dish in Sun Oven until temperature probe placed in thickest part of chicken reads 165℉. My solar oven took about 1.5 hrs on a partly-cloudy day.
Assemble the casserole and return covered baking dish into pre-heated solar oven. Try to maintain about 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Bon Apetit!
~TxH~
This post categorized in 
Looking For Other Solar-Cooking Recipes?
Meat
Casseroles
Breads & Sweets
- Chunky Apple Cinnamon Bread
- Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Brownies
- Pumpkin Bread
- Baking Bread In A Solar Oven
Other
- Cooking Hard-Boiled Eggs In A Solar Oven
- Homemade Marinara Sauce
- Baking Potatoes In A Solar Oven
- Emergency Preparedness On The Homestead
Tips
You can see our other SOLAR cooking articles here
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