Best King Ranch Chicken Cotton Country Collection Cookbook Recipes

THE BEST KING RANCH CHICKEN EVER

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375.
• Dice chicken into small bite size cubes and cook in pan with oil, ground cumin, and chili powder.
• Pour a light layer of chicken broth at bottom of casserole dish to line.
• In a medium size bowl, add chicken, rotel, cream of mushroom, and chicken broth and mix.
• Line bottom of pan with corn tortillas
• Add chicken and soup mixture over the tortillas.
• Add a light layer of diced onion over soup mixture.
• Top with layered mixture between both kinds of cheeses.
• Repeat last 3 directions until casserole dish is filled and topped with cheese (usually only 2 layers).
• Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minute.

KING RANCH CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
• Make the soup/tomato mixture, which is very bizarre and might scare you off. But please: Be brave and stick with me through this challenging time. You won't be sorry! In a large bowl, combine the soups and diced tomatoes and chiles. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and chicken broth. Then--this is the time to be strong--stir it all together. Trust me!
• Line the bottom of the baking dish with half of the torn tortillas. Layer on half the chicken. Add half the onion, bell pepper and jalapeno. Sprinkle on half the cheese and pour on half the wacky soup mixture. Then repeat the layers, beginning with the rest of the tortillas, and ending with the rest of the you-know-what.
• Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake until bubbling, another 15 minutes.
• Look at that! Serve it with a salad and a dang hearty appetite.
• To make ahead and freeze: Fold foil over the unbaked casserole and freeze until solid. Then, lift the foil-topped casserole out of the pan, wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap and freeze until needed. When ready to bake, remove the plastic wrap, put the foiled-topped casserole back into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and thaw. Bake at 350 degrees F following the baking instructions above.

KING RANCH CHICKEN CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Saute onion, red bell pepper, and green bell pepper in hot oil until warmed through, about 2 minutes.
• Combine onion-pepper mixture, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, sour cream, cumin, ancho chile powder, oregano, and chipotle chile powder together in a large bowl and stir until sauce is well-combined.
• Spread a few tablespoons of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Spread 1/2 the chicken over the sauce. Spread about half the sauce over the chicken and top with 1/3 the cheese. Spread a layer of tortillas over the cheese. Spread remaining 1/2 the chicken over the tortillas, and top with almost all of the remaining sauce, reserving 1/2 cup sauce. Top with 1/3 the cheese, remaining tortillas, the reserved 1/2 cup sauce, and remaining 1/3 cheese.
• Bake casserole in the preheated oven until bubbling, about 40 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to broil. Broil the casserole until top is golden, 2 to 3 minutes more.

ORIGINAL KING RANCH CHICKEN

Steps:

• 1. Boil chicken, remove meat from skin and bones. (save broth).
• 2. Sometimes I will use 6-8 chicken breasts instead of whole chicken when I'm in a hurry.
• 3. Saute onions and green pepper.
• 4. Mix with soups, tomatoes, cubed chicken, and chicken broth.
• 5. Line bottom of Pyrex casserole with six corn tortillas.
• 6. Add 1/2 of chicken/soup mixture; spread over tortillas. Sprinkle grated cheese over mixture.
• 7. Then make another layer of six tortillas, chicken/soup mixture, and cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 250-300 F 1 hour until cheese is bubbly.
• 8. Please note that you can make this recipe much lower in fat by using the fat free soups and fat free chicken broth. It turns out just as tasty.
• 9. I've also substituted Cheddar Cheese, as well as Lite Velveeta in place of the Monterey Jack cheese and it was all good.
• 10. The original recipe uses corn tortillas, although some people prefer the flour. I believe the corn gives it a better flavor myself. For variety, you can also omit the tortillas and use tortilla chips, or even noodles/pasta, in their place. At one time or another, I've tried every variation - they are all good, although I am partial to the corn tortillas.
• 11. Adding a can of black beans or corn, also takes it to another level and adding a few slicked black olives and a dollop of sour cream before serving makes a nice presentation.

KING RANCH CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 11 by 7 by 2-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Sauce: Melt butter in medium heavy skillet over moderate heat. Add garlic, red pepper, and cumin and stir-fry 1 minute. Blend in flour, add broth and milk, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth -- about 3 minutes. Stir in sour cream, salt, and black pepper to taste; set aside. Filling: Melt butter in large heavy skillet, over moderate heat. Add onion, green pepper, green chilies, mushrooms, tomatoes, and pimiento, and cook, stirring often, until vegetables soften and flavors meld-10 to 15 minutes. Tortillas: Pour oil to depth of 1/2 inch in small heavy skillet, set over moderate heat, and heat until ripples appear on skillet bottom. Holding tortillas by tongs, dip one by one into oil just long enough to soften, 5 to 10 seconds. Drain on paper towels.
• To Layer: Arrange half of tortillas in bottom of prepared baking dish, then build up layers this way, distributing each evenly: 1/2 chicken and 1/3 sauce; 1/2 each filling, cheese, olives, and scallions, and 1/2 remaining tortillas, chicken, filling, cheese, olives, scallions, and finally, remaining sauce. Bake, uncovered, until bubbly- about 30 to 35 minutes. Serve at once.