King Ranch Chicken was a recipe that my Aunt Sharon from Kentucky made for her family and was a recipe she shared with our family to enjoy.
This recipe was featured in "Creating a Stir", a cookbook out in Lexington, Kentucky and inspired the cookbook committee in
Niagara Falls, New York to create "A Stir in The Mist".
Whenever myself or my family makes this tasty recipe we always remember my aunt Sharon "Bean" Borgese and what a great cook she was.
King Ranch Chicken is like a Mexican lasagna. Instead of using the pasta to separate the layers of ingredients you will use tortillas.
This recipe can be made and baked in one day, but it is even better when you prepare it the day before you are going to bake it just make sure you cover and store it in the refrigerator.
There is a lot of chopping involved so if you do have a "Slap Chop" or even a Pampered Chef food chopper this is the perfect recipe to use it for.
You will saute all the ingredients while you boil your chicken in chicken broth.
Once the chicken is done you can use two forks to shred it apart or just roll up your sleeves(and wash your hands) and start pulling the tender chicken apart. The recipe calls for a certain amount of chicken, I used a little more just to add some more to the recipe.
That is the fun part about cooking to me. Once you try the recipe once you can alter it to how you want it to taste.
Make Sure you save the chicken broth that you boiled your chicken in so you can put your tortilla shells in to soak.
You will combine all your ingredients in one pot and this will be your tasty filling.
Be careful when you take apart the chicken because it is very hot!
Once all your ingredients are combined and mixed up you can now cut up your tortilla shells into little triangles or however you wish and start soaking a couple at a time in the left over chicken broth.
Once you have soaked each tortilla, remove them from the broth one at a time letting the excess liquid drip off and you can start your first King Ranch Chicken layer. Cover the bottom of the baking dish completely.
Your chicken and the other ingredients that are all mixed together will then be your next layer and once you have covered the tortilla layer you can top it off with some cheese.
After you have used the cheese to cover the first layer, you will repeat everything all over again and your very top layer of this recipe should be cheese.
Once you have topped it off with your cheese you will either cover it and save it for tomorrow like I am going to do, or you can preheat your oven and bake away.
The final ingredient for the top of this recipe is the diced tomatoes and chilies. You can put these on if you wish, it is up to you. If you choose to use them make sure these are not put on till you are ready to bake!
With this dish you can serve a great rice dish that I will be making tomorrow so I hope you enjoy!