Scout Chef Kitchen Presents: Easy Chicken Enchilada [Recipe]

Welcome back to the Scout Chef Kitchen! Right about now, activities that involve and keep everyone busy are just what the doctor ordered. This is an easy recipe that can be made for lunch (yay, morning activity!) or for dinner (woooo, afternoon activity!).

Ingredients:

½ onion – diced

½ - 1 bag of tortilla chips (depends on your family size. ½ works for my family of 3) – split the amount into 3 bowls

1 can refried beans

1 package of chicken thighs (or, if you are doing this outdoors, 3 cans of canned chunk chicken OR a pack of chicken that you cook on the grill would be fun, too!)

1 can green enchilada sauce

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 small jar salsa (I used medium because I like a kick)

1 package of shredded cheddar cheese

Cooking Instructions:

This recipe can be made outside in a Dutch oven (that is the way it was originally written in this book, which is where I adapted this recipe from!) or inside in the oven (which is how I made it).

Heads up, you can catch a video of me making this on our Instagram (@scoutshop_bsa) under the Scout Chef Kitchen stories highlights!

1. Prepareby dicing your ½ an onion, and then sautéing in a very light amount of olive oil on medium heat. They would even be good slightly caramelized (keep them over the heat until they go from transluscent/clear-ish to brown). I didn’t do this when I tried this recipe and wish I had because that would been even tastier, I think. If you are outdoors without access to a pan/cooktop, then you can throw this into the Dutch oven uncooked and it turns out well!
2. Spray the inside of the Dutch oven with cooking spray
3. Layer the bottom of the Dutch oven with a single chip layer (1/3 of the chips you are using)
4. Spread refried beans over that layer (this is a fun exercise in patience, haha)
5. Dust the refried beans with garlic powder
6. Cookthe pack of chicken – I cook for 15 minutes on one side at medium-high heat, and then flip and cook 13 minutes on the other side (be sure that the internal temp of your chicken reaches 165° Fahrenheit using a meat thermometer). Again, if you are doing this outside, you can use canned chicken or grill up your chicken!
7. Chop up the chicken into small chunks and sprinkle over top of the refried beans
8. Spread the onions over the chicken
9. Mix the enchilada sauce and condensed chicken soup together and pour over the onions
10. Layer ½ the bag of cheddar cheese on top of the whole mixture
11. Lay out another layer of tortilla chips (1/3 of the chips you are using)
12. Top that layer with the other half of the cheddar cheese
13. Bake for 40 minutes at 350°
14. Take out of the oven and drizzle the salsa over everything
15. Serve with the remaining tortilla chips (the last 1/3 of the chips) and a side of extra salsa

Now is the BEST time to try out fun new recipes, and this one is great for the whole family. You can also customize it and add various toppings like diced bell peppers (red would be a good flavor in this), minced jalapeno (if your family likes a kick), chopped tomato, and even a dollop of sour cream!

Share your pictures of how you are #ScoutingAtHome on Instagram for your chance to be featured on our social media channels – who knows, YOU could be the person to inspire another family to try out a new recipe!