Doritos Enchilada Casserole

Years ago, dear hubby's Aunt gave me a recipe for this casserole. She was a wonderful cook and I made this recipe lots of times.  I can no longer find my recipe so I looked for a substitute.  I found two that I want to try.



Doritos Casserole

Ingredients

   2 tablespoons vegetable oil

   1 yellow onion, finely chopped

   2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

   1 pound ground beef

   1 package taco seasoning

   1 (14.5-oz.) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes

   1 (4.25-oz.) can chopped green chiles

   1 (15-oz.) can cream of chicken soup

   1 (9.25-oz.) bag Doritos Nacho Cheese-Flavored Tortilla Chips

   1 1/3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

   Fresh cilantro to garnish (optional)

Directions

   Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add onion and sauté until softened and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add beef and break up with a spoon; cook until completely browned. Add taco seasoning and stir to incorporate. Mix in tomatoes, green chiles, and cream of chicken, and stir occasionally over medium-high until liquid thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

   Transfer chips from the Doritos bag to a large bowl. Use your hands to break up the chips until the pieces are small but not quite crumbs.

   Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour one-third of the meat mixture in the bottom of a 9- x- 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle 1/3 cup shredded cheese over the layer of meat. Sprinkle half of the crushed Doritos evenly on top of the shredded cheese. Pour another third of the meat mixture on top of this Dorito layer and spread evenly over the chips. Repeat the layering process with another 1/3 cup cheese and remaining Doritos. Pour remaining meat mixture over top and spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining 2/3 cup shredded cheese on top. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and bake until the cheese begins to brown, about 20 minutes.

   Allow to cool slightly before serving with fresh cilantro to garnish.

https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/doritos-casserole


Doritos™ Cheesy Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

   1 bag (10 oz) Doritos™ Cool Ranch™ flavored tortilla chips, coarsely crushed (about 6 cups)
   1/4 cup butter, melted
   2 cups shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese (8 oz)
   1 jar (15 oz) four cheese Alfredo pasta sauce
   1 tablespoon Old El Paso™ original taco seasoning mix (from 1-oz package)
   3 cups shredded cooked chicken
   1 can (14.5 oz) Muir Glen™ organic fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained

[b]Steps
   
   Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) baking dish with cooking spray. In large bowl, toss Doritos™ and melted butter until well coated. Sprinkle 4 cups of the Doritos™ evenly in bottom of casserole. Top with 1/2 cup of the cheese.

In large bowl, stir pasta sauce and taco seasoning mix until well blended. Add chicken, tomatoes and 1/2 cup of the cheese; stir until well mixed. Spoon evenly over Doritos™ in baking dish

Bake uncovered 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining Doritos™ and remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake about 5 minutes longer or until hot and cheese is melted.

https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/doritos-cheesy-chicken-casserole/df0f6a82-9a66-4f7f-a9b8-50713507d112


When I made the Aunt's recipe I made lots of substitutions, the biggest one used regular tortilla chips instead of Doritos.

Also, if you're looking for things like this to learn from and adapt into your favorite thing, Frito Pie is a whole category of recipes you can check out.

Frito Pie is something I am very familiar with:

https://permies.com/t/140672/Frito-Pie-Quick-Easy-Meal

I am looking for something that uses crushed tortilla chips, chicken, or beef in a saucy casserole and is quick and easy.

Some folk think of this type of casserole as something crunchy related to nachos though that is not what I am looking for.

https://permies.com/t/150896/Nachos-Rachel-Ray-Super-Nachos

Here is another variation of this type of casserole.

At some point in time, I have made this casserole.

First, a little history:

King Ranch is the largest ranch in the United States. At some 825,000 acres

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ranch

It's hard to describe King Ranch casserole to those who've never experienced its deliciousness, but we'll try: It's an ooey, gooey, cheesy, spicy, and oh-so satisfying combination of pantry staple ingredients you probably already have on hand.

King Ranch chicken is a Tex-Mex casserole with unknown origins, though it's assumed the dish is named after King Ranch, Texas. The casserole consists of pulled chicken, canned soup, green chiles, corn tortillas, sour cream, veggies, and lots of cheese.

Ingredients

   1 tablespoon vegetable oil

   1 medium white onion, diced

   1 medium red bell pepper, diced

   1 medium green bell pepper, diced

   1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

   1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

   1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers (such as RO*TEL®)

   1 cup chicken broth

   2 tablespoons sour cream

   2 teaspoons ground cumin

   1 teaspoon ancho chile powder

   ½ teaspoon dried oregano

   ¼ teaspoon chipotle chile powder

   1 (3 pound) cooked chicken, torn into shreds or cut into chunks

   1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese

   10 (6 inch) corn tortillas, cut into quarters

Note:

Tortillas
Use corn tortillas cut into quarters. Some reviewers use Doritos or tortilla chips for a fun, crunchy twist.

Directions

   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

   Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Saute onion and bell peppers in the hot oil until warmed through, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add both cans of condensed soup, diced tomatoes with chile peppers, chicken broth, sour cream, cumin, ancho chile powder, oregano, and chipotle chile powder; mix until sauce is well-combined.

Spread a few tablespoons of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Layer with 1/2 of the chicken, 1/2 of the sauce, 1/2 of the Cheddar cheese, and 1/2 of the tortillas.

Spread the remaining chicken over the tortillas. Spread all but 1/2 cup of the remaining sauce over the chicken, then top with another 1/3 of the Cheddar, and the remaining tortillas. Spread the remaining 1/2 cup over top, and sprinkle with the remaining Cheddar.

Bake casserole in the preheated oven until bubbling, about 40 minutes.

Turn on the broiler and broil until the top is golden, 2 to 3 more minutes.

Edit to add:Chef John's https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/236805/king-ranch-chicken-casserole/

What I ended up doing was to "sort of" combine all three recipes.

My Corningware is too heavy to use in my tiny toaster oven so I used a round cake pan.

I measure the broken chips out of a package of tortilla chips.  The cake pan would hold 3 cups.

I heated two cans of cream of chicken soup and 1 can of chicken just to combine everything.

For the cheese layer, I used Velvetta.

The layers went like this:

Layer of sauce
1 1/2 Cups broken tortilla chips
Sauce
Velvetta
1 1/2 cups broken tortilla chips
Sauce
Velvetta

I put this in the toaster oven on turbo at 350' for about 20 minutes or until the casserole was bubbling and the cheese was melted.

I used salsa as a garnish rather than an ingredient.

For folks that do food storage, this recipe is a great way to use up items that need rotating.