Description
The BEST Chicken Quinoa Enchilada Bake! Packed with flavor and perfect for a rotisserie or leftover chicken!
Ingredients
Scale
Homemade Enchilada Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (1-to-1 gluten-free works)
- 2–4 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon lime juice
Quinoa Enchilada Bake:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 1 cup traditional quinoa
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 10oz frozen corn (sub canned corn, drain)
- 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 18oz boneless skinless chicken breast (approx. 2 medium chicken breasts), cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 cups colby jack cheese, shredded (sub dairy-free option)
- topping: sour cream (sub dairy-free sour cream or plain greek yogurt)
- topping: fresh cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- Make Enchilada Sauce: Add olive oil to medium sauce pan. Bring to medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk immediately until fully combined. Add in chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano leaves, salt, ground black pepper and tomato paste into the pan. Whisk to combine. While you continue to whisk slowly pour in the broth, adding about 1/4 cup or so at a time, then stop and whisk until it is combined and thick. Continue whisking and adding 1/4 cup at a time until fully combined. The sauce should be fairly thick at this point. Turn up the heat a bit and bring sauce to a low simmer (this will help to continue thickening your sauce). Add the apple cider vinegar and lime juice. Whisk to combine. After sauce has a simmered 5-10 minutes, remove from heat and let cool.
- Preheat: Turn on oven to 375 degrees F.
- Combine Skillet Ingredients: Bring a deep, 12-inch cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add butter and let melt; swirl to coat the pan. Add onion and move around pan to soften. Add quinoa, chicken broth, corn, black beans, enchilada sauce and the chicken. Stir to combine.
- Bake: Transfer to oven and bake 40 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Top with shredded cheese and return to oven until cheese is melted, approx. 5 minutes.
- Serve: Remove from oven and serve with sour cream and fresh chopped cilantro.
Notes
- Homemade Enchilada Sauce: I cannot recommend enough that you make the homemade enchilada sauce for this recipe! It is just so good and how this recipe is supposed to taste – that being said, I totally get it, and if you need to use a store-bought version, go for it! Just make sure you use a store-bought brand that you know and love – you will need 2 cups. I do like the Siete brand enchilada sauce in a pinch.
- Chicken: you can make this with pre-cooked chicken BUT, add it in after the quinoa mixture has baked for 30 minutes. Then let bake 10 minutes to warm chicken through, add cheese and let melt. If you add it in at the beginning, it will be chewy/overcooked by the end of the bake time.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 613
- Sugar: 3.5 g
- Sodium: 1158.4 mg
- Fat: 37.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 32 g
- Protein: 40.9 g
- Cholesterol: 137 mg