Chicken Taco Bake

 

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Chicken tacos forever!

Once upon a time, I attempted to make beef nachos.  They turned out great-ish.  They were great because they tasted fantastic. They were also terrible because the chips at the bottom were a soggy mess. Basically, I made a taco bake with chips at the bottom.  I ended up stuffing them into tortilla shells. I loved the way the flavors melted together! I then abandoned my ideas for nachos because taco bakes are where it’s at!

Since I wanted to make a taco bake, the next time I made the dish, I omitted the chips.  Who needs chips anyway?  Apparently I did because the entire thing ended up being sooo soupy.  Still good, but soupy.

The thing about making a taco bake with ground beef is that the beef doesn’t really soak up anything.  It just hangs out in there with the rest of the ingredients and the end result is a liquid mess.  A tasty mess, but still a mess. I was going about this all wrong.  How could I get a taco bake that actually set up and wasn’t a taco soup?

Chicken!

I discovered this by total accident.  I bought some grilled chicken to make for lunch.  I figured it would make a nice wrap.  Well, I bought Southwestern style chicken, something I wouldn’t buy at all!  I hate overly spicy food so I would have skipped on this altogether.  Also, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now writing this blog post if I didn’t make this “terrible” error.  Anyway, I decided to go with the Southwest chicken one day. I threw it in a tortilla with cheese on top and put it in the microwave to melt.

It was basically the best thing ever.

I loved the flavor of the Southwestern chicken and how much it tasted like a chicken taco.  I didn’t even have to season the chicken!  It tasted like a taco on its own!

It was time to bring back the taco bake.

I gathered my ingredients and got to work.

At the bottom, I put two 6oz packages of Southwestern chicken.  I shredded it a little so there weren’t such big pieces.  I spread it in an even layer across the bottom of my pan.

Next, I put a layer of black olives.  I love olives so I used an entire 6oz can.  I also diced up the olives and formed a single layer on top of the chicken.

Now it was time for the diced tomatoes!  I used a 14.5oz can.  You might find this unnecessary because the next step is salsa, but I loved the extra tomatoes. I drained the can and dumped them in!

Salsa time!  I used a 16oz jar of mild chunky salsa and placed it across my mixture.

Lastly, I put a layer of shredded mild cheese at the top!  I love cheese so I used a lot.  I had mild cheddar, but the taco blend would be fantastic too!

Then I put it all into a 350 degree oven until the cheese melted, about 20 minutes!  I then spooned the mixture into tortilla shells and had the best chicken tacos ever!

Chicken Taco Bake

Recipe by Tiff @ www.onthecreekblog.com

An taco bake made easy by already seasoned chicken!

Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 12oz Southwestern Style Chicken, shredded
• 6oz Black Olives, diced
• 14.5oz can Diced Tomatoes, drained
• 16oz Chunky Salsa
• 8oz+ Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese

Cooking Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Take an 8x8 glass pan and layer the ingredients as follows:
- Bottom Layer:  Chicken
- Next Layer:  Black Olives
- Middle Layer:  Diced Tomatoes
- Next Layer:  Salsa
- Top Layer:  Shredded Cheese

Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.  Serve warm in tortilla shells.