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This recipe for Easy Chicken Chilaquiles is made up of tortilla chips tossed in a green sauce and piled high with chicken, black beans, cheese, and all of your favorite toppings. The entire dish is made in just one skillet for a meal that’s perfect for a busy weeknight!
Danae here from Recipe Runner serving up this delicious one-skillet meal. If you aren’t familiar with chilaquiles, here’s the scoop. Cut fresh tortillas into slices and top with cheese. Broil in the oven until the cheese is melted and then garnish with your favorite toppings like queso fresco (a crumbly Mexican cheese), avocado and sour cream.
You can add chicken to make easy chicken chilaquiles or another type of protein.
Serve the chicken chilaquiles for breakfast or brunch alongside or topped with scrambled or fried eggs. It’s also a great easy dinner recipe that is full of protein and fiber!
If you’re looking for another fun and delicious easy casserole, try this Taco Casserole.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You can make this entire dinner in just 40 minutes or less.
- This skillet dinner is well rounded with fiber, protein, and Mexican-inspired flavor.
- It’s the perfect meal for a busy weeknight using precooked chicken and canned beans.
- You can easily customize this dish by using your favorite cheese or by changing up the protein used.
- Serve chicken chilaquiles for breakfast or dinner.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Corn Tortillas – You’ll need some fresh corn tortillas or you can use thick tortilla strips for extra crunch.
- Cooked Shredded Chicken – You can cook and shred chicken breasts yourself or use the chicken from a rotisserie chicken.
- Green Salsa (Salsa Verde) – Adds spicy tomato and chili flavor to the dish. You can use red salsa, if desired.
- Chicken Broth – Helps coat the tortillas while adding additional flavor and nutrients to the green salsas sauce in this skillet dinner.
- Pepperjack Cheese – A handful of shredded pepper jack cheese adds a melty cheese texture with a hint of spice. You can substitute with another cheese, if desired.
- Black Beans – This gives this dish protein, fiber, and pairs well with the rest of the ingredients. You can substitute with pinto beans, if desired.
- Chilaquiles Toppings – Queso fresco, diced tomatoes, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, or more green salsa are the perfect addition to the chicken chilaquiles.
How To Make Chicken Chilaquiles
Baked Tortilla Chips
If you’re not using thick-cut tortilla chips for this recipe, these instructions show you how to make baked tortilla chips out of corn tortillas.
- Prepare for baking: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a sheet pan with cooking spray. Stack the corn tortillas into a pile, and cut them into 6 even pieces making chip shapes.
- Assemble the chips: Spread the cut tortillas onto the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Brush or spray with additional oil, then sprinkle with kosher salt.
- Bake and cool: Bake them in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until they are crispy and start to brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool completely to finish crisping.
Chilaquiles
- Prepare for broiling: Set your oven to broil to preheat. Set an ovenproof skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. This should be big enough to hold all of the chips.
- Make the sauce: To the heated skillet, add the salsa and chicken broth and stir until combined. Let the sauce thicken for about 5 minutes.
- Assemble the chicken chilaquiles: To the thickened sauce, add the chips and toss them in the sauce until well coated. Spread them out in an even layer on the bottom. Top the chips with chicken, black beans, and pepper jack cheese.
- Broil the skillet dish: Add the layered skillet into the preheated oven and broil just until the cheese is melted. This should only take a few minutes.
- Garnish and serve: Once the cheese is melted, carefully remove the skillet from the oven and add your favorite toppings. Serve while hot.
Expert Tips
- Short on time? You can use canned shredded chicken, or shred the meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken. To save additional time, use thick-cut tortilla strips instead of making your own.
- Use thick tortilla chips for a quick swap. If you are using store-bought tortilla chips, make sure they are extra thick so they hold up well in the homemade green sauce.
- Keep an eye on the oven while baking. If you are baking your own tortilla chips, always keep an eye on them in the oven as fresh corn tortillas will crisp up quickly especially when coated with oil.
- Use a cast iron skillet to make this easy chicken chilaquiles recipe for the best results. If you don’t have a cast iron pan, you can use a casserole dish.
Variations
- Red or Green: For this chicken chilaquiles recipe, we used green salsa. You can change it up by making chilaquiles rojo using your favorite red salsa instead.
- Vegetarian Chilaquiles: If you prefer to make this dish without meat, try using crumbled tofu for extra protein, or add additional beans.
- If you don’t enjoy chicken, you can also use ground or sliced beef, turkey, pork, or your favorite protein combination.
- Add an egg! Make chilaquiles for breakfast by topping with a fried or scrambled egg.
FAQs
Not quite. The tortilla chips in a traditional chilaquiles recipe are supposed to be soaked but still retain a slight crunch in the middle. This is why it’s important to use thick-cut chips or make your own.
Chilaquiles is a combination of many different flavors or textures that are reminiscent of nachos depending on the ingredients and toppings you use.
While there are many ways to make this dish, chilaquiles mainly are made by soaking tortilla chips in a sauce made with red or green salsa. The chips get topped with Mexican-inspired toppings then broiled until hot. You can top the dish with your favorite toppings and serve it for breakfast or dinner.
Did you make this easy chicken chilaquiles recipe? Leave a recipe rating and review below.
Easy Chicken Chilaquiles
Ingredients
- 14-16 corn tortillas or 3-4 cups thick tortilla chips
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 1 1/4 cups green salsa
- 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese
- 1/2 cup black beans
- Toppings: queso fresco, diced tomatoes, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, more green salsa
Instructions
Baked Tortilla Chips
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Stack the corn tortillas and cut them into sixths.
- Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and lay the tortillas in a single layer on the sheet. Brush or spray the corn tortilla triangles with oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until crisp and starting to brown. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet.
Chilaquiles
- Preheat oven to broil.
- Heat an ovenproof skillet large enough to hold all of the chips over medium heat. When the skillet is hot add in the salsa and chicken broth and stir together. Simmer the sauce until it starts to thicken, about 5 minutes.
- Add in the chips and stir them until they are coated in the sauce, then spread them out into an even layer.
- Top the chips with the shredded chicken, black beans and pepper Jack cheese.
- Place the skillet in the oven and broil until the cheese is melted.
- Remove from the oven and top with desired toppings and more green salsa. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This dish looks appetizing, Ashley! I’m always on the go so I guess I’ll be making bigger batches and store them for the week. I’ll just mix it all up when I’m hungry. Can you suggest any other cheese besides queso fresco? Thanks!
Hi Dakota! You can use pepperjack cheese or cojita cheese instead of the queso fresco. Or any other cheese you like to use on tacos or nachos would work.
This was a great change from our typical ground meat tacos for Taco Tuesday. My kids loved it.
This was beyond delicious! We really enjoyed it. Can’t wait to make again!