Mexican Spaghetti Casserole

Another Mexican Casserole… what can I say, I live in Texas! TexMex food is the bomb! Haha! A favorite casserole has always been King Ranch Chicken but I needed to make one that would go along with our eating lifestyle change. This one does not have the Doritoes or the canned soup mix. But it’s oh so yummy!!

It calls for a cooked spaghetti squash. Man those things are HARD to get into so BE CAREFUL!! Once you open it, use an ice cream scoop to scrap out the seeds. This works wonderful!! Turn it upside down and put about a cup of water into a baking dish. Bake till cooked.

If you don’t have any cooked chicken ready to go (which I just happened to have on hand that night) boil you up some chicken breasts or bake some chicken or even pan skillet cook the chicken. And shred it into a big pot. Love my Dutch Oven!

Add in your spice and rotel. Heat it up.

Mix that up and add sour cream.

Okay next I added some Queso Cheese (like Velveeta but it’s our local HEB brand of Queso Blanco made from REAL CHEESE, I like it soooooo much better than velveeta), this is option if you don’t want to use that kind of cheese. You could add in a little heavy whipping cream and Monterrey jack cheese or cheddar cheese.

By now your squash should be ready to go. Once again the awesome ice cream scoop comes in handy! If you want to scoop it out into a strainer to drain off the excess water, go for it!

Scoop the squash into the chicken mixture. Mix well.

Now pour mixture into a BIG baking dish and COVER with more cheese!!

Bake this baby up to melt the cheese on top! YUM!

Serve this up with some guac or avocado, salsa, even a little bit of Baked Blue Corn Tortilla Chips for that added crunch. Just not too many if you are following Trim Healthy Mama because this dish is an S meal for sure and oh so yummy!! Hope you enjoy!!

MEXICAN SPAGHETTI CASSEROLE
BY Sarah Criddle
serves 8 to 10
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Ingredients:

1 large spaghetti squash cooked
4 cups of cooked chicken or 3 to 4 chicken breasts cooked
2 cans of rotel
1 cup of sour cream
4 tbsp. of homemade taco seasonings (click on link to go to my recipe for taco seasonings)
salt to taste
1 cup of Queso blanco cheese (like velveeta cheese in the box but our local HEB brand and way better, made with real cheese) or 1 cup of favorite cheese.
1 to 2 cups of cheese for top of casserole
avocado
salsa for topping
baked blue corn tortilla chips

Directions:

Open up and removed seeds from the spaghetti squash. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until it’s tender when pressed. Cook and shred about 4 cups of chicken. Put chicken in a big pan and add your 2 cans of rotel, spices, salt, sour cream, and cheese. Mix and pour into a big casserole dish. Cover with more cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is completely melted. This is an easy dish to make! Serve with your favorite Mexican toppings but be careful with the baked tortilla chips if you are following Trim Healthy Mama. But a few will add a nice crunch to the dish! Warm and filling!!