Green Chile’ Chicken Casserole is NOT just another boring casserole! It’s MY FAVORITE casserole to date!
Not too much spice but LOADS of favor! Cilantro, Chile’, Jalapeno (just a little), ah YUM! If you live in Texas those items are pretty much staples on our plates…
But even if you don’t, it’s a great casserole to try out! AND what makes it even better is that it’s THM friendly! Woohoo… and if you aren’t sure what THM is… go check it out and order the book at TRIM HEALTHY MAMA (my affiliate link)! Yep, because it has cheese & sour cream it’s an S.
This can be made super easy by using cooked shredded chicken and cooked spaghetti squash!
I will tell you a little secret… I cooked my spaghetti squash in the microwave. I poked holes in it, put it on high for 20 minutes, cut in half and scraped all the seeds out. So easy. I love spaghetti squash so much!
Next, make the sauce in the blender or processor.
NOW LET ME TELL YOU, this sauce is AMAZING!!! It’s good to have on hand to just dip veggies in! FOR REAL!
** Note- if you can make extra of the sauce, do it! It tastes like the Creamy Jalapeno Ranch from Chuys! It’s great to drizzle etra over the top of the casserole or a salad dressing or veggie dip.
Mix the shredded chicken, spaghetti squash, and 1/2 the sauce together along with cheese.
Last, place in an casserole dish, cover with cheese and foil, bake away!
Serve this yumminess with guacamole, salsa, a salad or by it’s self! 🙂 OH and use the extra sauce to pour on top… HEAVEN!
Green Chile’ Chicken Casserole
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 30 minutes
Description
A casserole full of flavor! With a creamy sauce to add to the top, you will be in flavor heaven!
Ingredients
- To make a 2 quart baking dish size-
- 3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
- 1 medium spaghetti squash cooked, seeded, set aside
- 2 cups of cheddar cheese (or more if you like it very cheesy)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- salt & pepper taste
- 1 small can of green chile’s
- 1/2 cup chopped onions (optional)
- Sauce
- 1 – 8 oz package of cream cheese
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup of water
- 1 big handful of cilantro
- 1 large jalapeno (you can use a small one instead) seeded
- 1 large clove of garlic
- salt & pepper to taste
- **Note- I would recommend making a double batch of the sauce… it’s sooo good to drizzle over the top of the casserole! You can always save it for tacos or veggie dip or even a salad dressing! Tastes like the Jalapeno Ranch Dressing from Chuys!
Instructions
- Cook & shred chicken.
- Cook & remove seeds of spaghetti squash and set aside.
- Add all the sauce ingredients into a blender.
- Blend well.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix the shredded chicken, green chile’s, spaghetti squash, half of the cheese and half of the sauce mixture together.
- Place in a casserole dish.
- Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted through.
- Serve with more sauce on top, salsa, guacamole or salad on the side.
- ENJOY!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
I tried this last night. I did not have all of the ingredients for the sauce so I added cilantro and jalapeno to some ranch dressing. Was very good. My Husband said it would make an excellent enchilada filling. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Awesome!! The sauce definitely makes it! When you can make the sauce, it’s the BOMB!! 😉
What can I sub for salsa?
You could just chop of tomatoes.
Oh my! This will definitely be one of my “go-to” meals from now on! Absolutely delicious, and easy! I love you, Mrs. Criddle–I’ve never tried one of your recipes that I didn’t really enjoy. You can cook for me anytime ☺
That’s so awesome! Thank you for sharing with me!!
In the picture, I see a red sauce topping. Is that salsa added after cooking?
Oh I just added salsa to the top!
This was amazing! I made it last night and my non-THM family kept saying, “This is really good; it doesn’t even taste healthy!” I will definitely be making this again.
Oh I am soooooo happy to hear this!!! 🙂
Made this for supper tonight. It is absolutely delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Yay, thanks for telling me!! 🙂
This looks so yummy! Do you think adding everything but the jalapeño to the sauce would change the taste much?
I think it would be fine to keep it out… or you could add pickled instead to be more mild! 🙂 Or even Green Chili’s.
About how much spaghetti squash do you end up using? Like 2 cups?
Hmmm… I think it’s more like 4 to 6 cups for the whole dish. Per serving would be more like 1 cup of squash.
Is there anything else I could sub for the spaghetti squash or for part of it? I just went to buy 3, because i plan on having this times this month andThey are about $5 each! :/
Absolutely! You can use Dreamfields pasta or even zucchini noodles! 🙂
Ok so I can eat this and NOT gain weight?
What about the cheeses? Or the sour cream?
I am very new to THM, I have NEVER eaten like this, I was always in fear of gaining weight.
Eg. Say I eat overnight oatmeal (E) for breakfast, then scrambled eggs with beef and cheese for lunch (S), and maybe one S snack and one E snack. And THEN I eat two helpings of this casserole. Won’t I gain weight? As in calories in calories out? Or do I have to exercise for like two hours so I won’t gain weight?
I sorta get the “separate the fuels” concept but I still cannot wrap my head around eating this much of…CHEESES! All very decadent. High in calories.
Please help! 🙁
haha… isn’t it awesome?! It’s all about tricking your body and keeping those bad carbs/sugar out and revving your body up with good fats!! I love it! AND I LOVE CHEESE!!!! Don’t count calories! I came from Weight Watchers and that was my biggest fear too, those calories! Of course if you start to stall you would want to cut back on so much cheese but if you don’t stall don’t worry!! 🙂
Well I did it:)
2 weeks on THM and I have lost 4 pounds…while enjoying cheese and butter etc. No more counting calories, no more fretting about fat. I feel “liberated” in a way. I am not consumed (no pun intended) with the thought of starving myself in order to lose weight.
I am doing the 100 day challenge and I really love this lifestyle. I am still learning but I love what I eat:)
Thank you.
Yay!!! I am one of the new leaders of that group!! Sounds like you are doing AWESOME!!!!
Tasty!
Just made this for dinner tonight – well sort of. I had laid out to thaw what I thought were chicken breasts. Upon closer look, it was ground turkey, but same family, poultry, right? I browned the meat and used it in the casserole per directions. It was totally delicious and I can’t wait to try it again with ground beef as well. Thank you!
AWESOME!!! 🙂
Looking forward to this for dinner tonight – it has everything we love in it! Working on the sauce just now…it’s really thick. I let my cream cheese sit on the windowsill for about 30 Minutes before using. Should I have let it get completely room temp? I’ve blended everything but it’s not pourable…
Yes… it does work best at room temp! 🙂
Thank you! I just made this for dinner and it is delicious! I will definitely be making again
Not a fan of spaghetti squash. Any ideas of what to replace it with?
Hmmm… you could probably put this over cauliflower that’s riced or zucchini noodles.
How many cups would you say for the chicken? I often buy pre-shredded or chopped rotisserie chicken at Costco…
Probably about 4 cups.
I made this tonight, its cooling as we speak. But it came out as a huge glob of mush. it smells amazing though. i didnt have sour cream so i subbed 1/2cup greek yogurt instead, drained the chilies and added them to the sauce (hiding it from my kids… haaha). Im excited to try it, but what did i do wrong?
Hmmm that’s so strange… maybe there was too much water in the spaghetti squash. Sometimes that can happen but it is more of a wet consistency though.
I planned to make this tonight. I got everything at the store but the spaghetti squash. I thought about doing zoodles but I have those reserved for another meal. I thought of adding rice but my gestational diabetes does not like rice very much. I ended up wrapping the chicken mixture in corn tortillas. I thinned the remaining sauce with a bit of chicken stock and made a creamy enchilada type dish. I hope it tastes good. It is baking now 🙂
That sounds wonderful!
I am intrigued about this recipe. I absolutely hate cilantro though–I am one of those people who think it tastes like soap. How crucial is it to the awesome sauce you mention? Can I leave it out? I know is a different flavor profile, but strangely I like coriander. Is that a good substitution?
Absolutely, just leave out the cilantro! 🙂
Love this!!!! Am in the process of making this for dinner for the 3 of us, and the sauce [we’re heat wimps here, so I only used 1/2 a jalapeño] is amazing! Reminds me of my Baja sauce recipe, which contains avocados. This recipe is now going into our rotation. Thanks, Sarah!!
Maybe I missed it, but what’s the actual recipe for the sauce???
Ah….now I see it! LOL I did miss it!!!