Nachos and Chicken Casserole

                         

Have you ever had nachos baked in a casserole? Sounds weird, no? I also thought so at first. 

I came upon this dish while searching the net for a recipe for chicken casserole. Having relished nachos with salsa sauce, when I first read through the recipe, I just couldn't picture the nachos and chicken coming together in a sauce and was sure the end result would be a goopy, gooey mess of nachos coating the chicken. But the picture of the dish looked quite promising, enough to tempt me to try it out. Moreover, I was urged on by my dear son, who loves snacking on nachos and salsa sauce and I am sure can easily live on them alone. Luckily, I also had some leftover grilled chicken tucked away in the freezer. (I usually pan grill a big batch of marinated chicken in the beginning of the week and store it away in the freezer to use later for making salads, fajitas, casseroles. Its great for weekdays and saves a lot of effort especially when you are tired and looking for making something quick and easy.)

With the grilled chicken ready, the dish was a breeze to assemble. Tweaking the original recipe, I decided to use some salsa sauce in between the layers, as after all nachos are most popularly eaten with the salsa sauce. I also threw in some sausages and bacon while stir frying the chicken which added a beautiful flavor to the whole dish. I loved the way the nachos were part soft and part crunchy and combined with the grilled chicken surprisingly tasted really good together.

Baked till the cheese on top is hot and bubbly, this Mexican style nacho chicken casserole definitely landed on the top of my  list of comfort food, making it a perfect, quick weeknight dinner for my family.

Ingredients

3 cups cooked chicken

6 pork sausages,chopped

4 slices bacons, sliced

2 cups thickened cream of chicken soup (I used a packet of Maggi's cream of chicken soup)

1 cup salsa sauce

1 large bag of nachos (I used cornitos- jalapeno flavor)

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

Heat oven to 180C . 

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat.

Add the bacon and sausages to the pan and cook till nicely browned.

Add in the chicken and toss in with the bacon and sausages for a couple of minutes.

Pour in the chicken soup and cook for 5-6 minutes till the sauce is slightly thickened

Spray a baking dish with cooking spray..

Spread the nachos evenly on the bottom of the dish.

Spoon some salsa sauce over the nachos.

Pour in half of the meat mixture on top.

Top with some more nachos.

Pour in the remaining meat mixture.

Cover the top with the remaining nachos and grated mozzarella cheese. 

Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes until the cheese is hot and bubbly.

Enjoy!!