Nacho Casserole. Does that sound like a dream or what? This Chicken Nacho Casserole is our favorite Mexican weeknight meal! Throw it together, bake, and enjoy this cheesy, spicy, delicious, EASY Tex Mex casserole in just minutes!
Nacho Casserole
This Chicken Nacho Casserole is a combination of two of the best types of foods. If you like nachos, you’ll LOVE them in casserole form!
Happy Friday! Coming at you with a new favorite favorite recipe, SUPER EASY CHICKEN NACHO CASSEROLE!
I’ve always had a soft spot for casseroles, because they’re simple, quick, and usually loaded with cheese. Obviously casseroles with chicken are my food spirit animal.
This fun Tex Mex Casserole recipe in particular is just SO good and SO easy. Layers of crunch from the tortilla chips with spiced chicken, cheese, chiles, and more in between. What’s not to love!?
Since I made this for the first time last week, Pat’s already requested it again. So I know it’s a winner. I know you’ll love it too!
Make this amazing Tex Mex Chicken Nacho Casserole recipe for an easy weeknight meal!
Tex Mex Casserole
This nacho casserole has all of my FAVORITE Tex Mex ingredients. What’s not to love about nachos baked into one big cheesy casserole? It’s basically a dream!
I’ve got three layers of chips in there because I WANT ALL THE CRUNCH! This recipe takes chicken nachos and kicks them up an easy and cheesy notch, trust me!
The cheesy chicken layer is made EXTRA tasty because of Old El Paso. OF COURSE! Their Taco Seasoning is my jam in so many recipes, and their green chiles are my favorite way to add some subtle spice to any recipe. Not too spicy, but a little flavor goes a long way. Perfection.
How to Make Chicken Nacho Casserole
This recipe is called SUPER EASY for a reason. This cheesy Tex Mex Casserole is filled with lots of amazing ingredients (chicken, green chiles, Rotel, cheese, black beans, etc), but it only requires a few steps to make.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and heat a skillet on the stove.
- Toss the chicken in olive oil, taco seasoning, and salt & pepper.
- Now add the seasoned chicken into the skillet and cook 7-10 minutes (be sure to flip it as it cooks). Set it aside when it’s done cooking.
- In a large bowl, combine the soups, tomatoes, chiles, beans, cilantro, and cheese. Then stir in the cooked chicken.
- To assemble the casserole: place 1/3 of the crushed chips into the dish, layer in 1/2 of the chicken mixture, then another layer of 1/3 of the chips, add the rest of the chicken mixture, and then top it off with the rest of the chips and cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.
This chicken nacho casserole comes out hot, bubbly, cheesy, and delicious. It’s just like nachos, but you get to eat it with a fork and it’s a bit easier to get every ingredient in each bite!
Don’t you just want to dive in head first?! No, just me? Well don’t judge me. It’s just too tasty! Once you try it, you’ll understand. LOVE LOVE LOVE!
See the recipe card for details on how to make Chicken Nacho Casserole. Enjoy!
You’ll love these other Tex Mex recipes:
- Cheesy Mexican Stuffed Peppers
- Baked Mexican Mac and Cheese
- Frito Pie Casserole Recipe
- Grilled Chicken Nachos
- Baked Chicken Tacos
- Skillet Steak Fajita Nachos
(SUPER EASY) Chicken Nacho Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 1 ounce packet Old El Paso Taco Seasoning
- 1 cup cream of chicken soup ***
- 1 cup cheddar cheese soup from a can ***
- 1 10 ounce can Rotel tomatoes
- 1 4.5 ounce can Old El Paso chopped green chiles
- 16 ounces Mexican blend cheese divided
- 1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 6 cups tortilla chips lightly crushed and divided
- *** since this recipe calls for half cans...you should just double the recipe and make two casseroles! You won't regret it :)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat.
- In a large bowl, toss the cubed chicken in olive oil, taco seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Toss the coated cubed chicken into the skillet and cook for approximately 7-10 minutes, or until fully cooked through. Make sure to flip chicken as it cooks. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, stir together the soups, tomatoes, chiles, beans, cilantro, and ¾ of the Mexican blend cheese. Stir in the cooked chicken.
- Start by placing 1/3 of the crushed chips in the bottom of your casserole dish. Then top with ½ of the chicken mixture.
- Top with another layer of chips and then the rest of the chicken mixture. Put your last layer of chips on top and then cover with the remaining cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until hot, bubbly, and melty.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was delicious, but I was pretty confused about how much soup to put in. You mentioned half-cans in a comment, but the directions specify one cup of each kind soup, and there is exactly one cup of soup per can, so I used two full cans of soup. Turned out to be the perfect amount — I think the equivalent of just one can wouldn’t have provided enough liquid. Anyway, we liked the crunchiness and the heat from habanero Rotel tomatoes, as well as all that cheese, so I’ll definitely be making this again.
Sorry for the confusion, Helen! The cans of soup we used were 10.5 ounces, which is just a bit more than a cup. The measurements on the recipe card are correct!
⁰Question…what would you consider to be the approximate weight of the chicken you use in this recipe? The chicken breasts I buy are quite large and four of them could add up to close to three lbs.
We usually look for chicken breasts between a quarter and half a pound each, so 1-2 pounds should be fine!
Was looking for something quick and easy. This hit the spot. I didn’t have cream of chicken so I used only the can of cheese. I will definitely make this again.
Thanks for sharing!
How far in advance can this be made?
Looks very tasty!
Can I ask.. do you actually make the can of soup first? I too have to use con queso because my store didn’t have cheddar cheese. thanks!
Nope, you just toss it in straight from the can :)
One cup of soup is basically a full can, so I went with it, (doubling this recipe would feed an army). Maybe that was too much, seemed a big stodgy and dull. Some added liquid to reduce the condensed soups perhaps. Also I did a layer of chips and cheese on top, that glued all together, should have added the cheese when it was out of the oven. Will try again, this should be a great casserole, mine was ehhh.
Sorry, this didn’t quite work out for you, David. I hope you give it another shot!
The easiest fastest delicious meals ever yummy to my tummy😉
Thanks, Charla! I’m so glad you loved it!!