Description
This Mexican Tater Tot Casserole is made with Mexican braised chicken, fajita peppers, and binding it all together is a queso cheese sauce. With Tater Tots on top it can't get much better!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- Baked Mexican Chicken
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 2 c shredded cooked chicken
- Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder, Oregano, Smoked Paprika, Cumin, Onion Powder
- Tabasco or Frank's Red Hot Sauce
- 1 c of your favorite salsa
- 1 c of a light beer (Drink the rest)
- Cheese Sauce
- 2 T unsalted butter
- 2 minced cloves of garlic
- 2 T flour
- 2 c milk
- 2 c coarsely grated Cheddar or Jalapeno Monterey Jack
- 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t black pepper
- Casserole
- 14 oz frozen pkg of fajita peppers and onions, THAWED and drained well. Blot with paper towels.(I buy mine at Trader Joe's.)
- 1/2 c roasted green chile or 2 - 4 oz cans of green chilies drained.
- 1 c coarsely grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack jalapeno cheese
- Frozen Tater Tots (I used 55 tots to cover an 8 x 11 baking dish.
- Garnish: I used equal parts Mexican Crema and hot sauce but this depends on how hot your hot sauce is. Or you could just serve both on the side.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325. Start by baking the chicken. I usually do this the day before. Slice chicken breasts in half if they are thick. Place in a greased pan in a single layer. Cover with suggested seasonings. Pour beer and salsa over the chicken and a dash of hot sauce, too! Cover with tin foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Let cool and then shred with two forks.
- Start your cheese sauce. Melt butter in a heavy 2 qt saucepan over medium low heat. Add minced garlic and cook until soft. Stir in flour and whisk for two minutes to make a roux. Add milk in a steady stream, whisking and cooking for two minutes. Remove from heat and gradually add 2 c of cheese, stirring until cheese is melted. Then add salt and pepper.
- Preheat oven to 400. Mix shredded chicken , fajita peppers and chiles together in a large bowl. Spread half of the mixture into an 11 x 8 greased casserole dish. Spread with half of the cheese sauce. Top that with the rest of the chicken mixture. Top with the rest of the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with 1 c of grated cheese. Now cover with tots in neat rows.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until tots are golden and crunchy. If you want to make this ahead do not cover with tots until ready to bake. You may need to add more time to the cook time since I assume you will have refrigerated this. To reheat if frozen, cover with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour, remove foil, and increase heat to 400 and bake for another 20-30 minutes or until tots are good and crunchy and mixture is hot.
- Serve with hot sauce and crema, salsa, ketchup, or anything your heart desires.
