Chicken Mexican Lasagna is a delicious meal made with shredded chicken coated in poblano cream sauce layered between flour tortillas with black beans, corn, salsa, and cheese.
One of my favorite parts of my job is getting to connect with people from all over the country. Recently a reader named Cindy made my reader-favorite Poblano Cream Sauce and she left me a comment to explain what she made with it.
Inspired by a restaurant where she lives in Texas, Cindy made a Mexican Lasagna with chicken, corn, salsa, black beans, Fresno chilies, cilantro, and cheese, covered with the poblano cream sauce.
I was with my friend Maya when I got the message from Cindy, and we instantly knew that we need to try Mexican Lasagna. I made it two nights later and Maya and our friend Jess came over for dinner and a movie. I made so much that I sent them home with packed lunches to bring to work the next day.
You can make shredded chicken, or you can do what I did and just shred up chicken from a rotisserie chicken. Once the chicken was shredded, I mixed in some of the poblano cream sauce and some cream cheese. Good luck not eating spoonfuls of that straight out of the bowl – it’s good.
The chicken, cream cheese, and poblano sauce mixture gets layered between flour tortillas along with vegetables and cheese. Feel free to get creative with this recipe. Add your favorite taco ingredients and make it your own. I used both refried beans and whole black beans because I like the contrasting textures. Choose what you like.
To make this meal you are going to need to make my Poblano Cream Sauce. This recipe has a cult-like following and I make it on a regular basis. It’s a bit of a pain to roast and peel the poblano peppers, but it’s worth it. The end result is a smokey spicy creamy sauce. If you want some extra heat throw in a jalapeno or two!
Once you have made the poblano cream sauce and shredded the chicken, the Mexican Lasagna comes together quickly and easily. The poblano cream sauce can be prepared a day in advance and stored in the fridge if you want to do some of the work ahead of time.
Mexican Lasagna reheats well. Eat it throughout the week or pack it for lunch. I recommend drizzling some extra sauce on top before reheating. Mexican Lasagna is also a nice meal to give to someone else. Just assemble it in a disposable pan. I like to give friends some extra sauce on the side too.
I opted to garnish the lasagna with some fresh green onion and sliced tomatoes. I love the flavor contrast of fresh and cooked vegetables.
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How to make Mexican Lasagna:
Chicken Mexican Lasagna
Chicken Mexican Lasagna is a delicious meal made with shredded chicken coated in in poblano cream sauce layered between flour tortillas with black beans, corn, salsa, and cheese. It can be prepared in advance and is a perfect casserole to give to a friend.
Ingredients
- 4 cups of Shredded Chicken
- one batch of Poblano Cream Sauce
- 1/2 cup of Cream Cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup of Salsa
- 2 ears of Corn, corn sliced off the cob
- about 12 Flour or Corn Tortillas (medium sized)
- about 1 cup Refried Beans
- 2 cups of Cheese (I used a Cheddar Jack mix)
- 1 (14 ounces) can of Black Beans
- Optional garnishes: Sliced Tomatoes and Green Onion
Instructions
Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Before we get to the recipe, you can layer your ingredients in any order you like. You can change ingredients and add extra ingredients. Make it your own.
Start by combining the chicken, cream cheese, and about 1.5-2 cups of poblano cream sauce. Stir until well mixed. You want the chicken to be well coated without it being too saucy.
To start assembling the Mexican Lasagna, you want to place a single layer of tortillas in the bottom of a casserole dish. I used a ceramic dish and did not need to grease it. You want to create the best layer of tortillas that you can and you will likely need to slice tortillas in half or cut the edges off.
Next, spread all of the refried beans on top of the tortillas in an even layer. Sprinkle with about 1/2 cup cheese. Then add another layer of tortillas.
Pour the salsa over the tortillas and sprinkle half of the raw corn over. Top with another layer of tortillas.
Spread half of the chicken mixture over the tortillas to make the next layer. Drizzle some extra poblano cream sauce over the top. Add another layer of tortillas.
Drain and rinse the black beans and spread half of them over the tortillas. Sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of cheese and drizzle about 1/2 cup of poblano cream sauce over the top. Add another layer of tortillas.
Add the remaining chicken mixture and top with a last layer of tortillas.
For the last layer, spread about 1/2 cup of the poblano cream sauce over the top of the tortillas, then sprinkle the remaining corn, black beans, and cheese over the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until hot and the cheese has browned. If you are assembling in advance and refrigerating you may need to increase the bake time.
If you like, you can garnish with sliced grape tomatoes and green onion.