My husband usually likes my food, but occasionally I make something that isn’t his favorite. The great thing about my husband is that he gives his honest opinion about everything he tries. If he doesn’t like something, he’s very diplomatic, but he’s clear about his dislike. When I made this, I wasn’t sure what he was going to think about it because I’ve never made anything like it before. Well, you should have seen the smile on Charles’ face when he ate this. He said he loved it and wanted to know when we’d have it again. It has to be a really good recipe for Charles to be so enthusiastic about it. We had it again last night, and boy was he happy.
This recipe is spicy! You can control the heat by varying the salsa and the cheese that you use in the recipe. The first time I made it, I used pepper jack cheese and a salsa verde that said, “HOT!” on it. I was only able to eat a single piece, which filled me up for the rest of the evening. I have heard that spicy food fills you up and suppresses your appetite, and I can certainly attest to that fact based on eating a single slice of this.
This is a quick and easy dinner that will become a staple in our dinner rotation. It’s great heated up as a leftover also.
Spinach and Chicken Tortilla Bake
Recipe from Rachel Ray1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 chicken cutlets (about 1 pound)
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups store-bought salsa verde
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
4 large (8″) flour tortillas
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3 cups baby spinach (about 1/4 pound)
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheesePreheat the oven to 450°. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, add to the pan and cook, turning once, until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Let cool, then shred the meat.
Whisk together the salsa verde and ricotta; season with salt and pepper. In a greased 9-inch square baking dish, layer one-third of the salsa mixture, tortillas, chicken, onion, spinach and pepper jack; repeat twice. Bake until golden-brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Yield: 4 servings
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This sounds great. Wonder if I could cut the spice a bit so my kids would dig in too. Great idea!
I just found your blog via Tastespotting and I really like it. Love your design, too. This recipe sounds like it’s right up our alley, Tex-Mex, spicy, fast, and easy. I’ll be giving it a try soon.
I subscribed to your RSS feed and will be looking forward to more great posts!
The Rachael Ray Everyday Magazine promotes a few tips for this recipe that I found helpful too:
-Swap in 3 cups crushed tortilla chips for the flour tortillas for added crunch.
-Try monterey jack instead of pepper jack cheese for a mild, less spicy dish.
-Use a 15-ounce can of your favorite beans in place of the chicken for vegetarians.
This dish tastes great and assembles surprisingly quickly and easily! We will definitely do this again! I substituted 2-3 cups of leftover chicken — big time saver. Instead of a 9″ square baking dish, I used a 10″ cast iron skillet; better suits the round tortillas. The tortillas, I cut into 6 wedges. When layering the ingredients, I lined up the wedges so to make cutting the dish easier. Next time, I will use three tortillas, rather than four; four seemed a bit much.
Tina,
Thanks for the additional suggestions for the recipe.
Diane
Carol Anne – I’m so glad to hear that you’ll make the recipe again. I will too. My husband keeps asking for it.
Diane
I live in a group home and made it for the 5 girls I live with. They liked it but didn’t love it, I also thought it was good not great.
Any suggestions on making it great?
Emma
Hi Emma,
Sorry you didn’t love the recipe. What didn’t you like about it?
Diane
Loved this! I also used a round baking dish which was a perfect fit for the tortillas. I used medium salsa and monteray jack cheese so it wasn’t too spicy. I served it with mexican rice, refried beans, and sliced avocado
This looks tasty and easy! Will be trying it out on the family sometime this week.
This looks and sounds very good, but I’m kind of confused as to how it is placed in the pan. Will all of the edges be open? It kind of looks like the back of the one in the picture is somehow closed off, or is that just an illusion?
Hi Chantelle,
I just made this again for dinner tonight. It’s really delicious. If you buy the large tortillas, they fit very well in a 9″ square pan. If you cut the resulting tortilla bake into wedges, all of the edges are indeed open, but the cheese used holds all of the layers together nicely.
Hope this helps.
Diane
Over the years I’ve come up with something very similar. Same basic idea but with the following:
Large tortillas
Refried beans
Chopped Spinach
Cubes of chicken
Diced tomatos
Kraft Mexican Shredded Cheese
Garlic Powder
Assemble and spray exterior of tortillas lightly with Pam
Put on baking sheet and bake at 350 until tortillas start to turn crispy
Serve with sour cream and picante sauce
I’m sure with a little imagination you can come up with your one favorite ingredients! The nice thing is that it is just about as fool proof as it can get.
Had this last night and everyone loved it. Instead of using fresh spinach, I used two frozen packages. After they thawed out, I used a spoon to press out as much water as possible. I also used small tortillas and cut them into quarters. Thanks!
I made this using mild salsa, frozen spinach, and mild cheeses, and it was delicious. Even the person who claims to not like Mexican cuisine LOVED it! The leftovers were even better. Another winner!
I’m glad you liked this one too. Charles likes this EXTRA spicy, and I prefer it slightly milder. Next time, I might make half spicy and half mild.
Diane
I making this tonight! I’ve already made it before and loved it. It’s almost dinner time!
This is a very easy and tasty recipe. My husband always likes it when I make a new dinner recipe. He LOVED this one. I used a medium salsa verde and a mild cheese. I think I might spice it up a little more next time.
Hi Colleen!
I’m so glad that you and your husband liked the recipe. My husband LOVES this one as well and he’s always happy when he sees me making it.
Diane