Somewhere during my years of living in Austin, Texas, I heard about King’s Ranch Casserole, leading me to learn about the biggest ranch in the US, a ranch bigger than my prior home state, Rhode Island. You can imagine the cooks on the ranch back in the 1940s and 50s were embracing canned foods such as cream soups and Ro-Tel. This was originally a dish called King Ranch Chicken, but has somewhere along the line evolved into a casserole for somewhat obvious reasons. It is comforting and delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 whole roasted or smoked chicken (rotisserie works just fine), chicken, pulled and shredded roughly
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 pkg. corn tortillas
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 lb. cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cans Ro-Tel

Instructions

1. Mix chicken, chili powder, garlic powder, onion, pepper, Ro-Tel and soups. Set aside.
2. Heat chicken broth in skillet.
3. Heat tortillas one at a time in chicken broth until soft, remove from pan and place in a 9 x 12 inch casserole dish.
4. Place a layer of tortillas and about 1/3 of chicken mixture.
5. Top with cheese and repeat layers ending with cheese on top.
6. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.