CROCK POT KING RANCH CHICKEN

We love rotisserie chicken from the store. It makes for a quick and easy dinner. The only problem is we don't like dark meat which is half the chicken. So instead of wasting the dark meat it I use for soups and casseroles where my family knows its chicken but can't tell which part of the chicken. So this week I had some leftover chicken and decided I really wanted king ranch chicken for dinner. I usually cook this in the oven, but I thought maybe I'll just try it in the crock pot. Normally this casserole would only take about 30- 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven but since it was going in a crock pot I would have to allow more time. So I did a little quick math in my head and decided I had just enough time before dinner to try this. With the chicken being cooked it would only take about 2 ½ - 3 hours to cook. My casserole came out awesome! It tasted just the same as it would have in the oven. The difference was I didn't have to stay home to cook it or heat up my kitchen. Now I changed up the usual recipe for king ranch chicken and used Tostito chips.  I found that the corn or the flour tortillas got too soggy after cooking and the chips held a better texture especially for leftovers. I think you could use either tortillas or chips with this recipe. Here is a quick oven to crock pot conversion chart so you can try some of your favorite recipes in the crock pot. Now this is for only using cooked meats. It would take a lot longer if the meat needed to cook. When converting from the oven to the crock pot I always have a tendency to start with a low setting and start checking my dinner at the earliest time to prevent burning the edges. Remember if everything is already cooked it will take less time to heat and blend together.

OVEN   350 – 375                              DEGREES	CROCK POT
15 -30 MINUTES	1 ½- 2 ½ HOURS ON HIGH 3- 6 HOURS ON LOW
35- 45 MINUTES	2 -3 HOURS ON HIGH 6-8 HOURS ON LOW
50 MINUTES TO 3 HOURS	4- 6 HOURS ON HIGH 8 -18 HOURS ON LOW

   

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 cups of cooked chicken

1 onion chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

2 cans of cream of chicken soup (can substitute one with mushroom or celery)

1 can of Rotel tomatoes drained

1 tsp of chili powder

1 tsp. of minced garlic

2- 3 cups of grated cheddar cheese

1 bag of Tostito chips

DIRECTIONS:

Spray your crock pot with PAM. First take a large bowl and mix all your soups and Rotel tomatoes together. Add your chopped bell pepper and onions, then your cubed chicken and mix together well. Place a layer of chips in the bottom of the crock pot. Then add a layer of the chicken soup mixture. Top this with a layer of cheese. Repeat the layers 2 more times ending with the cheese on top. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 -3 hours.