Green Chili Enchilada Spaghetti Squash Casserole

We love our spicy food and we love enchiladas, but I had to change it up. It is Fall and that just screams “it’s time for squash, kids!” so I thought I would try mixing one of our favorite flavors with one of our favorite squashes and “Voila!” the Green Chili Enchilada Spaghetti Squash Casserole was born.

I won’t lie. I wondered if my kids would take the bait and go for this instead of enchiladas and lo and behold, they did. They even asked for seconds! I think that might have to be my new standard for whether or not I will share a recipe. For example, the stew I made the other night? One helping. You won’t be seeing that recipe here. I should have stuck with my Pot Roast recipe which is a winner. Well, a girl has to try, right?

While we have lots of time-saving recipes to help with your meal planning, this isn’t one of them. However, it is just a little over an hour which isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Let’s go ahead and get started, shall we?

We tried this two ways. The first was to stuff the chicken mixture back into the spaghetti squash shells. This presents the recipe really well and there are fewer dishes to clean. We also baked one in a casserole dish. This was a pain to clean, however, it was easier to store leftovers. The kids had a lot more fun digging into the stuffed spaghetti squash shells, so for us, I think that was the winning option.

This recipe is naturally gluten-free and could easily turn into a vegetarian dish with some minor adjustments like replacing the chicken with chopped red, yellow and orange bell peppers and not using the sour cream. Wouldn’t that be pretty? We might have to try that combination next!

Green Chili Enchilada Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Print

Course Main Course

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

Spaghetti Squash

• 1 spaghetti squash cut in half with seeds removed
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper

Chicken Mixture

• 1 pound chicken tenders
• salt and pepper
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 4-oz cans diced green chilis
• 1 10-oz can green enchilada sauce
• 1/3 cup sour cream

Final

• 2 cups Mexican blend cheese
• cilantro coarsely chopped
• Tapatio to taste

Instructions

Spaghetti Squash

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cover a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper.

3. Drizzle olive oil over cleaned spaghetti squash halves and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Flip onto the cookie sheet - oiled side down - and bake for 45 minutes. 

Chicken Mixture

1. Drizzle skillet with oil and heat over medium-high heat. Dry chicken tenders and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add to the heated skillet and cook for 5 minutes. Add onions and saute for 3 minutes, until they are opaque. 

2. Add green chilis and green enchilada sauce. Simmer until reduced. About 30 minutes. Stir frequently. Using forks, shred chicken.  Add sour cream and mix thoroughly.

Final

1. Remove squash from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. 

2. Using a fork, scrape spaghetti squash into a large bowl. Add the chicken mixture to the bowl and mix thoroughly. 

3. a) Place the mixture back into the spaghetti squash shells -OR-

   b) Place the mixture into a casserole dish.

4. Sprinkle cheese on top of the squash mixture and bake on a low broiler for 8 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly browned. Serve hot with cilantro and a sprinkle of Tapatio, if that suits your taste buds.

Here are a few more of our favorite dinner ideas:

• Quick and Easy Slow Cooker Recipes
• Roll Over Recipes – Cook Once, Eat Twice (or more!)
• 31 Days of Easy Dinners
• Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

PERUSE ALL OF OUR RECIPES IN THE KITCHEN

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