Enmoladas Rotisserie Chicken Casserole

Inspired by one of my favorite dishes around Austin, Texas in El Dorado Cafe’s mole enchiladas, this enmoladas casserole is a great way to elevate a rotisserie chicken for quick weeknight dinners. With only six ingredients, one skillet, and about ten minutes of prep, you can have a high protein meal the whole family (even picky eaters) will enjoy.

This dish is highly customizable, so I’ve included a recipe walkthrough below with tips for substitutions and customizations. If you’re in a hurry, you can hit the jump to recipe button above to print the recipe for later.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Six ingredients—that’s all you need!

Pulled Rotisserie Chicken

You need a pound of chicken to make this casserole, which is about all the white meat on a rotisserie chicken. If you have other leftover pulled chicken on hand, that should work fine. You can also make simple boiled chicken breast or a big batch of pressure cooker Mexican chicken to use in place of rotisserie chicken.

Mole Negro Sauce

If you’re unfamiliar with mole, it’s a traditional Mexican sauce consisting of chiles, chocolate, spices, nuts, and other ingredients depending on the recipe. Some recipes include things like crushed cookies and other goodies.

Another local Austin restaurant, El Naranjo, famously has THIRTY ingredients in their mole!

This chicken casserole uses a shortcut mole you can buy in stores, but I would encourage you to check out some recipes and consider making your own mole from scratch some time. And while the recipe calls for mole negro, mole rojo or mole poblano work just fine.

You can also use an extra concentrated mole paste, which I think is a little more flavorful than most sauces I’ve tried. It takes a bit longer since you’ll need to rehydrate in broth or water, but it’s still easy!

Chicken Bone Broth

Feel free to use water, regular chicken broth or stock, or any cooking liquid. I keep a ton of the Kirkland bone broth I highlighted in my high protein Costco shopping guide on hand since it’s a great way to add protein (especially collagen) to dishes.

Black Beans

Since mole has such a complex flavor profile, you can get away with minimal additional ingredients. Beans add some extra protein and fiber to the dish, and they also help thicken the filling.

But you can totally get by without the beans. Or if you’d like to add other ingredients like onions, peppers, and other vegetables, go right ahead. My ground turkey enchilada casserole and chicken fajita bake both use frozen fajita veggies and roasted corn for easy added volume.

Cheese and Corn Tortillas

Any soft melting cheese gets the thumbs up for this chicken mole casserole. I used pepper jack, but Monterey jack or colby jack would also work great. For best results, use freshly grated cheese instead of the bags of pre-shredded cheese.

As for the tortillas, I used standard corn tortillas. Flour tortillas should work fine. And other macro friendly tortillas like Mission Carb Balance may even save some calories if you’re looking to do so.

And if you’d like to skip the layering, my chicken taco casserole uses chopped tortillas that are just folded in and everything is topped with cheese. This is also a great way to get away with using less cheese, since that dish only calls for six tortillas and four ounces of cheese.

Garnishes and Side Dishes

You basically have the full meal in the skillet with this recipe, but I’d recommend serving with a side of rice or Mexican rice and a spread of garnishes. Most mole enchiladas or enmoladas are served with freshly sliced white onion, Mexican crema and/or queso fresco, and sometimes sesame seeds.

Those are great options, but I’m a huge pickled vegetables fan. So you’ll see escabeche and pickled red onions pictured alongside this casserole. You’ll also see cotija cheese, limes, a jalapeño sauce, and salsa macha. When choosing your sides and garnishes for this dish, think of bright and fresh flavors.

That should cover all your bases. If I missed something you’re curious about, ask away in the comments below. Otherwise, happy cooking and I hope you enjoy this chicken enchilada casserole!

And if you’re anything like me and are always on the hunt for new ways to repurpose rotisserie chicken, check out my sweet chili chicken bowls, easy chicken tacos, or Korean BBQ bowls next.