King Ranch Chicken Mac and Cheese [RECIPE]

King Ranch Chicken Mac and Cheese satisfies your comfort food cravings! (Photo by Jathan Fink, Jadeworks Entertainment)

It’s finally autumn and temperatures are dropping in Texas. So now is the perfect time to whip up all that tasty comfort food you’ve been craving. While the original King Ranch Chicken recipe uses tortillas, we like this version which combines the same classic flavors we love with gooey mac and cheese. We hope you love it!

PREP: 30 minutes
COOK: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 (16-ounce) package elbow pasta
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles
• 4 cups grated Mexican cheese blend, divided
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce can cream of chicken soup
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with olive oil. Prepare pasta according to package directions, minus 1 minute. Pasta should be al dente; drain and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper, and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and green chiles, soup, and 2 cups of cheese; cook, stirring constantly until cheese melts, about 2 minutes. Stir in chicken, next 3 ingredients, and hot cooked pasta until blended. Spoon mixture into prepared skillet and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

TIP: Nobody likes cleaning a dirty oven, so to avoid any spills we recommend placing a cooking sheet on the lowest rack in the oven in case of any drips from the skillet above.

YIELDS: 6 servings

Oxmoor House

This is a modified version of the same recipe found in Recipe Revival: Southern Classics Reinvented for Modern Cooks, written by the Editors of Southern Living.

The publisher was kind enough to send us an advance copy of the book to review, and we absolutely love it!

Packed full of marvelous full-color photographs, it features loads of recipes I grew up eating every time I went to a get together, and many others I can’t wait to try.

We tweaked this recipe to suit our tastes simply because we like to lighten things up when possible. Pick up a copy of this great book which was just published on October 18. We know you’ll enjoy perusing it as much as we did! Watch for our full review coming soon.