King Ranch Chicken

[Griffin]

Last night we decided to take all that leftover chicken from Monday and make some King Ranch Chicken, and the wife even let me cook it on the Egg! Oh man, do I like me some King Ranch Chicken.

In case you missed it, here's the bcc's from Monday night.



Wife whipped up the casserole while I got the Egg going and stabilized, then we threw it on at 350 indirect along with some hickory chunks for some extra smoke.



Here it is all done



It took a little over an hour, and I had to bump up the temp of the Egg as I didn't think the cheese on top was getting that brown and bubbly goodness. But, man, was that good!

[Shaymus]

Nice color on those birds !! The mac and cheese looks awsome !!
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[Griffin]

Thanks, Shaymus, but it's King Ranch Chicken Casserole, not Mac 'n Cheese.

[Rare Breed]

Looks good, but what is King Ranch Chicken.

[Griffin]

Sorry, growing up in Texas, I forget that not everybody knows what King Ranch Chicken is. Down here it seems like every wife has a recipe (and they all think theirs is the best).

Ingredients:
1 pound of chicken breast, cooked ( we obviously used the leftovers from the beer can chicken, I think she put in about 4 cups shredded)
12 corn tortillas, torn into pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup of chicken broth
1 can of Ro-Tel tomatoes
Velveeta cheese to top (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (in this case we used the Egg, set up indirect)
2. Combine soups, broth, and Ro-Tel tomatoes over medium high; blend until smooth. Add extra diced jalepeno for more spice
3. Spray casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Layer 1/2 of tortillas, chicken, onion,soup mixture and cheese.
5. Repeat layers, ending with cheese. Grate some extra Velveeta on top if wanted.
6. Bake uncovered for one hour or until brown and bubbling.

Off topic question....are we allowed to post links personal websites/blogs on this forum? Like in our signature?

[Toga]

That sounds like a pretty tasty dish. Thanks for sharing.

Nice looking BCC btw!
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[Rare Breed]

Thanks

[k.a.m.]

Griffin, I love King Ranch chicken and have for what ever reason never thought about applying smoked birds to the menu. Man you and the Mrs. put it over the top. Nicely done to both of you.
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[SmokeHound]

Looks dang tasty to me! Can't ever go wrong w/ BCC and cheese!
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[Mr Tony's BBQ]

[GF]

Griffin, nice looking birds and casserole.
I never even heard of it, but I will have to try it now.
Thanks for the recipe.

[Texas 1836]

Looks great! So what did you bump your temp up to to finish it?
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[Griffin]

k.a.m. - thanks, that means a lot coming from you. We always make more bcc than we need and throw it in all kinds of casseroles later on, like King Ranch Chicken or chicken tetrazini or even chicken enchiladas.

Smoke Hound - thanks, you are so right.

Mr. Tony - just tried it, will see if it works. If so, there is a longer write up on my blog

GF - it's a pretty tasty dish and easy to prepare

Texas 1836 - I bumped it up to 400 for awhile, and then up to 450 for the last 5 minutes. I think next time, I'll try 425 to start and see what happens.
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[Buckru]

I have never had it with the tortillas in pieces. We always just layer the whole corn tortilla. You definately took it up a notch with the smoked chicken. Very well done.

Buck

[ckone]

Love me some smoked king ranch chicken. We actually serve it at work as a weekday lunch special.

If you want to bump it up one more notch, try this:

Saute mushrooms and onions in butter, add in some flour to create a roux, then mix in milk and chicken stock. Mix in pico de gallo and chicken, then do the layer tortilla and cheese thing. Oh, and use cheddar instead of velveta. Monterrey jack also works well.


It is a bit more work, but it is real good.
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[daddywoofdawg]

I always thought kings ranch was an interior option on for trucks.Learned something new,Who say's the internet is just for p*rn!
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[ckone]

[BBQMAN]

Good looking meal.

It's nice that the wife "Let you" cook them on the egg.
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[notbobvilla]

Never heard of King Ranch as a food, but that looks damn good. So is the King Ranch an amusement park or something?
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[OnefromNone]

I'd never heard of King Ranch Chicken. Looks great, thanks for posting. Definitely going to give it a try.