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Enchiladas, but with pasta. What more do I need to tell you? In this recipe, developed with Asha Loupy, instead of the traditional corn tortillas, we start with giant tubes of pasta (manicotti or cannelloni), fill them with cheesy chicken and Mexican crema, coat them in a red chile sauce, and top it all off with an ooey-gooey layer of broiled cheese. And we do it all using store-bought enchilada sauce and rotisserie chicken! (Insert infomercial-style applause here.)
If you double this recipe, use a second baking dish so the stuffed manicotti remains in a single layer to maintain surface area for the cheesy topping. Rotate the dishes halfway through baking.
Serves: 4
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes (45 minutes active time)
Ingredients
- Canola or other neutral oil, for greasing
- 3 cups diced rotisserie chicken, skin and bones removed (about 1 pound, see note)
- 8 ounces smoked Cheddar, shredded (2 cups)
- 8 ounces (about ¾ cup) jarred or canned chopped
- Hatch chiles (see note)
- ½ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, plus more for serving
- ½ cup Mexican crema, plus more for serving
- 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- One 8- or 8.8-ounce package dried manicotti or cannelloni shells
- One 15- to 19-ounce jar or can good-quality red enchilada sauce
- 6 ounces Monterey Jack, shredded (1½ cups; or low-moisture mozzarella; see note)
- Sliced avocado, for serving
- Finely diced red onion, for serving (optional)
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