Roasted chicken, sauteed peppers and onions, jack cheese and no-boil lasagna noodles are layered and smothered in a poblano cream sauce. Mexican Lasagna Verde is a great make-ahead casserole with plenty of Tex-Mex flavor!
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Mexican
Prep Time 50 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour
Total Time 1 hourhour50 minutesminutes
Servings 8servings
Ingredients
Lasagna
1boxno-boil lasagna noodles
1whole rotisserie chickenskin/bone removed and shredded
2cupsshredded pepper jack cheese
1green bell pepper
1red bell pepper
1yellow onion
1Tbolive oil
½tspsalt
½tspblack pepper
Poblano Cream Sauce
2poblano peppers
2Tbbutter
2Tball-purpose flour
½tsponion powder
½tspgarlic powder
½tspdried oregano
2Cheavy cream
1Cchicken stock
8ozcream cheeseroom temperature
½bunch of cilantro
Instructions
To prepare poblano
Preheat broiler to high. Place two poblano peppers on a baking sheet and rub the outside of the peppers with olive oil. Place peppers in the broiler and cook for 15 minutes or until the skin is charred. Turn the pepper over halfway through cooking time.
Once charred, place peppers inside a paper or plastic storage bag. Seal the bag to let the peppers steam for 5-10 minutes. Remove the peppers from the bag and peel off the skin.
Cut the top and seeds from the poblano and discard. Chop the pepper into large chunks
To prepare peppers and onions
Slice the peppers into quarter-inch strips and thinly slice the onion.
Heat a nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat and add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.
Once the pan is heated, add the peppers and onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste and saute the bell peppers and onions for about 10 minutes or until they start to soften. Turn off the heat and set aside.
To prepare poblano cream sauce
Melt 2 Tb of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir continuously for 2 minutes or until the flour is slightly browned. Slowly add the chicken stock and whisk until there are no lumps in the sauce.
Add the heavy cream. Bring the sauce to a low boil and cook for 5 minutes.
Cut the cream cheese into roughtly one-inch chunks. Add the cream cheese to the sauce and continue to cook until the cream cheese is totally melted.
Add onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano to the sauce and mix to combine.
Using a blender, food processor or immersion blender, puree the charred poblanos, white sauce, and cilantro together until smooth. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
To prepare the lasagna
Using a food processor or box grater, grate the cheese.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of a 9" x 13" or lasagna pan if you have one, with baking spray.,
To assemble the lasagna, spread a thin layer of the poblano sauce on the bottom of the pan. Next, put a single layer of oven-ready lasagna noodles on top of the sauce, overlapping just slightly.
Next, spread half of the shredded chicken and half of the peppers and onions evenly across the noodles. Top evenly with a third of the grated cheese. Last, spoon an even layer of sauce over the cheese, using about a third of the sauce.
Place another layer of noodles, then the remaining chicken and veggies, and another third of the grated cheese and sauce.
Top with one last layer of noodles and cover with the remaining sauce and grated cheese so the last of the cheese is at the very top.
Cover the pan loosely with foil and place in the preheated oven. Cook for 45 minutes covered and then remove the foil and finish for 15 minutes uncovered or until cheese starts to turn golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to set for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
* One of my favorite ways to use my food processor is for grating large amounts of cheese. If you don't have a food processor, I've linked to a great one above. Mine is now 10+ years old and still going strong so it's a worthy investment.