Chicken Frito Casserole

So it’s fall, and I’m excited because I get to make comfort food! Comfort food—at least the kind I cook—is great because it’s low-fuss and often involves slow cookers or casserole dishes filled with stuff that you dump, mix and heat until bubbly. It’s not always super-healthy, but that’s what side salads and steamed veggies are for.

Now that I’ve admitted comfort food isn’t always that good for you, it’s time to admit something else: it’s also sort of gross. Gross, as in, “Hey! It’s a big old gloppy mess of cream-of-(insert meat or veggie) soup mixed with cheese and meat and something starchy like noodles or tortillas or potatoes and topped with mashed up crackers or potato chips!”

Gross… but oh so tasty.

Case in point, the Chicken Frito Casserole I made the other night.

Here are the ingredients, laid out on my kitchen table with the “gloppy” part already mixed up. No, the fruit is not an ingredient, it’s the anti-ingredient, which I serve to counteract the sketchy nutritional value of the soup, sour cream, salsa, cheese and corn chips. (My cat’s backside is also not an ingredient—she just likes to hang out in that window.)

Here’s how you make this deliciously disgusting dish.

Chicken Frito Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 family-size can of Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 jar of salsa
• Several dollops of sour cream
• A couple of chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
• 1 bag of Fritos
• 1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Mix the soup, sour cream and salsa together in a large bowl.
2. Layer the Fritos on the bottom of a large casserole dish.
3. Layer the chicken on top of the Fritos
4. Layer the soup mixture on top of the chicken and Fritos.
5. Top with cheddar cheese.
6. Cook at 350-degrees until bubbly and cheese has melted.
7. Serve the disgustingly mushy results and enjoy, for they are tasty.

Here’s what it looks like, fresh out of the oven. Now, just because I love comfort food, it doesn’t mean I serve this kind of thing to my family every day. I do stir fries, salads and lots of other healthier dishes that could also be considered “comfort food.” But sometimes, especially on a cold, dreary day, a gloppy, gross, decadently delicious casserole is just what you want.

Do you have a gross casserole recipe? I love ’em, so please share!