Shredded Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Do you like enchiladas? Do you like pasta? Well then this is the dinner for you!

This is another fabulous Pinterest find, and it's oh so delicious. It's basically a chicken enchilada, just replace the tortilla with pasta. 

There are quite a few ingredients, but it's still pretty darn easy to make.

Saute red pepper, onion, and garlic

Add chicken and enchilada sauces

Cheese (I accidentally used too much)

Mmmmm melted cheese

Sour cream - so close to being done!

Ready for pasta!

Why yes. It IS as good as it looks.

Ingredients:

1. 3 garlic cloves, minced
2. 1 medium onion, diced
3. 1 red pepper, diced
4. 1 4 oz. can diced green chillies
5. 2 10 oz. cans green chili enchilada sauce
6. 2/3 cups red enchilada sauce
7. 2 cups shredded cheese (I used the Lucerne Southwest cheese blend)
8. 1 cup sour cream
9. 1 package Penne pasta
10. 1 can low sodium chicken broth

Optional ingredients:

1. Avocado
2. Green Onions
3. Black Olives
4. Tomatoes
5. Sour Cream

Shredded chicken:

1. Pour and set aside the 2/3 cup RED enchilada sauce
2. In a medium pot bring chicken broth, the left over red enchilada sauce, and one clove minced garlic to a boil
3. Lightly sprinkle salt and ground black pepper over the chicken breasts and then put the chicken into the sauce. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the sauce. 
4. Using two forks, shred the chicken breasts by holding one fork steady and slowly scraping the other fork, prongs faced backwards, away from the other fork. 
5. Set aside

Pasta:

1. While the chicken is cooking, cook pasta according to packaging. 

Sauce:

1. Dice red pepper and onion
2. Heat olive oil in a deep skillet then cook red pepper for 3-5 minutes on medium
3. Then add the onion and cook 2-4 minutes
4. Add minced garlic and cook for one more minute
5. Add shredded chicken, green chillies, and all enchilada sauces. Let this simmer for about 8-10 minutes
6. Add cheese and stir until cheese is melted through. 
7. Add sour cream but DO NOT bring to a boil. The sour cream will curdle if it gets too hot. Cook on low heat and stir until sour cream is well mixed and heated through.
8. Drain pasta and return to pot. Then pour sauce in pasta pot. 

Time to eat:

1. Once it's all cooked you can add olives, or avocados, green onion, and more sour cream if you like.

Cook's Note: 

• When I can, I usually cook and shred the chicken ahead of time. The cook time and shredding can be a little time consuming, so it was easier for me to make it then refrigerate it until I was ready for it. 
• The directions above yields a lot of food (great for a dinner party). Way too much for just my husband and I. When I make it again in the future I'll use 1 chicken breast, 1 can of green enchilada sauce, and 1-2 cups of pasta. Fortunately, this is still pretty good reheated!
• I accidentally used the whole bag of cheese :( It was a bit too cheesy; it wasn't bad necessarily. It was just a bit too much.
• This dish isn't really spicy or hot, but if you're the type who doesn't like that stuff, leave out the green chillies.
• Oh, your kitchen will look like this when you're done:

Soooo worth it though!!