We have updated and made this chicken enchilada casserole better than ever thanks to our Instant Pot! Years ago, I developed this recipe for my husband because he dislikes the conventional sour cream sauce on his chicken enchiladas. Since then, family and friends have enjoyed it immensely. Try this recipe if you want a unique twist on chicken enchiladas that will please everyone!
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 14 |
Ingredients
- 4 lemons, halved
- 2 medium sweet onions (such as Vidalia®), quartered
- 4 serrano chiles, split in 1/2 lengthwise and seeds and membranes removed
- 2 heads garlic, peeled and halved
- 2 bunches fresh thyme, tied with string
- 1 ⅔ cups seafood seasoning (such as Old Bay®), or more to taste
- 6 teaspoons kosher salt, or more to taste
- 6 bay leaves
- 3 pounds medium red potatoes, cut in 1/2
- 5 (13 ounce) packages smoked kielbasa sausage, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 6 ears sweet corn, halved
- 30 littleneck clams, scrubbed
- 4 pounds jumbo shrimp, deveined, tail on
- 2 ½ pounds Alaskan king crab legs
Instructions
- Fill a very large stockpot fitted with a basket insert with about 8 quarts of water, or about halfway full. Squeeze lemons into the water, tossing the halves in too. Add onions, chiles, garlic, thyme, seafood seasoning, kosher salt, and bay leaves; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
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- Stir potatoes into the pot and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
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- Next, add sausage and corn; cook another 5 minutes, making sure everything stays covered with the liquid.
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- Add clams and boil until they open, about 8 minutes. Toss in shrimp and shut off the heat. Cover the pot and let shrimp steep in the flavor for 10 minutes, adding crab in the last 5 minutes (press them into the liquid).
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- Drain and spread crab, shrimp, sausage, clams, corn, potatoes, and onions out on a newspaper-covered table or on three large serving trays. Sprinkle with a dusting of Old Bay or provide for individual use.
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- You need a very large pot for this. I use a turkey fryer. You can also divide into 2 stockpots (or cut the recipe in half). The water level will rise when you add the ingredients so keep this in mind as you fill. I fill mine about halfway.
- You should be able to smell the broth with plenty of salt and spice, taste, and add Old Bay and kosher salt accordingly. You want the broth to be strong so some of the flavor can penetrate and get absorbed by the potatoes and sausage.
- A lot of people will want to skimp out on the littleneck clams, but trust me, don’t, as they add a lot of flavor and have a very pleasant taste. Buy them the day you plan to use them and keep them in a bowl of ice, open, so that they don’t die (don’t allow the grocery store clerk to seal the bag).
- I also keep some of the boiling liquid on the side as it is great to pour over the shrimp as you eat.
- Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of simmering liquid. The actual amount of simmering liquid consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 738 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 35 g |
| Cholesterol | 324 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 53 g |
| Saturated Fat | 19 g |
| Sodium | 5130 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 43 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Good recipe we use Large Pot with strainer. We often substitute snow crab for king crab add/or add 4oz lobster tails. When serving we place in seafood boil bags add a cup broth, 1/2 stick melted butter and 2+ Tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning and Hot Sauce to taste. We tried other reviewers suggestion to purée onions, garlic and serrano chilies add clarified butter, old bay as dipping sauce, yum!
good recipe and fairly easy to prepare – the carb was fantastic as it was very easy to extract the meat; no digging around – however, the shrimp was rubbery having cooked to long – I made a smaller version of the recipe and will use more seasoning next time – but I will cook this again
Made for New Years Eve and it was a huge hit!
This was really good. I did add seasoned salt, black pepper, garlic powder, crab boil concentrate and cayenne pepper to the boil. So flavorful. When it was done cooking I took the boiled onion, garlic cloves and peppers and put it the food processor. I added 1/4 cup of butter then heated. It made a WONDERFUL sauce to dip our seafood, etc. in. The cooking times are on point. Everything was perfectly done. Great recipe and super easy.
Worked out nice for my first attempt at a seafood boil. Everyone in the family though it was delightful.