The Texas Way To Make Chicken Casserole Taste Better

In many ways, Texas is known for doing things just a bit differently than the rest of the country, and the state's most popular chicken casserole is no exception. There are many different ways people across the country prefer to make this classic dish — such as the always-popular buffalo chicken casserole and the ultra-nostalgic chicken noodle casserole — but Texans tend to favor the one and only King Ranch chicken casserole, a dish that has an out-of-this-world flavor focused on some staples of traditional Tex-Mex cooking.

The King Ranch chicken casserole, which Texans prefer to call just "King Ranch chicken," can be made in a variety of different ways, but it uses King Ranch chicken sauce, which includes chicken stock, onion, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, chopped green chilies, and either sour cream or yogurt. This sauce is placed in a pan and layered with torn-up tortillas, another layer of the sauce with seasoned shredded chicken added to it, and finally topped with shredded cheese to create an incredibly flavorful dish. Many classic versions also utilize creamy canned soup in place of either yogurt or sour cream to give the dish an even more exquisite taste. However, be forewarned – using canned chicken in place of freshly shredded chicken is a mistake for any casserole, including King Ranch chicken.

King Ranch chicken is named after the largest ranch in the United States, the similarly named King Ranch, which is located to the south of Corpus Christi near the Mexico border. However, despite being the dish's namesake, King Ranch and the many ranchers who've worked there have never claimed responsibility for it whatsoever. Instead, the Texas staple's creation is still heavily speculated about, with the most common belief being that the recipe was likely made after World War II came to an end, as that was when canned food became far more common in homes across the United States.

Nevertheless, the delicious Tex-Mex-inspired casserole is one that, despite having an incredibly specific and well-designed recipe, can be modified to suit one's tastes in a handful of ways without disrupting the incredible texture of the dish. This can be done in ways that feel natural, like adding beans to the mix while layering the casserole or adding some pico de gallo on top of it once it's done. However, likely the most exciting way to upgrade the dish is by replacing the standard corn tortillas used in most recipes with Doritos. This swap can give your rendition a major boost in flavor while still providing a similar ingredient to what King Ranch chicken calls for, arguably making it a more interesting rendition of the Texas classic.