Costco Deli Enchilada Bake Review
The scorched earth of Mordor.
At long last, here is my review of Costco’s Enchilada Bake with Rotisserie Chicken.
This is available in the Costco Deli, and it’s fresh, not frozen. You bake it at home for approximately an hour before serving. It comes in an aluminum pan that is *tragically* just a tad too big to fit into my countertop toaster/air fryer oven. So I had to use my “big” oven. It goes in looking colorful and perky and fresh, but comes out looking like the scorched earth of Mordor.
I’m here to tell you that this is a ridiculously “meaty” casserole. Ridiculously. I wasn’t expecting that. It’s almost too much meat, and I can’t believe I just said that. Most store-bought casseroles offer a few token morsels of questionable “meat,” but this one is almost more chicken than anything else. It’s also really GOOD meat — tender chicken breast slices. No jiggly bits. We all know how I feel about jiggly bits. This meat is a winner.
(Looking for another meaty Costco entree? Perhaps you would enjoy my review of the Kirkland frozen Italian Sausage Lasagna — which has 23 grams of protein per serving.)
The cheese is a little sparse, but it melts to a nice crusty layer. The peppers on top nearly disappear after baking. Happily, the tortillas inside are soft, and not soggy or slimy.*
I was surprised how spicy it is. It’s not offensively hot — I think you could serve this to most audiences without issue — but it’s spicy enough that folks who avoid spicy food would give you the side-eye. It’s just enough to be fun, but not enough to hurt.
I thought there would be rice, but then there wasn’t. And then I realized there was. There IS rice. I swear it! But so little rice, I don’t even know why Costco bothered. I had to read the ingredients to make sure it was actually there. You almost have to take it on faith that the grains of rice exist.
What else? There are also a couple different beans, and some corn bits, and soft tomato chunks. But mostly chicken.
I personally thought this tasted better with some kind of “sauce” added to the top. I used the Don Pancho Cilantro Lime Crema, and thought it was a stupendous pairing. It adds a creamy “brightness” and extra flavors. Perhaps canned enchilada sauce or even just salsa would also work. Maybe a queso sauce. This enchilada bake just isn’t “moist” enough otherwise. I also added fresh vegetables, like avocado or sliced tomatoes.
Price and Servings in Costco Deli Enchilada Bake
You get at least six hearty servings per pan. I got eight. You could make your own rice to go with this. I love that the tight-fitting plastic lid goes back on the pan to store leftovers. At ~$24, this isn’t an inexpensive item, but it stretches a long way and provides a ton of high quality protein.
*Read “Bonus Storytime” below for warnings about freezing and thawing.
Ingredients in Costco’s Enchilada Bake with Rotisserie Chicken
Here are the ingredients:
- Rotisserie Chicken (chicken, water, seasoning [salt, sodium phosphate, modified food starch {potato, tapioca}, potato dextrin, carrageenan, sugar, dextrose, spice extractives])
- Sauce (water, tomatoes, tomato paste & juice, pinto beans, red bell pepper, roasted corn, cooked white rice, soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, cream, black beans, poblano peppers, chili peppers, onions, tomato paste, salt, masa flour, modified corn starch, canola oil, cilantro, roasted jalapeno peppers, garlic, chipotle peppers, spices, lime juice, natural flavor, citric acid, nicin, xanthan gum, paprika extracts, sodium benzoate [preservative])
- Tortillas (water, enriched flour [wheat flour, vitamins B1, B2, B3, iron, folic acid], corn masa [w/ cellulose, guar gum, and lime], wheat gluten, salt, dextrose, sodium aluminum phosphate, baking soda, oat fiber, sodium stearoyl lactylate, mono- and diglycerides, safflower oil, preservatives [fumaric acid, potassium sorbate, calcium propionate, sodium propionate, sorbic acid])
- Cheddar Cheese (milk, salt, enzymes, artificial color)
- Bell peppers (red, yellow orange)
- Parsley
Bonus Storytime
*Bonus: I bought a second casserole and had a slight misadventure, which I’ll tell you about, because apparently you’re still here.
Here’s my misadventure: I froze the casserole, instead of eating it right away. When I tried to bake it, it just… wouldn’t… bake. The center was stone cold. It took almost 3 hours to get it heated. I think this is because it is so dense. I can bake a frozen lasagna of the same size in about an hour, but for some reason that doesn’t work with this dish. Just FYI. Sadly, the tortillas were also slimy and soggy. I was able to fix this by cutting individual slices out of the pan, flipping them over, and toasting them in my toaster oven until all the sog was vanquished. Just an annoying extra step. There’s no way I’m going to bake another casserole for 3 hours in this summer heat, so I’m personally going to avoid freezing these in the future. Maybe thawing it first would have helped, but then there’s likely extra sog. I don’t like sog. Or jiggly bits.
The end.
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Author’s note: I wasn’t paid to write this review, and I have no affiliation with Costco.
