Today I felt like a brunch that was light and easy out of ingredients I already had in the house. Leftover fried chicken is one of those things that can either be eaten up fast or stick around for days in my house, and I wasn't particularly in the mood for a salad. In fact, I wanted something warm and spicy. Soooo I took a look at Pinterest first and found this recipe for
BBQ chicken taquitos using leftover chicken. Sadly, I didn't have tortillas. However, I DID have tortilla chips. And since they are pretty much the same thing, I figured the recipe would make even better chicken nachos! So I got all set to do the nachos, then realized that the barbecue sauces we had in the fridge were lost past their prime. For a moment, I panicked, having already committed to shredding the chicken, and preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I thought, why not look up a recipe for a quick barbecue sauce? That's how I found the
very quick barbecue sauce recipe. The only thing I lacked for that was red wine vinegar, so I used white wine vinegar instead. I also added some roasted red peppers since I had them on hand. And voilà! It was a little sweeter overall than what it probably needed to be, but still quite tasty.
RECIPE yields 1-2 servings (since I made this as my own plate for brunch)
Ingredients:
18 tortilla chips
1 cup shredded leftover chicken (I had Popeye's, but you can definitely use rotisserie or grilled chicken instead)
2 TBS minced onion
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/3 cup BBQ sauce OR
make your own*
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese
OPTIONAL: roasted red pepper, corn, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, cooking spray
1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2. Shred leftover chicken and place in bowl. Combine with onion, salt, pepper, BBQ sauce, and any other vegetables or seasonings you desire.
3. Spray baking pan with cooking spray, if desired. I didn't, and it turned out fine - though it might have prevented the cheese from starting to stick to the pan. Oh well!
4. Line baking pan with tortilla chips.
5. Place chicken mixture onto chips and top with cheese. This is what it looked like when I was putting it into the oven.
6. Bake for 5 minute, or until cheese is melted.
7. Remove from oven and top with salsa, sour cream, and guacamole (or eat on the side).
Next time I make this, I am definitely adding a squeeze of lime and a dash of fresh cilantro! I am kicking myself for having forgotten to do that this time around! But these are very satisfying and a good portion for one person.
