Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake.
Mr. How Sweet is a man of many moods. He is not a man of many foods. He likes to eat a lot of the same foods. Surprisingly, he likes to eat a lot of the same foods together. In casserole form.
If his food does not come in casserole form, he has been known to mix and mash it together until it looks like it did. I think I’ve heard of other people doing this… other people who are 3-years old.
Don’t mind this slop-pile mess of ugliness. It may not be pretty, but it has a… delicious personality.
Some of the most unattractive foods are the tastiest. Just look at chocolate-covered bacon.
It really doesn’t get much easier than this. You can throw any ingredient in that you would like. I’m willing to bet that you will throw in more vegetables, but I won’t hold that against you.
In fact, I bet you can hide lots of veggies in here for veggie-haters. Except for me, of course. I’m a vegetable sleuth. You can’t fool me.
Not only is the rice bake fast and easy, it is healthy and nutritious too. It’s packed with lots of protein from the yogurt, chicken, beans and cheese. And other good stuff from the brown rice.
This recipe was born out of my desire to think outside the boring chicken box again. And to save Mr. How Sweet from a lifetime of plain, dry, flavorless chicken. I know I’ve said it before, but that just isn’t happening in this house. Even if it he wants it to. I wear the pants.
serves 4-6
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, grilled and shredded
4 cups cooked brown rice
3/4 cup frozen corn
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup plain greek yogurt (you can use sour cream)
1 4 ounce can green chilis
1/2 cup chunky salsa
1 cup grated cheddar & monterey jack cheese (low-fat cheese works too!) + more for topping if desired
cilantro for garnish
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for cilantro and mix thoroughly to combine. Make sure the yogurt and cheese is stirred in throughout the entire bowl. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Transfer to an oven-safe dish and top with extra cheese if you would like. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until heated through. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
To make this process easier, I always have cooked chicken on hand, and use Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice. If you have those two things, this mean can be throw together in a matter of minutes! It can also easily be made ahead of time and reheated.
Who needs pretty foods?
164 Comments on “Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake.”
Yummy! This looks great. I think casseroles are fantastic but my husband is not usually a fan. I think he would go for this, though!
Great casserole! I’ll have to add this one to the dinner rotation!
this is acutally pretty darn healthy if I used low fat cheese! MMMMMM love one pot meals!
This is the perfect quick and easy weeknight recipe!
there is nothing like rice, beans and cheese :) mmmmmmmm….
oh man, this looks SO good right now. And I think the husband will eat it since it’s off YOUR blog. I’ve told you he is very skeptical of blog recipes, right? Except yours. True story.
Thank him for me. :)
Amazing recipe. I should make a bunch of these and freeze them for my boy!
Yes, you should!
This is so funny because I can totally relate. All Marshall ever wants is either a casserole or something in the crock pot! Actually I make a mexican casserole so similar to this recipe, and ironically made it last night and ate it again today for lunch! It has lots of similar ingredients–that is how I know this one is a winner :)
I love casserole….so much, and this is just another great casserole to add to the list!!
You don’t need pretty food…just DELICIOUS food! Save, this looks awesome!
Looks great! I would looooove this! I just wish my hubby wasn’t so darn picky about black beans…he cringes every time he sees them. :(
I’m a huge fan of casseroles so yes, I will be making this soon…
Wow, it looks like I’m the first to try the dish before commenting. I made this dish last night. I had one faux pas however. I bought the Greek yogurt. Went to prepare the dish and notice the little word in fine print “honey” on the container! (I’ve done that before with the spreadable cream cheese; purchased chive instead of plain. Rahr) So, I thought Hmmm, give it a whirl. So I did! It was still delish! My husband really liked it, too. Next time I would make it as is, but in addition to including the salsa in the recipe, I would add a layer of salsa on top of the mixture, below the top cheese layer. It was a super easy recipe; one that will be added to my weeknight list of suppers! 4 thumbs up from my hubby and me! Thanks for sharing, Jessica!
Glad you liked it! I can see how the honey yogurt would still be delicious.
Made this last night for dinner…..Husband went nuts! Loved it! Thanks!
Awesome! We are still eating leftovers – it’s even better the next day!
I made this last night… delish! I’m drawn to anything ‘southwestern/mexican!’ I actually only used 2 cups of rice though and it turned out great. Thanks for sharing!
So glad you liked it!
mmm I’m SO making this!
If I were to buy a precooked rotisserie chicken at the grocery store, about how many cups of shredded chicken would be needed for this recipe?
It depends on what you want. I prefer it to be a rice dish with less chicken, so for that I’d say 1-1/2 cups of chicken. But my husband prefers it as a chicken dish with less rice, so I’d say 2 1/2-3 cups of chicken for that.
i’m subbing bacon for the green chiles…at least this time around :) (i have bacon, i don’t have green chiles…this time)
Yum!
Just had this tonight! SooOooo yummy :)
Glad you liked it!
So, for two nights last week I made two of your recipes; this one and the Chicken, Bacon, Spinach Flatbread Pizza. I am so impressed how yummy they both turned out! I just found your site, so I’m cruising through all the recipes. For this recipe, I added onion (both yellow inside and green on top), added Taco Bell Taco Sauce (Red Neck I know, but oh so good. Thank you Wal-Mart) and omitted the corn. I ate it with tortilla chips and was a happy camper. Thanks!
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Made this for lunch – DELISH! I had enough to make lunch for today, and 2 casseroles for the freezer.
I’m curious about freezing this meal. It looks great. I am trying to do some freezer meals and wonder if you cook it all and then freeze it, or toss it together, freeze and thaw and cook later. Thanks.
I did not pre-bake the casseroles I froze and they were good. I added the cheese for the top just before baking though.
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I loved this dish! Other than cooking the chicken and rice, it was so easy. I added extra chicken, put in a whole can of corn, and put some extra salsa inside and on the top before I put on the cheese.
I will for sure make this again, but when I do it, I am going to probably halve the black beans, my family is not that big of a fan of them anyway, add at least half of another can of corn, chop in a tomato, and put in more rice.
If you already have chicken that is cooked on hand, you cannot go wrong with this, it is good and filling and extremely easy. It fit into an 11 by 13 dish with plenty of extras.
Jessica, I’d like to make this for my hubby and 3-yo boy. Was wondering if it was spicy? Not sure if the chiles make is spicy?? My boy loves Mexican inspired meals, and these one-pot type of meals are great for little ones. Just want to make sure it’s not too spicy for him. Thanks!
Nope, the green chilis usually aren’t spicy! They should come in a 4 ounce can!
OK, I think I have a can of those. Will be making this for lunch tomorrow. Thanks again!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was divine!! : )
Another fabulous recipe!
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Made this tonight, only when searching in the freezer I realized I was out of chicken. SO improvising I used the Taco meat I froze about a month ago. It turned out awesome! thank you for such a easy and delicious recipe!
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would this freeze well? Or would the rice become soggy when it is reheated?
I have the same question. Will it freeze well?
I wish I could help out, but I never freeze anything. I don’t see why not though? Make it and freeze before baking?
I froze this in 2 serving sized containers and it held up really well. I don’t think I would try freezing it if you used white rice though. I put it together except the cheese and then added the cheese right before cooking.
I have frozen casseroles with white rice before and they turned out perfectly fine! I agree though don’t bake before freezing. :) My friend and I are adding this to our freezer cooking menu for this month! Can’t wait to try it! :)
I love everything all of your recipes! I have chosen to cook this one for a friend who’s husband is very sick and may not make it. I hope it makes her tummy warm.
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This was delicious! The cilantro is a must!! I used leftover taco chicken from “our best bites”. Thank you!
I have made this a few times and have finally made it Perfection!
I add tsp of chili powder & 1/2 tsp cumin & 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper to the 1 1/2 cups of light sour cream.
1 can of drained rotel instead of chilis and the salsa (it was all I had the 1st time and I liked it to do it again)
When the rice is in the bowl 1st I add 2 tbsp of chopped cilantro, & juice from one lime. Tastes like Chipotle rice this way and makes it even more flavorful
Thanks for the recipe, it was great the way you had it and it was so easy to tweak it with what I have in the house
it tastes like my name
What would be a good side dish with this?
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I made this last night. It’s definitely a keeper! Super easy and easy to tweak to your liking. Next time I will add more spice as I found it to be just a tad bland, but overall a great easy dinner.
Have you ever done in the crockpot? Any substituions or tweaks if so?
I was thinking the same thing while reading this, and here’s how I would do it. I would add the chicken, corn, black beans, salsa and any spices to the crockpot and cook. Then shred the chicken and stir in the remaining ingredients. I’ll be trying it this week!
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This is one of those dishes I could easily throw together during nap time and then just shove in the oven before dinner. I’m curious though – this calls for cooked & shredded chicken prior to baking…could you make this with raw chicken? Well, duh, yes you CAN, but have you? How much longer would you adjust the cook time?
You cracked me up with the husband-3year old reference, mine is the SAME way. Everything goes into a bowl and mixed together. Ugh.
I LOVE your blog, am so happy I found it!
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tried to make it this morning for lunch. but it came out really mushy. Still Very DELICIOUS though. i ended up stuffing little spoonfuls of it into some little corn tortillas. will definitely make again and try to figure out why mine was on the mush side
Hello! This recipe looks incredibly delicious and I was hoping to cook today, I was just wondering that if I were to double the recipe would I just perfectly double every single ingredient, or would there be some ingredients that wouldn’t have to be perfectly doubled. Sorry, this question seems incredibly confusing. Thanks for your yummy food!