Chicken and Rice Enchilada Casserole features all the flavors of authentic enchiladas in the form of an easy chicken and rice casserole! This healthy dinner recipe requires little prep and is amazing for meal prep!
If you tried my Salsa Verde Chicken and Rice Casserole I posted several months ago, I’m back with a brand new version 2.0!
For those of you who love enchiladas with red enchilada sauce and are looking for the easiest, most comforting Mexican casserole, this Chicken and Rice Enchilada Casserole was made with you in mind.
It boasts a big enchilada flavor without all the hassle of making actual enchiladas. Truly, even the novice cook can excel at preparing this goof-proof casserole! It’s just one of those incredibly easy recipes.
In addition to the delicious authentic Mexican flavors infused in this simple casserole recipe, I love how quickly it comes together and how easy it is to make.
We simply dump all of the ingredients into a large casserole dish, give them a stir, then bake!
In the words of Ina Garten, how easy is that?
Ideal for weekly meal prep for busy weeknights, for serving friends and family, or for any special occasion, this well-seasoned cheesy casserole is an absolute dream and amazing comfort food.
Let’s discuss the simple healthy ingredients needed to make this delicious chicken and rice casserole recipe.
Ingredients for Chicken and Rice Enchilada Casserole:
Onion, Bell Pepper, and Garlic: The veggies used in this easy casserole recipe! The combination of onion, bell pepper and garlic brings a great deal of flavor and adds to the authentic Mexican enchilada flavors.
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts: We chop up a couple boneless chicken breasts for lean protein and deliciousness! The combination of rice and chicken in this cheesy casserole recipe makes for a highly satiating and palatable meal. Use chicken thighs instead of breasts if you’d like! If you happen to have rotisserie chicken on hand, you can easily swap out the breasts for shredded chicken.
Chili Powder: A little chili powder is used to help season the meal with yummy flavor. Swap it out for homemade taco seasoning if you’d like.
White Rice: Rather than using flour tortillas or corn tortillas, this casserole recipe uses rice as the starch and the element that brings everything together nicely in a flavor factory of bliss. We use white rice because it doesn’t require very much time to cook, making it ideal for a dump and bake casserole recipe like this.
Stick with white rice, as brown rice requires more baking time. If you truly want to use brown rice, you can cook 2 cups ahead of time and add the cooked rice to the casserole.
If you go this route, you can reduce the chicken broth to ½ cup as the rice will already be cooked and won’t need to absorb as much liquid.
Enchilada Sauce & Chicken Broth: The combination of enchilada sauce and chicken broth acts both as the delicious flavorful sauce to give the casserole that iconic enchilada flavor, and as the liquid to cook the rice. Because the rice is tossed in the casserole dish uncooked, it requires liquid for absorption to become soft.
Use store-bought canned red enchilada sauce (this is what I do) or make homemade enchilada sauce. Green enchilada sauce works too!
The chicken broth can be swapped for cups of water but a little of the rich chicken flavor will be lost.
Cheese: Not only does cheese add utter undeniable deliciousness to everything it touches, but it also brings a gooeyness and a glue-ness to the casserole. It helps hold everything together, similar to lasagna so you end up with easily scoopable, thick and delectable delicious cheesy chicken and rice.
The recipe calls for three cups of grated colby jack cheese, but you can use cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, white cheddar, or your favorite melting cheese.
You can also scale the amount of cheese up or down according to your personal taste. The more cheese you use, the more flavorful and enticing (and calorically dense) the casserole will be.
Salt: Seasoning the casserole with salt helps enhance all of the individual flavors so that the meal turns out teeming with flavor. Add black pepper to taste.
Optional Additions:
- Add 1 can of black beans, green chiles or corn (or both) if you’d like.
- Stir in 1 to 2 teaspoons of garlic powder or onion powder for even more flavor.
- If you have leftover chicken and leftover cooked rice on hand, you can employ them in this casserole recipe. Simply omit the chicken broth and bake the casserole just until everything is thick and bubbly (about 30 to 40 minutes).
For Serving:
Pick and choose any of your favorite toppings or enjoy the casserole as it. It’s delicious on its own! Avocado, cilantro, sour cream, salsa are amazing options for topping the casserole.
Hearty chicken for protein, starchy white rice for carbs, and plenty of ooey-gooey melty cheese for flavor, this win of a recipe will surely please the whole family. Plus, it is also easily adjustable for those who track their macros for specific fitness goals.
Now that we’re experts on the ingredients for this easy chicken enchilada casserole, let’s make it!
How to Make Chicken and Rice Enchilada Casserole:
If you’re making your own Homemade Enchilada Sauce, you can do so up to 5 days in advance.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add the chopped onion, bell peppers, garlic, chopped chicken, chili powder, white rice, and corn to a large (13” x 9”) casserole dish or baking dish.
Stir in the enchilada sauce, chicken broth, and sea salt and stir well. Similarly, stir in half of the cheese (1 ½ cups).
Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, give everything a stir, then sprinkle with the remaining (1 1/2 cups) of grated cheese. The casserole will appear very liquidy at this point – this is normal!
Turn your oven on the high broil setting and broil for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the cheese is golden-brown.
Serve the chicken and rice enchilada casserole with tortilla chips and any additional favorite toppings, such as cherry tomatoes, avocado, lime wedges, cilantro, sour cream, etc.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can also cover the casserole dish tightly with plastic wrap.
Like most casserole recipes, this chicken enchilada casserole recipe tastes even better the next day!
And that’s it! A delightful hearty casserole with blow-your-mind flavor that you’ll want to keep coming back to over and over.
If you love healthy casserole recipes, also check these out!
More Healthy Casserole Recipes:
- Wild Rice Chicken Casserole
- Tuna Noodle Casserole
- Greek Sausage Breakfast Casserole with Spinach and Feta
- Cheesy Vegetable and Brown Rice Casserole
- Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole
- Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Casserole
- Tuna Rice Casserole
The next time you’re craving enchiladas but want dinner on the table in under an hour, whip up this chicken and rice enchilada casserole!
Chicken and Rice Enchilada Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup yellow corn*
- 1 to 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts chopped
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 cup white rice**
- 1 15-oz can red enchilada sauce (1 ½ cups)
- 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tsp sea salt to taste
- 3 cups Colby Jack cheese grated***
For Serving (Optional):
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Sour Cream
- Salsa
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add the chopped onion, bell peppers, garlic, chopped chicken, chili powder, white rice, and corn to a large (13” x 9”) casserole dish or baking dish.
- Stir in the enchilada sauce, chicken broth, and sea salt and stir well. Similarly, stir in half of the cheese (1 ½ cups).
- Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, give everything a stir, then sprinkle with the remaining (1 1/2 cups) of grated cheese. The casserole will appear very liquidy at this point – this is normal!
- Turn your oven on the high broil setting and broil for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the cheese is golden-brown.
- Serve the chicken and rice enchilada casserole with tortilla chips and any additional favorite toppings, such as cherry tomatoes, avocado, lime wedges, cilantro, sour cream, etc.
Notes
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
I have a bunch for instant white rice I need to use up if I use precooked chicken and the instant rice would that change cook time?
The cook time will stay the same since the rice still needs to cook 🙂
Hi there. I would love to make this in a few days. How would the cook time change if I sided cooked rotisserie chicken instead of raw chicken?
Hi Emma! Unfortunately, the cook time won’t change at all because the rice still needs time to cook. Using rotisserie chicken will save you some prep time though, since you won’t need to chop raw chicken 🙂
We loved it! Added a can of rotel and some jalapeños. Will do black beans next time too. Do you think I could freeze leftovers? Would it thaw and reheat ok you think?
I’m happy to hear you enjoy it, Kathleen! I love the idea of adding jalapenos! And black beans on the next go sounds amazing. I think the casserole will freeze and reheat just fine! The fat content and sauce helps ensure it stays yummy, so I think you’d be good to go although I haven’t tried it myself. Thanks for swinging back around to share your feedback! xo
Thank you for this! I love one dish meals that are easy to put together. I definitely will add some sort of bean (either whole or refried) to this next time. Tasty!!
My pleasure, Michelle! I love the idea of adding beans – sounds great! xo
My whole family loved this! If I make it again I will cook the onions ahead of time – I found them a bit crunchy even with adding 10 min to cook time. Loved how easy this is though!
I’m so happy to hear you and your family enjoy the recipe, Kelly! I bet a little extra enchilada sauce or a little less bake time would do the trick 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
This looks amazing! Question, can you also add black or pinto beans? If so, does the measurement of liquid need to increase (enchilada sauce and/or broth)? I’m making this week!
Hi Lisa! You can definitely add either black beans or pinto beans! I would simply drain the beans and add them in with no other changes 🙂 Hope you enjoy! xo
Is the rice pre cooked in the chicken rice enchilada dish?
Hi Laura! Use 1 cup of uncooked white rice 🙂
This has become a staple! We’re dairy free so I just leave the cheese out entirely, and add that extra garlic and onion powder. (We tried using a commercial dairy free cheese, but it wasn’t a positive addition.)
As long as I serve it with plenty of guacamole on the side, it’s nicely balanced and delicious.
I’m so thrilled you like it, Amy! Love the idea of serving it with guacamole! Yum!
Hey! So the chicken is raw when putting it in the casserole right? Or do you cook the chicken ahead of time?
Hi Haley! That’s correct, the chicken is raw. You can also use leftover cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken but if you’re making the whole thing from scratch, the chopped chicken breasts go in raw 🙂 Let me know if you have any other questions! xo
I love your Chicken and Rice Enchilada Casserole! It is fast to fix, and it taste delicious!
I’m so thrilled to hear it! I just love how easy it is and how delicious it turns out! xo
Doesn’t list corn in the recipe. So I’m guessing a can? Drained?
Hi Lynn! Thanks so much for catching that! I use 1 cup of frozen corn, which I believe would equate to 1 can of drained corn. Appreciate you bringing this to my attention! xoxo
Am curious do you have a recipe for homemade enchilada sauce?
@Matt, There is a link to a recipe above where she talks about all of the ingredients (before the casserole recipe). Look under the “Enchilada Sauce & Chicken Broth” heading.
Hi Matt! I haven’t made my own homemade enchilada sauce recipe yet, but this one looks great!: https://cookieandkate.com/enchilada-sauce-recipe/
Can you use cauliflower rice instead of white rice?
Hi Diane! Yes, absolutely! I haven’t tested it myself so I’m not sure how much liquid you’ll need, but I imagine you could skip the broth entirely since you won’t need the liquid to cook the rice. If you add just the enchilada sauce and it looks too dry, you can add broth until it looks plenty moist. Let me know how you like it! xo