Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole
The easier way to enjoy a chicken enchilada – baked in a dish with tender rice!
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Table of Contents
About Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole
I’ve mentioned before that when I redesigned this site and added a swanky new navigation menu, it became apparent that there were some pretty big holes in my recipe lineup that needed to be filled. For example, I’ve posted countless of desserts (seriously, sugar is my catnip) but I’m running low on recipes for vegan, beef, breakfast, etc.
To remedy this, I’ve made it my long term goal to start filling in the gaps, and that brings me to today’s post: a new rice recipe that brings my total count up to two!
The weird thing is, we eat plenty of rice in this house – it’s the foundation of a lot of the dinners I make – and yet I only had only posted one rice recipe before today. I guess we just get so anxious to eat that taking a photo never dawns on me?
But all that changes now!
I’ve been drooling over this particular recipe in my Pinterest feed for ages, and was happy to finally have an excuse (“for the good of the blog!”) to try out a new rice-centric dinner.
As for my take on this recipe: it has a very mellow taste, which is perfect for me and my aversion to all things spicy, but you could easily kick it up a notch by using different types of enchilada sauce and/or refried beans. I had a hard time locating white cheddar at my grocery store, so I settled on a cheddar Mexican blend that worked out just fine. an old friend of mine thought this dish would be better with a sharper cheese, and I can see what he means – even if you’re not a fan of spices like me, Mexican food just doesn’t feel right unless it fights back a little.
I could see this being (yet another) new addition to our dinner lineup – it’s easy to cook and reheats extremely well. The only thing better than a filling dinner are tasty leftovers for lunch!
More great chicken recipes
More comforting casserole recipes
Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts
- 2 cups rice, traditional rice preferred
- 20 oz enchilada sauce, (roughly 1 large can or 2 10 oz cans)
- 16 oz refried beans, (1 can)
- 1 cup white cheddar, shredded
- 1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
- 11 oz corn, (1 can)
- 1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- For cooking raw chicken breasts: Cut breasts in half, then place them in a large pot. Fill pot with water until tops of chicken are covered. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Allow chicken to cook for 10-15 minutes or until insides of chicken are no longer pink. Place cooked chicken in a large bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then use 2 forks to shred chicken. Set chicken aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Prepare rice to package instructions, typically with 4 cups water and 2 tablespoons butter. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix the 2 cheeses together. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the shredded chicken, enchilada sauce, refried beans, salt, pepper, and half of the cheese. Fold in cooked rice.
- Pour rice enchilada mix into a 9x13 baking dish or casserole dish. Top with corn and remaining cheese.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cheese has melted.
- Top with chopped cilantro before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
I do my best to provide nutrition information, but please keep in mind that I'm not a certified nutritionist. Any nutritional information discussed or disclosed in this post should only be seen as my best amateur estimates of the correct values.
