Southwestern Chicken Casserole
Published 1/30/2024
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This Southwestern Chicken Casserole calls for simple, flavorful ingredients and is made completely in a casserole dish. A perfect weeknight dinner idea!
You guys are going to love this southwestern chicken casserole recipe. It reminds me of a GIANT Chipotle burrito bowl. I am a huge Chipotle fan and order the same thing every time I go. Can you guess what it is? A chicken burrito bowl.
And when it comes to casseroles, we love making them a well-rounded meal. That usually means pairing a grain, with veggies, and a source of protein. Chicken is such a great protein to cook inside of a casserole because it’s juicy, lean and can be flavored so many ways.
why you’ll love it!
- You only need to dirty one dish.
- It’s a great weeknight meal that packs a ton of flavor.
- This casserole leaves great leftovers, making it a great meal prep recipe for the week.
What You Need for this Southwestern Chicken Casserole
The base of this flavorful chicken casserole recipe is quick-cooking brown rice, black beans, and chicken breast. And when it comes to adding that flavor punch, we went big! Here’s what really gives this casserole its robust flavor:
- 1 jar of salsa
- paprika
- chili powder
- ground cumin
- garlic powder
- fresh cilantro
- shredded cheese
Ingredient Substitutions
Beans: Black beans pair well with this dish, but feel free to substitute 1:1 for another canned bean like great northern beans or pinto beans.
Chicken: We’re using diced chicken breast, but boneless chicken thighs cut into 1 in. chunks will also work.
Rice: We’ve tested this recipe with minute brown rice and minute white rice. Either will work!
Top Tips
Don’t substitute the minute rice: Only use brown or white minute rice for this casserole! The rice won’t have enough time to completely cook if substituting for any other variety of rice.
Spice to your liking: This casserole calls for an entire jar of salsa, so feel free to use your favorite variety, whether that’s a mild or super hot salsa.
Get creative with the toppings: We love topping this casserole with green onions, tortilla chips, and a dollop of Greek yogurt and homemade guacamole.
Our Favorite
Casserole Dish
We love this le creuset casserole dish because it is oven safe AND has a cover. It is the perfect casserole dish for this baked one pot pasta dish!
Storage
Store this casserole in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Freezer Instructions: we recommend making your casserole in a disposable casserole tin. Once cooked, let the casserole cool completely and then cover with tin foil and remove as much air as possible. Place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this southwestern chicken casserole with our homemade guacamole, salsa and our ultimate margarita.
Southwestern Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups minute brown rice, uncooked (white or brown minute rice will work)
- 1.5 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 10 oz. frozen corn, thawed
- 15 oz. canned black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks (raw)
- 16 oz. jar salsa, any spice level works!
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup Colby Jack cheese
- optional toppings: shredded Colby Jack cheese, Greek yogurt, salsa, and green onions.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F and spray a large casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Add all of the ingredients (minus the shredded cheese) into the casserole dish and mix together with a wooden spoon making sure that everything is well mixed and submerged in liquid.
- Then, cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375ºF for about 50 minutes.
- Uncover and top with shredded cheese. Bake, uncovered, for an additional 10 minutes.
- Once fully cooked, let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Top with Greek yogurt, more shredded cheese, salsa, and green onions.
Tips & Notes
- Nutrition information is for a serving of 8 people and includes the 1/2 cup of Colby Jack cheese
- This recipe was updated slightly on 1/29/2024 to reduce the amount of chicken broth as some had reported issues with the casserole consistency being too soupy. The original recipe is HERE.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Eat this at least once a month. I want to be buried in this. Good news is there are always leftovers so that may be a reality.
I LOVED this recipe! It’s the first casserole recipe of yours I made and I can’t wait to make others. Super easy to make (love the minute rice which makes the whole thing faster to make) and tasted amazing!!
YAHOOOOOO! Minute rice FTW.
We love this recipe! Great for weekday lunches!
You MUST use this “minute rice” or it will turn out very watery. I am not familiar with this kind of rice, even made an extra trip to the store to get it, and still got the wrong kind. Despite it being very watery, I agree with the other comments about good flavor and ingredients. Chicken cooked perfectly. I just wish there was a note about substituting regular rice and what modifications to make.
Any suggestions for making this ahead without cooking first? I like to make casseroles the night before so my spouse can pop it in the oven while I’m still at work. I see the freezer suggestions, but not planning to freeze this.
Hey Sara! You should be able to just prep it all and pop it in the fridge and then bake it the next day!
Did you try this? Did it work?
I needed to make a bigger batch of this and I often multiply recipes. I have learned, however, that recipes containing liquid are tricky because even if you multiply everything else, liquids RARELY need to be mulitiplied. I knew with this recipe, the extra raw chicken, onions, and salsa would all add to the liquid content, so I decided to not multiply the broth at all. I wanted to make enough to fill a 15×10 casserole dish, and add as much chicken as possible (big on protein in my house). So, what I ended up doing was:
3 cups minute brown rice
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 yellow onions, diced
2 (15 oz) cans sweet corn, drained but NOT rinsed
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained but NOT rinsed
3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks, raw
2 (16 oz) jars salsa (one mild, one medium)
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp garlic powder
2 cups shredded cheese
I followed the baking instructions, but added 30 minutes (covered) for the bigger casserole (made sure the chicken was fully cooked by using an instant read thermometer in a few of the chunks). It is PERFECT! I more than doubled the spices so that we could avoid feeling the need for salt and it worked deliciously. This is definitely going into recipe rotation. Thank you, Lee, for one of the easiest, flavorful, and healthy recipes I have found!!!
So glad your modifications worked!!! Doubling/tripling recipes can be tricky, but so happy it worked for yah!
I definitely wouldn’t call it a casserole as it turned out like soup, but it was delicious! I followed the exact recipe, no substitutions
i made this tonight but i did add a touch of salt. the flavor came out awesome however it did come out VERY watery and soupy. could this have been from the salt?
No, the salt wouldn’t have done that! What kind of rice did you use? And did you make any other modifications?
This was a great recipe!! Very flavorful!! I know it’s a healthy recipe, but I will add some sea salt next time and a bit more of cheese instead of the 1/2 cup it calls for.
Can you use regular rice?
Hi Allison! We do not recommend swapping for normal rice. You can, however, use minute white rice!