Best Southwest Chicken Casserole (Healthy!)
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A Healthy Southwest Chicken Casserole Recipe that is so easy to make! This Mexican Chicken Casserole is perfect for a one-pan dinner.
Family friendly Mexican Chicken Casserole
We are so obsessed with easy dinners in our house, but we also like meals that are healthy and high in protein, and lower in salt.
For so long, I didn’t think casseroles were a good fit for our family because so many are high in salt and use canned creamy soups (loaded with preservatives and mystery ingredients).
However, I then discovered that you can easily make casseroles with much better ingredients (like our Healthy Spaghetti Squash Casserole).
This southwest chicken casserole with black beans is simple, yet so tasty and will be one of your family’s go-to’s for an easy weeknight dinner!
Need more ideas for dinner? Check out these 40+ Healthy Dinner Recipes.
Why we love this Mexican Chicken Casserole Recipe
This is such an easy and delicious meal and we love it for so many reasons:
- One Pan – This cheesy southwest chicken and rice casserole is made in the casserole dish that it is cooked in, which means fewer dishes and less clean-up!
- High Protein – This casserole has 35g of protein per serving!
- Easy To Make – Everything cooks in the same casserole dish with very minimal ingredient prep! You also don’t have to cook the chicken before because it fully cooks in the recommended time. As easy as a crockpot dinner, but made in only an hour!
Southwestern Chicken Casserole Healthy ingredients
To make this southwest chicken casserole, you’ll need:
- white rice
- chicken breasts
- chicken broth
- black beans
- frozen corn
- jarred salsa
- cheddar cheese
- onion
- minced garlic, chili powder, and paprika
Here’s a link to the casserole dish we used.
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded substitutions box.
How to make Mexican Chicken Casserole
- In a casserole dish, add white rice, minced garlic, onion, and chicken broth and stir together.
- Then add chicken breasts, black beans, corn, salsa, chili powder, and paprika. Make sure to keep the rice on the bottom and covered.
- Top with cheese and cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
- Then bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Substitutions
Chicken: Chicken thighs or chicken tenders could be substituted for chicken breasts in this recipe. Cooked chicken can also be substituted. I’d use about 3 cups! Keep the cook time as is so the rice cooks.
Beans: Black beans can be substituted with pinto or kidney beans.
Salsa: Any brand of jarred salsa will work in this recipe.
Garlic: If you don’t have fresh minced garlic, substitute with 1 teaspoon garlic powder.
Onion: If you don’t have fresh onion, substitute with 1 teaspoon onion powder
Corn: Corn is optional.
Cheese: Cheddar cheese can be substituted with Monterey jack or pepper jack cheese. You can also omit it if you are dairy-free.
Rice: You can’t substitute brown or short grain rice in this recipe. It will not work. Different types of rice cook differently.
How to store this Healthy Chicken Casserole
Refrigerator: You can store this southwest casserole in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Freezing: You can freeze this recipe, but we do not recommend it. We’ve found it can get mushy once thawed.
Reheating: This Mexican casserole tastes great when reheated! You can reheat in the microwave, in the oven set at 350°F until the center is cooked through, or sauté on the stove.
It’s better to store this casserole in the refrigerator and enjoy fresh.
Make Ahead: We don’t recommend mixing the ingredients for this casserole together the night before baking. The rice will absorb the broth and it can mess up the texture.
How to reheat Southwest Chicken Casserole
You can reheat in the microwave, in the oven set at 350°F, or sauté on the stove until the center is cooked through.
What goes with Mexican Chicken Casserole
This cheesy southwest chicken and rice casserole is a delicious and complete meal on it’s own.
It’s also great:
- with a corn tomato avocado salad on the side
- or with pineapple salsa or creamy taco dressing on top
Mexican Chicken Casserole FAQs
Yes, you can. This Mexican chicken casserole calls for raw chicken. It fully cooks in the recommended time. Cooked chicken can also be substituted.
Yes, but we do not recommend it, because we’ve found it can get mushy
Other healthy casserole recipes:
Here are some of our other healthy casserole recipes that we think you would love:
Love chicken? If so – here are some of our other favorite healthy chicken recipes!
Mexican Chicken Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1.5 lbs chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 cup black beans cooked, rinsed & drained
- 1 cup frozen corn defrosted
- 16 oz jarred salsa
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large casserole dish (12×9), lay down white rice, minced garlic, onion and chicken broth. Stir until combined.
- Add chicken breasts, black beans, corn, salsa, chili powder and paprika on top. Try to keep the rice on the bottom and covered so it can cook correctly.
- Top with cheddar cheese.
- Cover and bake for 45 minutes.
- Bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Nutrition Facts
Important Note: This is not an authentic Mexican recipe. My goal is always to share recipes that are a bit healthier and made with affordable, accessible ingredients so everyone can enjoy them regardless of their food allergies or dietary restrictions.
What if I only have a pound of chicken, will that be okay?
I don’t know because I’ve never tried, it, sorry!
This was awesome! Have to admit, I was a little spectacle after I read some of the reviews about undercooked rice and watery. Not the case!!! Perfectly cooked! A couple of things I did differently – used 1.9 Lbs of chicken (awesome), used hot salsa with jalapeños(awesome if you like hot),added more cheese on top(my family likes cheese), left it in oven for 15 minutes after turning oven off. All of the liquid was absorbed, topped with cilantro and avocados after it had cooled a little. I think ovens are different. I have an oven that I could use convection setting. Think that helped. Lastly, I used a 9 by 13 casserole dish that I covered tightly with foil.
Sorry for the detailed response but it may help others😊
This is a keeper!!
Thank you! I wasn’t sure what to cover with
After reading all the comments from this recipe I decided to go ahead and make it these are the changes I made all I had on hand for rice was a Box of El Paso solel paso cilantro lime rice Along with the garlic and onion I spread it on the bottom of the Pan Then I added an extra layer of cheese on top of the chicken. I didn’t have any salsa but I used rotail in place of that and it turned out perfect it was wonderful my it was wonderful my boyfriend said it was the best casserole I’ve made.
Absolutely going to make again! Very good!! I used some street corn that I had made up from a few days ago. Mixed the street corn with the drained black beans. Great flavor
Good flavour but the rice needed more liquid and I quickly sautéed the meat before assembling..
This recipe was SO GOOD. We had it for dinner and I already can’t wait to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I made it as the directions are written except I mixed up all the chicken, corn, beans, etc. in a bowl before pouring it over the top of the rice mixture. The rice came out perfectly cooked.
I did have to use mango pineapple salsa because I didn’t realize it was all I had in the cupboard. But it actually gave it a yummy sweet/spicy kick.
Will definitely make again.
After reading all the reviews, I was a little disappointed after I made it. I felt like the ingredients should have been stirred up. I don’t think the flavors got Blended enough. So what you did in stirring the Chicken, black beans,Corn, salsa and seasonings was a great idea. I will try that again next time I make it.
This recipe thanks to you is now a weekly in our meal plan !
I substituted minute rice .! And pinto beans and no onions but onion powder .
Thank you again !! Ann 6/22
I have made this recipe twice now and while it’s easy and the taste is great, both times my rice has not been cooked through. I follow all directions for cooking and use long grain white rice. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Krissy- I’m really sorry to hear this. If you read the comments, people often have the same issue. I have tested this recipe 10+ times and had other people test it.. and the rice has always been cooked correctly. The only thing I can think to try is maybe add the broth/rice and precook in the oven for 10 minutes? then add your other ingredients.
Maybe your oven wasn’t hot enough. I was concerned about the same thing and then I noticed that my inside oven temperature was 25 ° less than I had set it at so I increased the oven temperature and rice came out perfect!
Am I use bone broth chicken powder in this recipe?
I’ve never used bone broth chicken powder. I’m sure it would work you just need to rehydrate it
My rice didn’t cook all the way, but the flavors of this were amazing, so think next time I will make the rice separately and just cook the ‘rest’ as mentioned above. Thanks!
When you cook the rice ahead of time, do you still use the same amount of broth when combining in the casserole pan?
This recipe was SO delicious and simple to make. Unfortunately, all I had was short grain rice used for making sushi but it turned out fine for me. I’ll use the long grain rice next time I make it though. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes! I can finally incorporate healthy meals without the husband and kids knowing the difference 😂
This is so good and so easy I HAD to leave a comment! And I NEVER leave comments. I’ve made it twice now and tweaked it just a bit the second time. This time I added extra salsa because I like things a bit ‘saucy’. We are lovers of cheese so I topped with two cups…. And I used the whole can of beans. Topped with sour cream and avocado before serving… so delish! Definitely a keeper!
I made this and placed it in the fridge at 8:10 am took it out at 4:15pm let it set for a little bit then baked it. WOW. My husband put sliced jalapenos in his. He likes his with more heat.
This was delicious! Followed the recipe exactly as described and it came out perfect. Rice was soft, chicken was moist and cooked through. Served with avocado and sour cream. We will definitely be adding this to our favorite recipes book!
This was very good. Just based on what I had available I made the following adjustments:
Zatarain’s Spanish Yellow rice (I added some plain white rice)
Instead of salsa I used plain tomato sauce and added 1 tbsp Cumin plus bumped up the paprika to 1/2tbsp.
I measured the cheese with my heart, 1 cup was not nearly enough.
The family loved it, my husband can’t wait to take leftovers for lunch!
I want you to know that I appreciated falling on to this recipe, so a big THANK YOU !!
Well I shredded the chicken and also instead of regular rice, I substituted minute rice .
I looked on the comments and I saw that some people had problems with the rice not totally cooking !!
And that would be my problem also !!
So now I adopted your recipe as a weekly thing !!
Is the white rice parboiled, or completely uncooked?
Completely uncooked white rice.
As a mom of a newborn this recipe is the best! It’s simple, fast, and healthy. Thank you!
Can I use basmati rice instead?
No you can’t.
I always use Basmati rice. It turns out perfect every time.
I made this casserole with brown rice and it came out perfect!
I used cooked chicken, and, per the instructions, reduced the baking time. After scooping a spoonful onto a plate, i realized the cooking time shouldn’t have been reduced. The chicken didn’t need the full time but the rice did. I’ll use raw chicken if I make this again. I’ll probably up the spices a wee bit too.
Made this for dinner last night- having leftovers for lunch today and it will be on repeat going forward!! Super simple- you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry already- and delicious!! Highly recommend!
So easy to put together and makes plenty for leftovers! I think we’d try to jazz it up next time with a different salsa and more spices. I also prefer shredded chicken to cubed in a dish like this – but since the chicken and rice cooked perfectly, not sure I’d want to mess with pre-cooking the chicken! All in all, love it for how easy it comes together, and that the leftovers are even better!
This casserole is delicious and so easy to make. It is my go to meal train dish.
The easiest most delicious recipe. Made a couple tweaks. Already prepared chicken and precooked rice!! It was so delicious and easy to make. My husband absolutely loved it!!