Chicken Fiesta Bake
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I am usually excited to share each of my recipes with you all, but with this one I am over the top excited to share with you today! Like the simplicity of the recipe, combined with the beautiful colors & mexican flavors make this dish a winner in my book!
And since this recipe requires an oven, this is the perfect time of year to make it now that things are cooling off. I am seriously in love with this dish! Have I mentioned before that I love mexican flavors? Well, I do, & this hits the spot right on! Just look at how pretty this casserole is!!! Well, I think it’s pretty. Bright, bold & beautiful!
This dish is not all about the looks either. Do you want to know how easy this recipe is? So easy that you throw it all in the dish, top it with chicken & seasonings & throw it in the oven! Talk about the perfect weeknight meal! I will be making this again & again! It makes a lot for our young family of 4, but my husband & I can eat the leftovers for lunch the next day, which I don’t mind at all!!! Love this dish!
Chicken Fiesta Bake
Ingredients
- 1 (16oz) jar medium salsa (I prefer the "fresher" refrigerated salsas)
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 can corn, undrained
- 1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
- 1 cup of long grain white rice
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2-3 chicken breasts, sliced in half width-wise to make 4-6 chicken breasts (I recommend doing 3 breasts cut in half because it's a lot of rice mixture.)
- Cajun or Taco Seasoning
- 1/2 cup + medium cheddar cheese
- Green onions, diced
Instructions
- Grease a 9x13" pan with cooking spray. Dump salsa, water, corn, beans, rice, & salt into the pan. Stir together.
- Place chicken breasts on top. Season generously with cajun or taco seasoning.
- Bake at 375*F for 45 minutes or until chicken is done. Sprinkle with cheese & return to oven for 3-5 minutes or until cheese melts. Top with freshly chopped green onions.
Notes
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Recipe adapted from Pace Foods
41 Comments on “Chicken Fiesta Bake”
That looks delicious! Glad my oven is fixed 😉
Yvonne @ TriedandTasty.com
This casserole looks so pretty and most casseroles don’t look pretty. Love your photography skills, you might want to teach a class on how you get stellar pictures. This looks delicious!
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K this is going on my dinner menu for the weekend we are having company so I hope they all love it.
Love how colorful this meal is! This sounds incredible!
This looks great! My family would love this for dinner!
This looks soooo good! Can’t wait to try it!
This looks incredible! Pinned!
My husband hates casseroles, but since the chicken is in big pieces still, I don’t think this counts. Mexican is my favorite, so I will be making this! Thanks.
Mmmm! This sure got my mouth watering tonight 🙂 I can’t wait to try this one out!!
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
This looks mouth watering!!! Yumm ! I’m pinning it for later so idvcan an try it :)!!
Do you put the rice in uncooked?
Yes, put it in the pan uncooked. It cooks in the oven in the pan with everything else.
Sounds really yummy and looks delicious too! I love easy meals like this. Can’t wait to give it a try!
Linda
Any idea how well this would do with brown rice? How much longer would you suggest cooking it with brown rice without overcooking the chicken?
Brown rice would probably take about 1 hour to bake. If you are worried about the chicken, you can take it out after 45 minutes & keep it warm, or you can try leaving the chicken thick (not cutting it in half width-wise.) You can also start your rice & then top it with your chicken & spices 15 minutes into baking.
I have cooked this meal twice now and both times the rice never fully cooked while in the pan. The rice is always undercooked and crunchy!
thank you!
Amber, this looks amazing! I love your pictures, it looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
I would cook it for 40 minutes and then return it to the oven for the extra 5 minutes. That extra 5 minutes after it was done dried out the chicken a little too much for me. The flavors were great and it looked pretty too.
Yes, it definitely depends on the width of the chicken breasts, so thanks for sharing your experience so that others can have that added tip 🙂
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can this be made in a crock-pot?
I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say for sure, but I don’t see why not. I have made rice in the slow cooker, and chicken, just not together, but I’m guessing it would probably cook on low for 4-6 hours, or high for 2-4 hours. Double check the internal temperature of the chicken that it’s 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
The flavor was great and the recipe was simple. However, my rice didn’t cook. I had to add a lot more water and put the rice back in for about 15 mins. I would say use like a cup of water.
I’m sorry to hear your rice didn’t cook. You added the corn with all the juices in addition to the 1/3 cup water and liquid from the salsa? Thanks for your review, it may help others who want to make this!
Yep! I followed the recipe as if. Not sure what happened. Other than that, excellent and easy dish! I will be making again.
That’s so weird. Well, I’m glad you liked it anyway, and got it to work out!
Just made thiS casserole and I have to say it was really delicious. I used brown rice and just added a bit of chilli powder, cumin and coriander because I wasn’t sure of seasoning , yum! I wanted to comment cause I’ve tried Mexican dishes before and they haven’t lived up to reviews. This was easy and healthy (used homemade salsa) and delicious. I’m going to use leftovers for burritos for lunch so thanks for that too!
Hi Pam! Your additions/substitutions sound great! So glad you were able to make it your own and enjoy it! Thanks for your review!
Made this tonite to the exact measurements, only difference I used whole grain long rice it cooked to perfection chicken was juicy and rice was cooked!! Amazingly easy!! Definitely recommend it!!
That’s so great! I’m glad you liked it!
This was good… Spice wise. The rice was WAY to hard. I followed everything to the tee and added more water. Wayyyyy to hard. The taco seasoning was over powering. (I did t even use that much). It’s something that needed to be mixed in. IF I make this again, I’ll make sure to make this with rice on the side to ensure fully cooked rice.
The amount of liquid can depend on the type of rice you use. It is also beneficial to rinse your rice before you use it. As far as the taco seasoning, did you add the whole packet? I use a homemade recipe and probably used 1 Tbsp which is about 1/3 of a store-bought packet. There is no amount written in the recipe, it’s basically up to your personal tastes, so if you did add the whole packet, I can see why it would be overpowering. I hope this helps!
Hi! Does minute rice work?
It might be too soggy. I would stick with regular rice.
Cooked black beans or uncooked??
It’s one (14oz) can of black beans, and the beans in the can are cooked already. Hope you love it!
Hi this was delicious! I couldn’t get the rice to cook all the way though in some parts.
I’ll have to re-work this recipe because it seems to be a common problem. I’m guessing it either needs more liquid and/or more cook time.