Mexican Chicken Rice Casserole
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin, ground or whole
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes (Muir Glen is the only brand I’ve found with these.)
2 (around 7 ounces each) cans roasted green chilies, drained and chopped
2 cups cooked rice (I used white, any type would work well.)
1 1⁄2 cups Monterey jack cheese, shredded
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
2. Heat olive oil in large ovensafe skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, salt, oregano, cumin, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes and chilies to skillet, increase heat to high and simmer, until thickened, 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Stir in rice, cheese, and chicken. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until browned and bubbly, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Note: If you do not have an ovensafe skillet, transfer everything to a lightly greased baking dish in step 4 and bake as directed.
Comments
This recipe is from How to Boil Water, one of my favorite beginner cookbooks. This recipe also demonstrates how important it is to read recipes carefully. The original recipe called for “1 4-ounce can” of chilies and I parsed that as “14-ounce can”. How important that space between the 1 and the 4 is! That said, the end result was fantastic and we all had seconds of this for dinner. I’m the most sensitive to spice and while the extra chilies made the dish spicy, it was a well-spiced sort of spiciness instead of a too-hot sort of spiciness. And to think that I’d been worried this dish would be bland!
Omitting the meat not only makes the dish vegetarian, but it would also make a fantastic side dish to a Mexican themed meal. Much better than the rice from a box I usually make. Other meats would also work well - ground beef, sausage, etc. Additional veggies could also be added - sauteed red bell peppers, corn, zucchini, green onion, cilantro, or black beans. Experiment at will!
How to Boil Water