This easy Chicken Fajita Casserole comes packed with shredded chicken, colorful fajita veggies, rice, an irresistible taco-seasoned sauce, and to top it off, a blend of melty, stretchy Monterey Jack and Cheddar!
You'll find this casserole is both wholesome and comforting, making it perfect for feeding a hungry crowd. It is everything good about chicken fajitas in a one-pan dish!
Love Mexican recipes? Bookmark our Ground Chicken Taco Casserole in your internet browser for next time!
HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN FAJITA CASSEROLE
- Saute the Veggies - Add oil to a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and allow it to come to temperature. Then, add in sliced onion and bell pepper and sauté for about 10 minutes, just until they have softened.
- Make the Sauce -Sprinkle the flour on top of the vegetables and stir until the veggies are coated with it. Next, add the chicken broth one big splash at a time and take care to stir well after each addition. This will ensure you have a nice smooth sauce! Lastly, add the milk, taco seasoning, and salt, and stir! Allow your mix to simmer for about 3 minutes, or until it has slightly thickened.
- Mix - In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooked and shredded chicken, the cooked rice, the sauce, and half of the shredded Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese.
- Bake - Transfer the contents of the bowl to a greased 9x13" casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese. Cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes at 350°F. Then, uncover and bake for about 10 minutes more.
CHICKEN FAJITA CASSEROLE INGREDIENTS
The ingredients for this souped-up Chicken Fajita Casserole can be summed up with four simple components: the sauce, chicken, rice, and cheese!
Below you'll find tips for working with ingredients, as well as ingredient substitution options! We have so many mouth-watering Casseroles on our site, be sure to check them out!
THE SAUCE
The sauce for this creamy Chicken Fajita Casserole begins with your basic fajita veggies: You'll want to have red and green bell pepper, as well as a white onion. If needed, you can get away with using a duo of any bell pepper color combination, and as far as the onion goes, feel free to sub in yellow or red if it's what you have on hand!
In addition to the fajita veggies, you'll also need oil, all-purpose flour, chicken broth, milk, and taco seasoning for the sauce.
You can use any oil you'd like, although our favorites for cooking Mexican food are flavorless oils with high smoke points, like either canola or avocado oil. As far as the flour goes, you really should stick with all-purpose flour, but feel free to sub in a gluten-free all-purpose flour if needed.
It's best if you can use an unsalted or low-sodium chicken broth in your sauce. This way you have complete control of the flavors in your Chicken Fajita Casserole!
However, if you only have the regular chicken broth, go ahead and sub it in, but be sure to omit the additional salt in the recipe. Once you've got your sauce, chicken, and rice all mixed up in the mixing bowl, give a taste, and if it needs more sodium, add a pinch or two of salt at a time to suit your tastes. Remember -- you can always add more, but you can't take away!
Milk adds a nice creamy vibe to the sauce for this Chicken Fajita Casserole. The higher the fat content in the milk, the creamier it'll be. For this reason, whole milk gets our vote, but if you only have 2% milk, it'll work in a pinch.
And the last ingredient falling under the "sauce" category, is taco seasoning. The difference between taco seasoning and fajita seasoning is rather minimal so there's no need to whip up a fancy spice blend -- taco seasoning will do the trick just fine! Our go-to brand is McCormick's, and one 1-ounce packet is all you need.
CHICKEN OPTIONS
You'll need about 2 cups of cooked and shredded chicken for your Chicken Fajita Casserole, which typically equals about 1 pound of cooked chicken breasts.
My go-to recipe for shredding chicken is this simple oven-baked chicken breast, seasoned with simple spices that go along well with any flavor profile. If you're looking to make two meals out of one, start with a whole-roasted chicken one night, and the next night, put the leftovers to good use in this Chicken Fajita casserole! If you want to mix white and dark meat, that's ok! You can use what you have on hand.
And, of course, there's the extra easy way out -- a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
RICE
This part is about as simple as it gets! You need 4 cups of cooked white, long-grain rice. Try your best not to overcook it! It will continue to cook as it bakes in the oven and you don't want it baking to mush by the time the dinner bell rings.
THE CHEESE
This Fajita Chicken Casserole has cheese both in the casserole and on top of the casserole. For the tastiest, creamiest results, use freshly grated cheese over the pre-shredded stuff! You'll need an 8-ounce block of Cheddar and an 8-ounce block of Monterey Jack cheese.
These two kinds of cheese make up your classic Mexican or Tex-Mex blend, and if you don't have time to grate your own, just grab yourself a bag of high-quality shredded cheese. Just be sure you have 3 cups of shredded cheese total!
6 MORE DINNER CASSEROLES YOU’LL LOVE
- Tamale Pie | Quick-fix, ground beef chili with a top-dressing of homemade cornbread!
- Mexican Chicken Casserole | Stacked tortillas, shredded chicken, cheese, and a creamy, ranchero-style sauce!
- Doritos Casserole | Layers of Doritos, taco-seasoned ground beef and cheese!
- Mexican Ground Turkey Casserole | A healthy dinner casserole featuring ground turkey, pasta, and a quick-fix ranchero-style sauce.
- Cowboy Casserole | Chili on the bottom, tater tots, and cheese on top!
- King Ranch Casserole | A Tex-Mex classic with staked tortillas, shredded chicken, peppers, mushrooms, and cheese!
Easy Cowboy Casserole Recipe
Tamale Pie
Easy Mexican Chicken Casserole Recipe
Doritos Casserole
Mexican Ground Turkey Casserole Recipe
Best King Ranch Casserole Ever | Recipe
Chicken Fajita Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 white onion, sliced into ¼" rings
- 2 tablespoons canola or avocado oil
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups unsalted or low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 (1-ounce) package taco seasoning
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken breasts
- 4 cups cooked white rice
- 1 ½ cup freshly grated Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 ½ cup freshly grated Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and have ready a greased casserole dish.
- Remove the stem end of the bell peppers, the core, and the seeds. Cut into rings, about a ¼" thick.
- Add oil to a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and allow to come to temperature. Add the sliced peppers and onions and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened.
- Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir to coat. Add the chicken broth one big splash at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add the milk, the taco seasoning, and salt, and stir once more. Allow the mixture to come to a simmer and reduce the heat as necessary to maintain the simmer. Simmer for about 3 minutes to slightly thicken, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the shredded chicken, cooked rice, sauce, and half of both the Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. Stir to combine.
- Transfer to the prepared casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, serve, and enjoy!
Nutrition
Leave a Reply