Easiest Ever Enchilada Casserole: Simple and Delicious Family Dinner

This super easy chicken and rice enchilada casserole is a simple, healthy and tasty, all-in-one-dish dinner option.

Are you looking for a delicious and nutritious hot meal option that brings all the comfort of a casserole, with Mexican flavor and very minimal hands-on prep time? If so, this is a winner!

With a very quick prep, these minimal ingredients come together into a family-friendly, kid-friendly, crowd-friendly meal.

It is cooked all in one pan in the oven, customizable to suit various tastes or dietary needs, and simple enough for a make-ahead dinner.

What You’ll Need to Make this Easy Enchilada Casserole

This recipe is made with simple, whole-food ingredients:

• brown rice
• chicken breast
• cheese
• zucchini
• eggplant
• green beans
• onion
• chicken stock
• salt
• enchilada sauce (homemade or store bought)

The veggies in this enchilada casserole can easily be swapped for more seasonally appropriate or convenient options (such as replacing the zucchini and eggplant with broccoli and frozen corn). And if beef is more convenient than chicken, that is also an option!

How to Make this Enchilada Casserole: Step-by-Step Instructions

This is easy, friends! No layering of tortillas or rolling filling inside wraps. This is a fast, dump-friendly option.

Here’s what you’ll do:

1. Grease a deep 9×13 inch baking pan
2. Pull out a cutting board and a knife
3. Dump your rice (uncooked) in the bottom of the pan
4. Chop your chicken and veggies (all uncooked) and spread them evenly over the rice
5. Chop your cheese and sprinkle it over the veggies and chicken
6. Pour your chicken stock over everything
7. Pour your enchilada sauce over the top of that
8. Cover tightly with foil
9. Bake

You can use store bought enchilada sauce, or you can make it in advance. This will be a bit quicker if you use store bought sauce.

And your chicken breast doesn’t have to be 100% thawed. I find chicken breast easier to chop up if it is still a bit frozen.

Helpful Tips & Tricks to Make Perfect Enchilada Casserole

I like to dice my chicken quite small, so I can make sure it gets cooked through completely. Especially if it isn’t all the way thawed.

If you have pre-grated cheese, you can use it and save yourself the time of chopping cheese. I don’t usually buy pre-grated cheese, so I either grate it by hand or just dice it into chunks with a knife.

You can always add some jalapenos or cayennne pepper if you want spicy enchilada casserole. I opt for a mild casserole and then my husband adds spices to his serving when he wants more kick.

I do recommend avoiding a shallow casserole dish or you may have rice expand and overflow your dish.

And if you prefer to make this enchilada casserole vegetarian, swap out the chicken for chickpeas or black beans!

Why This Chicken Casserole is Perfect for Busy Families

This Rice and Chicken Enchilada Casserole is a fantastic option for busy families.

This recipe makes a 9×13 pan, so it is large enough to feed a family. Our family usually has enough leftovers to make an easy lunch option for the kids the next day, too.

Since the ingredients are basic, it isn’t an expensive meal, either. You can cut the cost further by switching out the chicken for beans and using seasonal produce.

It is easy to prep in advance (you can wait to add the chicken broth until just before baking, or you can let the rice soak in the broth and reduce your cook time a little).

And since it has starch, protein, and veggies, it can be a one-dish meal, which makes it really convenient for busy days!

Store-bough enchilada sauce may contain gluten (check the label), but if you make your own enchilada sauce in advance, you can use gluten free flour for a gluten free meal. And if you need to avoid dairy, you can omit the cheese or opt for a non-dairy cheese options.

Serving Suggestions: What to Pair with Your Enchilada Casserole

If you want to add more to round out this enchilada casserole with additional flavors, there are a number of tasty side options you can consider:

• Cucumber Tomato Salad or Cucumber Kimchi or corn on the cob (summer produce)
• Creamy Broccoli Salad or Candied Carrots (winter produce)
• Southern Style Fried Apples or roasted pumpkin (autumn produce)
• Zesty Super Greens Salad or roasted asparagus (spring produce)
• Sourdough bread or focaccia or rolls
• Chips and Salsa or refried beans

And for something to drink, we ALWAYS choose our homemade kombucha to accompany dinner!

Frequently Asked Questions about Enchilada Casserole with Rice (FAQs)

How should I store leftover enchilada casserole? Store it in a sealed container (I like glass containers with a clip top lid to reduce my family’s exposure to plastics) in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Can I make this in advance and freeze it? Absolutely. You can either make the casserole, bake it, let it cool, and then wrap it up well with tin foil and cling wrap to seal it and freeze it, or you can make everything but not add the broth, freeze it, and then add the broth just before you want to bake it.

How can I reheat enchilada casserole? You can always microwave it in individual servings for 2-3 minutes, or if you want to reheat the whole thing, make sure you seal your baking dish tightly with tin foil, and then pop it back into the oven at 350°F for 20 minutes or until heated through.

How should I adjust for a smaller or larger size family? This recipe makes a large 9×13 pan, which I figure make about 8 hearty, adult-size servings. This is enough for our family of six to eat this as a one-dish meal, and then also have some leftover.

So if you are feeding a family of 4 and don’t want leftovers, you’ll probably want to use a 9×9 size pan, and cut the recipe in half.

If you’re scaling for more people, roughly calculate:

• 1/4 cup of uncooked rice per serving
• 1/2 cup of liquid (between the broth and the enchilada sauce) per serving
• 75 grams (2.6 ounces) of chicken breast per serving
• about 1/2 cup raw chopped veggies per serving

Enjoy Your Easy, Family-Friendly Chicken Enchilada Casserole Meal

This recipe is easy to pull together, family friendly, a healthy all-in-one option for dinner, and full of flavor and cheesy goodness.

I hope you try it when you need a simple meal to pull together and put in the oven and forget about until dinner time, and I hope you LOVE it.

If you think this recipe sounds good, would you do me a favor and share it on pinterest or facebook or with someone you think might enjoy it?

You also might want to check out my popular Chile Relleno Casserole, with a similar Mexican profile but using ground beef and eggs, and containing a much higher protein content, if that’s your thing.

And if you make this enchilada casserole, come back and let me know in the comments below if you made any modifications or if you have any ideas of how you’d change it next time. I’d love to hear about it!

If you like these kinds of family-friendly meals, or you’re looking for inspiration on how to live intentionally as a family, I’d love to have you sign up for my monthly newsletter so you can join me in this journey of loving our families well and feeding their minds, bodies, and souls!

Happy cooking!