Queso Chicken and Rice Casserole

I’m in the midst of mourning right now.

In a frenzy to stop gorging myself on homemade Chex Mix (which I make every Christmas season), I didn’t fasten the lid to the tin it well enough and ended up dropping the entire batch on the floor.

I’m not going to lie—I also dropped a good chunk of the snack mix on the couch. It’s embarrassing and sad and I’m probably making it a much bigger deal than I need to.

But that is almost the last of my Chex Mix, and it’s all now in the trash. Sad.

In a sea of Christmas treats (cookies and candy galore) and snacks (Chex Mix) you still need to eat regular meals. I made this for dinner the other night and was blown away by how good it was.

This dinner has all the good stuff: cheese, cheese and more CHEESE. Not only is an entire jar of queso mixed in with the rice, chicken and pepper mixture, but the whole dish is also topped with another CUP of shredded cheddar cheese! It’s a cheese bomb but it is SO WORTH the added calories.

Enjoy!

Queso Chicken and Rice Casserole

Servings: 4-6
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
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A cheesy casserole made with chciken, rice, queso, peppers and chiles.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 (1 oz) package of taco seasoning

3/4 cup milk

1 (3 oz) can diced green chiles

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 (15 oz) jar of queso

1/4 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for topping

3 green onions, diced

2 1/2 cups cooked rice

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Sliced cherry tomatoes for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13×9″ baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, stir together chicken, taco seasoning, green chiles, bell pepper, onion, queso, cilantro and rice until everything is well combined.
Pour mixture into prepared dish and top with shredded cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and return to oven to bake for another 10 minutes.
Top casserole with cilantro and tomatoes and serve.

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