One Pot Mexican Rice Casserole
Good old Mexican comfort food made in a single pan – even the rice gets cooked right in the pot!
It’s no surprise that I’m a bit obsessed with one pot meals. Then there’s my other love affair with Mexican food. So you know that I couldn’t help combining my two loves into the most glorious one pot mexican casserole.
Not only does this come together in a single pot but it’s chockfull of fun veggies – all of which you can customize to your liking. But the more veggies, the better! You can even substitute brown rice to make it even healthier.
When ready to serve, you can eat this right out of the pan or even use it as a dipping base with tortilla chips. We loved it both ways, and the leftovers taste even better the next day!
One Pot Mexican Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 1 cup corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
- 1 14.5-ounce can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 cup white rice*
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add garlic, onion and bell pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in zucchini and corn until tender and heated through, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in diced tomatoes, rice, chili powder, cumin and 1 1/2 cups water; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until rice is cooked through, about 15-18 minutes.
- Stir in cheese until melted through, about 1-2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with cilantro, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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My finicky family loves this dish – so much so that I have to double it whenever I make it.
I add black beans to it for protein and top with avocado.
Just made this. Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out delicious! I will make this again for sure.
Made this tonight and it was delicious! And so easy to make. The only issue I had was that it felt like 1 cup of rice was not enough for 6 people/servings? So I adjusted the amount of rice and kind of just added more tomato sauce and spices.
Great recipe! Made it several times. Kiddos love it!
Only thing is…. I don’t know what the heck kinds rice you use that it only takes 20 min to cook! Haha
Just using regular white rice I always have to leave it Summer for an hour till it’s cooked!
I added 1lb. of lean ground beef and used dried Lintels instead of the Black Beans. A very tasty dish and simple to prep and cook.
This was surprisingly tasty (I usually end up not liking tomato flavored dishes) and so easy to make. I also threw in some chicken bits and a can of kidney beans, because I like meat in my dishes and I try to put in vegetables wherever possible. I used stock instead of water (stock cube dissolved in water), because I had vegetable stock cubes about to expire. Try it, even if you aren’t the biggest tomato sauce/tomato pasta fan, it is very nice. Definitely going in my repertoire of dishes. Oh and do put in the cheese, I tried the final dish without cheese and then with cheese in, and the cheese gives it a really lovely flavour addition. I used just a small handful of pre-shredded cheddar and it did make a real difference.
I loved this recipe and will definitely make it again!! Really quick and tasty and perfect to freeze for meal prep. My only change was I left out the cheese and added a drained can of kidney beans, to make it vegan.
I added turkey meat. This makes a delicious family dinner. I will cook this meal again.
I would love to see an Instant Pot version of this recipe!! Also, it’s delicious. One of my favorite go-to meals in the summer.
Can I cook this in a crock pot, as I work and would love to come home and not have to cook.
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
This recipe is a keeper! I used honey hananero chicken sausage, jalapeno, carrots. added chicken stock instead of water and kidney beans! Delicious! Super easy to use up produce on hand. 🙂
I found this randomly on pinterest and it worked out flawlessly! I cooked a pound of ground turkey separately with some home made taco seasoning and then added it to the casserole once it was done cooking. A fantastic, filling meal! And only about 350 calories per serving!
Any nutrition information available for this recipe?
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, I recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps!
Can this recipe be doubled? I need 8-10 serves for dinner tomorrow.
Thanks so much.
I have found that one pot recipes can be a bit finicky when doubled. But as always, please use your best judgment.
how do i reheat it the next day?
You can reheat via stovetop, oven or microwave – it’s really up to you and what you are most comfortable with.
Sooo yummy!! I made it vegan by using nutritional yeast instead of cheese, also I added some cajun spice and lemon garlic seasoning (only because I didn’t have actual garlic at the time). It worked out perfectly with brown rice! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
How much nutritional yeast did you add?
This was so good! The best part, it was an easy recipe and no mess! Yumm, a definite keeper! Thank you!
I was wondering, how many cups this recipe makes. Sorry if I missed this somewhere!
Unfortunately, the cup measurement is not available at this time. But this recipe yields about 4-6 servings. Hope that helps!
Made it today and it was Delicious!! No leftovers and everybody loved it.
Grate recipe(:
Made this a few nights ago and it was great! Added ground turkey.
I totally confused this with the Mexican rice recipe that was open on my phone and I was like, ok I need carrots and then I opened my tablet when I was in the kitchen thinking, why the hell did I get the carrots, why does this say zucchini hahaha but I love your recipes anyway, thank you for existing!
I had leftover taco meat in the fridge, so I threw it into this as well. Yummy!
i just made this…going to serve with spicy fish tacos tonight. its amazing and so easy..thank you!
Tried and loved this dish a few weeks ago…I am going to make it again tomorrow. May do as some of the others and add a bit of ground chuck.
Instead of water, why not use low sodium broth, or even a blend of water and broth?
Yes, that sounds like a great idea!
Instead of adding cheese at the end, when you serve it slice a banana on it, it tastes really good. P.S. I want to try all your recipes
So love your recipes….everything I’ve tried (which is many) is awesome
good recipe!
I need more proteins so i decided to add lentils, black beans and ground chicken,
cooked the chicken for a few minutes before adding the onions and following the recipe.
I also like mexican dishes that are on the spicier side, so I added a chopped jalapeno pepper,
paprika and pepper flakes.
… oh … so much for the “one pot” idea 🙁 ………:-)
Looks great! Question: What if I just used my usual one cup of Quinoa instead of rice? Would the measurement be okay? I think it would … but wanted to run it by you. I am on a Quinoa kick these days 😉 … I’ve convinced myself its better for me than white rice 🙂
… and yes … I would cook my Quinoa by itself and add it to the mix at the end. Your thoughts????
It should be fine to substitute uncooked quinoa for the rice but you may have to adjust cooking time as needed.
Mmmm,……this looks awefuly close to my Arroz con Pollo.recipe. At the beginning, add cubed chicken breast until browned then add the vegetables, tomatoes and rice…… . Delicious!. I do make your version when I am in my vegetarian mood. Just as delicious.
Hi,
I tried the recipe with ground beef and found the result a little bland. I think doubling up on the chilli and cumin would give it some punch. I had some left overs and mixed some salsa with it which worked well.
Martin, it is best to increase the other ingredients to compensate for the addition of ground beef.
Recipe looks delicious! Could I use quinoa instead of rice?
Yes, absolutely, but you may have to adjust cooking time as needed.
Love these kind of recipes! But I guess I didn’t read the whole thing and put my brown rice on to cook earlier so it would be good to go when I threw this all together. Wish I would’ve seen the magical “one pot” 😉 I’m sure it will be easy and delicious though! Thanks for sharing!
Bummer! That’s the beauty of a one pot meal – no need for the extra cooking. And it’s always helpful to read through a recipe at least twice before cooking. You won’t believe the difference it makes!
Great recipe! I used jasmine also & had no problem. Might have cooked it a few extra minutes. I did not have zuchinni so used black beans in place of it. Didn’t have canned tomatoes either so I used some of my homemade salsa (canned). Very flexible recipe:) We just sprinkled the cheese on top of individual bowls & ate it with chips.
I tried this recipe using jasmine white rice but it didn’t work out =/ What kind of rice do you normally use? Besides that, love your recipes. They all look so doable and delicious!
What a bummer! I used basmati rice but it should have worked with jasmine white rice as well. Did you follow the ingredients/instructions as written?
Mom saw that I had made this for myself and was instantly insanely jealous. Making it for dinner with her tonight. Will have to let you know how she enjoys it. 😀
You can’t argue with one pot. I love Mexican. I like the fact you can eat with or without meat.
Oh yeah easy goes a long long way in my book.
That…was…amazing!!! Wow!! Flavorful and with ingredients we all have. Sooo good!
I am impressed!
Do you think this would freeze well? It looks delicious!!
Unfortunately I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. There were no leftovers to freeze! I recommend using your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I cannot see any reason this would not freeze well. Put it in zip-lock bags,remove all the air (avoids freezer burn) and saves freezer space.
Made this with 1 lb ground Turkey added and my husband loved it! There were no leftovers. Super easy, super flavorful, plus he got zucchini for dinner, in which he does not like, go me! Also put on a dollop of sour cream on top, which added to the flavor. Will definitely be in the dinner rotation.
To help the stainless steel cookware peeps, because rice is horrible to get off the bottom of a pan, just let that pot get really hot first. Even before you add the oil. Then, after adding the oil, let THAT get hot. You should see a vapor coming off the pan. Then add your food. That’s how they used to do ‘non-stick’ by knowing how that specific metal reacts to food. 😀
This was awesome. Thanks, again! I’ve tried four of your one pot meals now and a couple of your others and they were all very good and super simple!
Really, all you have to do to remove cooked on rice is put hot water in the cooled pan with a bit of good dish wash liquid (I use Dawn) and let it soak for a while and it comes right off.
This is true, as well. You can skip that step on stainless steel, however, if you just let it get hot first. 😀 Rice isn’t that hard to get off. Pasta is way worse. Works for both. 😀
I made this for dinner tonight, Chungha. It was absolutely delicious!! My husband loved it, too. It made enough that we have leftovers for another night :). Thank you for posting these wonderful one pot dinners. I can’t wait to make more.
I’ve gotten SUPER into the one pot meals as well, how can you not?! They’re just so easy and so stinkin’ good! Love this version!
I love how colorful your dishes are! This one pot casserole looks really yummy =)
I am obsessed with mexican food.. never made a mexican casserole before! Thanks for the recipe and idea.. I definitely need to try it!
These pictures made me hungry! I love that this is a one pot meal. Such easy clean up and the Mexican flavors are right up my alley! Yum!
Made this tonight-it was awesome! I made it with brown rice-just added more water-about 2 cups instead of 1 1/2. Worked out fine. I also added black beans at the very end. Next time I am going to play with more veggies!!
this sounds so good I am going to make it have made lots of your dishes they are amazing thank you
One-pot recipes are basically culinary sorcery and I love them to bits.
Love easy one pot dishes, especially with Mexican flavors!
Looks great, but I have a question: Brown rice requires a much longer cooking time than white, so it seems the vegetables would be way overcooked. Can the rice be cooked separately then added, or is the starch created in the cooking process essential to the finished dish? BTW, enjoy your web site, especially asian-influenced recipes.
Yes, Polly, using brown rice will take about 35-40 minutes. You can certainly cook the brown rice separately but the beauty of this dish is that this is a one pot meal. And no, the vegetables are not “way overcooked”. But I recommend using the methods that work for you and your family preferences.
Could ground beef be added to this, you think? How would you do that?
Yes, ground beef can be added in the very first step. From there, you can add in your veggies. Hope that helps!
This looks amazing! Pinned it, love your recipes!
I’m a bit obsessed with one pot meals, too. And you have the best recipes for one pot meal! Pinned!
You are absolutely amazing! I hope that you are seriously considering coming out with your own cookbook because it would be my number one favorite!
This is like the fourth recipe that you posted the same week as I try my own version. It’s starting to get creepy. The only major difference I see is that I put the rice in with the veggies, before the liquid is added to the pot, like you would in a risotto. I may try it your way however and see if there is any textural differences. Thanks for sharing!!
Considering I have a dishwasher who’s definition of “clean” is questionable, I really need to get up on these on pot dinners. You are the queen of them, and this is no exception. Bring on alll the Mexican Rice! Pinned!
Sounds good. I will brown the rice in a bit of oil first for a couple of minutes. Then add the remaining ingredients. Yum-o.
Mmm this looks like a taco risotto, I’d definitely be up for that – so many delicious flavours 😀 x
I love that this has plenty veggies and is vegetarian and on the healthier side! And that it’s one pot. Such a major time (and dishes) saver!