My husband thinks I am a culinary genius after the delicious and easy dinner I served this weekend. I made a Southwestern Chicken Casserole, and while I did accept all of his compliments, I know what really bumped this dish up a notch was the four cheeses used in the chicken breading.If you love dinner casseroles be sure to check out our Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole and our Stuffed Shells Recipe.
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Southwestern Chicken Casserole
I made this in a 8 inch casserole dish since this was just for my husband and I and our young kids who don’t eat very much. You can easily double the recipe and make it in a larger casserole dish.
Get your brown rice cooking and get to work on preparing the chicken. For this recipe, you’ll be using nugget sized pieces of chicken.
Then it is simply a matter of combining the four cheeses with the Shake and bake seasoned panko bread crumbs and coating the chicken pieces. The chicken will get cooked separately.
While the chicken is baking, you can assemble the rest of your chicken casserole.
Then just add the chicken. Look how crispy the chicken is after being breaded in the cheesy panko bread crumbs. You could just serve this and your family would be happy!
Simply add the cooked chicken to the casserole, top with some yummy cheese and pop in the oven.
Bake and top with ranch dressing and tortilla strips for a little extra crunch.
The Southwestern Chicken Casserole got rave reviews. Even my kids liked it. Well, after they picked out the beans and corn. They are pretty picky. My husband had no idea how I prepared the meal, but he kept asking what I did to the chicken. He could tell this was no ordinary breading. I just told him that I am a wizard in the kitchen and he believed me.
Southwestern Casserole
Author: Vicky
Ingredients
- 1 pack of Shake and Bake seasoned panko mix
- 1 cup Mexican four cheese blend
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 2 cups of brown rice
- 6 frozen chicken breasts (small to medium sized)
- ½ can of black beans
- ½ can of corn
- 1 cup of shredded cheese – can use cheddar or a cheddar and jack mix
- Tortilla strips salad toppers
- Ranch dressing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Cook brown rice according to package directions.
- Cut chicken breasts into nugget size pieces.
- In a large zip top bag, combine the cheese and breadcrumb mixture with the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and onion powder .
- Drop in your chicken pieces and shake to coat.
- Place on a greased tray and bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- Spread the cooked brown rice on a greased 8 inch baking dish.
- Next, spread ½ a can of black beans and ½ a can of corn on top of the rice.
- Top with the cooked, breaded chicken.
- Sprinkle 1½ cups of shredded cheese on top of chicken pieces.
- Lower oven temperature to 325 and bake for 25 minutes.
- Drizzle some ranch dressing on top and sprinkle tortilla strips on top..
If you liked this Southwestern Chicken Casserole, you’ll love:
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Thanks for sharing this recipe looks and sounds yummy. ;o)
This looks REALLY delicious. I'd be interested in the nutrition information on the back of the package, though 🙂 That would help me decide if it's something I should get for my family.
OMGosh my dear that looks so freaking yummy!!!
Looks good. I'll have to try this! Pinning it!
I love that you breaded the chicken and then put it in a casserole with more cheese!!! YUM!!!!
Sounds delicious! I love the southwestern twist!
Looks delicious! I love the southwestern twist!
This looks delish!! Make's me hunger.
We would like to invite you share this at our party. It is live now: http://thebusybhive.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
The Busy Bee's,
Myrna and Joye.
First of all, I love casseroles. This looks wonderful for a weeknight meal. Thank you for sharing.
Consider yourself hugged,
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Looks really yummy!
I'm not a big fan of brown rice, do you think it would be good with white instead?
It would be great with white rice!
I'm not a big fan of brown rice, do you think that it would be good with white rice as well?
are you draining the beans and corn?
Ginafer, Yes, both get drained. Thanks for stopping by!
Yum! I'm going to try this tonight!
Thanks Krista!
Wondering at which stage I can freeze? I like to have several go to to dinners in freezer at a time.
Cheryl, I would freeze it after I added the cheese but before the dressing. Thanks for stopping by!
When did you put the tortilla chips on? And did you put the corn and beans on before putting them in the casserole dish?
Hailey, The tortilla chips can be put on the end after it comes out of the oven when you drizzle on the ranch dressing. The corn and black beans go on top of the rice in the casserole dish. One of the photos above shows the step. Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!
Great recipe–tried it out last night and loved it!
Awesome, Lauren. It is one of our favorites!