One Pan Mexican Chicken and Rice is easy chicken skillet recipe made with pantry staples. Rice and chicken breasts are simmered in salsa broth, then finished with gooey cheese and served with avocado.
If you are looking for more easy weeknight Mexican recipes, try skillet enchiladas or chicken burrito skillet.
Mexican Chicken and Rice
I pulled off this Mexican chicken and rice this week with mostly pantry ingredients. 3 months in into the year and my family declared this Mexican chicken recipe to be the dinner of the year! On par with chicken tortilla soup and chicken enchiladas.
It has all the flavors of chicken and rice with spices of Mexican cuisine like salsa and cumin, then topped with melted cheese on top. So-so-so good, I highly recommend not to cut the recipe in half. 🙂
While brown rice takes 40 minutes to cook, I was able to pull off this dinner in one skillet stirring only once. Not exactly a 30 minute dinner but so easy for extra nutrition benefits. However, if you use white rice, this chicken skillet recipe is ready in 30 minutes.
Let’s do it!
Ingredients You Will Need
- Chicken: Boneless and skinless chicken breasts or thighs cook equally fast.
- Rice: Any white or brown rice – long or short grain, basmati or jasmine. Just consistency and nutrition changes. For low carb version, try my Mexican cauliflower rice.
- Salsa: Mild, medium or hot will affect level of spiciness of the dish. I used medium and kids ate it no problem.
- Diced tomatoes: Canned and low sodium. Can use tomato sauce as well.
- Cheese: Shredded Mexican, Tex Mex, cheddar or marble cheese.
- Onion, garlic, cumin, oil.
How to Make Mexican Chicken and Rice
If you are wondering what skillets I use, I am a huge fan of ceramic non-stick skillets. They do not contain PFOA etc. and are affordable. I use it to make taco skillet and even chicken tacos with all the fixins in one pan.
- Saute veggies and rice with spices. Onion and garlic go in first, then push them to the side and saute rice on its own – adds flavor and cooks faster.
- Add chicken, salsa, tomatoes and water and cook for 20 minutes. It is important to bring mixture to a boil and cover with a tight fitting lid so rice can cook. If using white rice, cook for 10 minutes.
- Stir and cook for another 20 minutes. This step prevents burning and ensures evenly cooked rice. Again skillet has to be covered and white rice takes only extra 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle with cheese and cover for 3 minutes or until melted.
Tips for Best Mexican Chicken and Rice
- Don’t cut the recipe. It might seem like 2 lbs of chicken and 2 cups of rice is a lot but it’s not. This meal was gone between 2 adults and 2 boys in one night. You can always refrigerate and freeze leftovers – see below.
- Chicken broth or stock is OK instead of water. Just use low sodium from a carton, diluted in water bouillon cube or Instant Pot chicken stock.
- Lid. Your lid should fit tightly. If it’s not then rice might need longer cook time.
- Other seasonings: Enchilada sauce would work in place of salsa. Substitute taco seasoning for cumin for extra flavor.
- I really wanted to add diced green chiles in a can but I know many of you wouldn’t have them on hand. If you do – yes, absolutely!
How to Serve, Store and Reheat
To serve Mexican chicken and rice skillet, I just added diced avocado and lots of chopped cilantro (it has blood cleansing properties). This skillet is so flavorful, you don’t need many toppings. You can also dress it up with diced tomato, yogurt or sour cream, lime, green onion or shredded lettuce.
Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days in an airtight glass container. Longer than that and I prefer to freeze this casserole because salsa and rice go sour.
Freezing has the same idea – in a tightly sealed container to prevent freezer burn and up to 3 months. Lately I am loving silicone reusable bags. They do not break or take a lot of space like glass, are airtight and eco-friendly.
Enjoy, friends! And come back and tell me if your family went avocados for this dinner!
More Easy Mexican Recipes
Need more chicken inspiration? Browse these 65 healthy chicken recipes and never run out of ideas.
One Pan Mexican Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts or thighs cut into 1" pieces
- 2 cups brown or white rice rinsed & drained
- 1 large onion diced
- 3 large garlic cloves minced
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes low sodium
- 1 cup salsa I used medium
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup Tex Mex cheese cheddar or marble cheese, shredded
- Cilantro green onion, avocado, tomato, yogurt for toppings
Instructions
- Preheat large ceramic non-stick skillet on medium heat and swirl 1 tbsp oil to coat.
- Add onion and garlic; saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Push veggies to the side, swirl remaining 2 tbsp oil and add rice, cumin, salt, pepper and saute for 3 minutes, stirring often (rice part only).
- Add chicken, diced tomatoes, salsa, water and stir.
- Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and cook with brown rice for 20 minutes and with white rice for 10 minutes.
- Stir, cover and cook for another 20 minutes - brown rice and 5 minutes - white rice.
- Turn off heat, add cheese and cover until melted.
- Serve hot with desired toppings like cilantro, green onion, avocado, tomato, yogurt etc.
Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Don't cut the recipe. It might seem like 2 lbs of chicken and 2 cups of rice is a lot but it's not. This meal was gone between 2 adults and 2 boys in one night. You can always refrigerate and freeze leftovers - see below.
- I used basmati brown rice as it stays more separated than long-grain one.
- If using not low sodium canned tomatoes, add less salt to taste at the end.
- Tomato sauce is OK in place of diced tomatoes.
- Low sodium chicken broth or stock is OK instead of water.
- Lid. Your lid should fit tightly. If it's not then rice might need longer cook time.
- Enchilada sauce would work in place of salsa.
- Diced green chiles in a can would be a great addition!
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes anywhere including social media, print and all world wide web. Nutritional info is provided for informational purposes only and to the best knowledge.
VERY tasty dish! As a rule, I love these flavors. I added the recommended green chilies, as well as a can of black beans. I used low sodium broth in place of water. Brown rice versus white. I also used some low sodium taco seasoning, and added a little extra hot sauce. SO GOOD!
The one issue I did have is the cooking time for the rice. There is NO way the rice is done in 40 minutes. The next time I make this, I am going to cook it for the full 40 minutes BEFORE opening the lid, as I do when cooking brown rice. I honestly think that disturbing it, letting out all of the steam caused an issue. I found that I needed to cook this for 50 minutes to achieve cooked rice when using brown rice.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. Great meal prep idea, weeknight meal. I love that it comes together in one pot and is SO flavorful.
Whodda thunk that I would find a spot-on recipe for New Mexican chicken rice on a website created by a Ukrainian-Canadian living on Vancouver Island, but I did! Wow! I halved the recipe, used rotisserie chicken, hot salsa, Rotel for tomatoes and a can of green chiles as suggested. I also added 1/2 tsp. chili powder and it was scrumptious! And PERFECT!
haha! So happy you are enjoying my recipe 🙂
I’ve tried many recipes from this site and they have all been a success! Turkey meatball soup is one of our favorites. Can’t wait to try this one!
I added Rotel + can of black beans and 1/2 cup frozen corn… 2 cups cooked rice.. cut down on cooking time..1/2 cup sour cream… mixed all together in a bowel with 1:2 cup shredded cheddar… put in casserole and topped with more cheddar… Addictive!! Put on oven on 350 for 25 min…
Thanks for sharing Christiane!
Super easy weeknight meal! I wish I had seen the additional tip of green chilies prior to making. I had them and they would make a great addition. I sautéed green pepper with the onion/garlic because I had one I needed to use and I think it added color and depth to the recipe. Will use hot salsa next time because we like a little heat and with medium salsa and the tomatoes and water the spice gets watered down. But I also think a little bit of cayenne could have taken care of it…maybe 1/8 tsp.
Topped with the cheese and sprinkled with green onion (aka scallions) and sliced fresh jalapeños.
Only downside was that my skillet just wasn’t big enough so I had to switch to a large nonstick pot when I started adding the wet ingredients.
Thanks for the feedback Stephanie!
I totally loved this recipe! It was very tasty, easy and plentiful. I must admit, I don’t enjoy Mexican food without the addition of cilantro, lime and Tajin, so all of these were added. I’ve tried other recipes of yours but this is definitely my favourite. Thanks so much for the time and effort to make these available.
Awe, you are very welcome Sheri. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. I really appreciate it.
Can I use Old El Paso cheesy Mexican rice? And do I need to do anything different?
Hi Diana! I have never made this recipe using Old El Paso Cheesy Mexican Rice. I see that this rice package is already seasoned. If you do use it, I would add the spices listed in this recipe cautiously to taste as I don’t know how much is already in the rice.
I have made a few of your recipes and everyone I’ve tried has been great! This one was especially tasty and a bit for the whole family! So easy to make too! I will be adding this to a regular mealtime idea, thanks for the amazing recipes!
You are very welcome! Thanks for sharing this with me!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I added 2 jalapenos to the veg sautee and needed an extra cup of broth to get the rice cooked enough…not sure why. I made it in a Dutch Oven rather than a skillet, so maybe that’s it. Added also a can of Hatch chiles and some corn. Garnished with cilantro. It was a hit at my house…it turned out like Mexican risotto. Yum! Thanks for the recipe–also the chicken breast bites came out really tender. My husband doesn’t usually like white meat and he was the biggest fan of this dish!
Yay! So happy this recipe was a hit with your whole family (especially your husband).
I agree!!! It IS like Mexican risotto! The texture is definitely like that-and so GOOD! I agree with you regarding the chicken too. Incredibly tender and flavorful!I also used a Dutch oven-I honestly think it needed the room! LOL. I loved the heat of the chilies, and used a medium salsa for additional heat. I served it with some corn tortillas I toasted in the oven, as well as some guacamole and extra salsa on the side.
My wife loved it, although I think she loved not having to cook more. I wasn’t sure whether to cook the chicken before putting it in the pan with the other ingredients, but it all worked out. The rice was a little over done. Would it work to put the rice in the pan uncooked like the chicken?
You add uncooked chicken and rice, as per recipe. Also photos show that and are helpful. In recipes, if anything has to be pre-cooked, it is usually indicated.
My wife loved the idea that I was cooking, too… But for some reason I couldn’t get the brown rice to cook. After a couple of hours I gave up and ordered pizza 🙁
BUT, I will say this: I pulled the chicken out of the uncooked rice and the flavor was delicious. I wound up using (some of) the chicken in an omelet and it was delicious. I’m going to try again with a different skillet and maybe white rice. Hope springs eternal.
I am sorry to hear that, David! Let’s troubleshoot. Does your lid have a tight seal on a skillet like mine pictured? Did you open it more than once as per recipe during cooking? It is important to follow the recipe with brown rice, it takes a while to cook. If you let out too much steam, it will take forever to cook. ALso could be the rice itself. Hope this helps! Dutch ovens are amazing for cooking brown rice dishes!
Thanks, Olena!
I was thinking that the lid might not be tight enough. It’s the lid that came with the skillet – I’d say it’s a good fit, but not really “sealed.” I’m going to try a different skillet. I only opened the one time (at 20 minutes), but then – when it wasn’t cooked at the second checkpoint I started checking every 10 minutes or so – that probably didn’t help.
I’m going to try again soon and will let you know!
Maybe it’s rice. I would try a different brand of brown rice. Good luck and let me know.
Can you use ground turkey?
Sure!
This recipe was amazing and made me feel like I could cook! Super easy, healthy, and filling. I am already thinking about when I can make it again! Thank you for this wonderful creation!
You can cook Becca! Glad you liked the recipe!
I had just signed up for some recipes today, when this dish caught my eye so I had to make it & I did ‘ all I can say is Wow!! What a tasty & healthy meal. So full of flavour & it packs a punch. I must admit I left out the cheese as I’m doing food optimising, but I know exactly what it would’ve tasted with the cheese….. Even more yummy.
Will definitely be making this again & it could even be made in advance for a party. Great!
Hey Bernie! So fantastic to hear how much you enjoyed the recipe!
I don’t have a ceramic pan, do you have any alternatives? (I’m fairly new to cooking haha)
Any large deep pan or even Dutch oven. Ceramic is just a recommendation when you buy new pan cause no harmful chemicals in non stock coating. Or less of them at least.
How much liquid should be left at end of cooking?
None, just like in the photo final dish. If you have some left, let it sit a bit and it will get absorbed or cook extra few minutes.
Yummy, like all your recipes I’ve tried.
Thank you for the great job you are doing sharing these great recipes. I am saving then and will make them very soon. Thanks again and keep up the good work. PS, I love to cook , I’ll be 91, Nov. 9 It is wonderful to be alive.
Thank you for your kind words Sue! I am so happy to hear that you are enjoying my recipes.
This is our new favorite recipe and it’s so easy! One nice surprise was how much
extra flavor happened when I used a spicy and chunky Pineapple Salsa. I also
used chicken stock in place of water and added a diced pepper along with the onion
(Poblano or bell pepper). I used white basmati rice and it cooked perfectly with that
stir. My sister used brown basmati and the rice was not cooked enough. This is
so good we are having it tomorrow also- thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I am so happy you liked the recipe and thanks for the posting the variations you made! And yes, basmati rice and brown rice cook differently.
I also used a green bell pepper and basmati. Delish! Love the idea of broth in place of water!!
Delicious! The whole family loved this meal and it was easy to make. Thanks – I can’t wait to try more!
Love hearing that this was a hit with your whole family Kathy!
Could you use bone in chicken thighs and bake this in the oven? My skillet isnt big enough for bone in thighs and I dont like to cut raw meat.
Probably at 400 degrees F and then check after 40 minutes or so.
Sooo so good!!! I eat first ‘with my eyes’.., so I wasn’t too confident seeing the absence of various colourful ingredients while cooking. Also, my lid wasn’t a 100% fit and it took longer to cook the brown rice. Was it worth the wait? Oh my goodness YES !!!
There’s only the two of us and there’s lots of leftovers we can’t wait to eat.
Yesterday was a double whammy for me, also made the delicious Egg Muffins for the first time ?
Yay! I am thrilled that you liked the recipe Marie.
Super easy and delicious! I hardly ever cook and this turned out great!
Yay! I am glad that you liked it Abby!
Delicious just found anew favorite ❣️I did add black beans and lime juice really gave it great flavor ❣️Thank you?
Thanks for letting me know Frances 🙂
can I use mozzarella cheese instead of Tex Mex, cheddar or marble cheese?
Sure.
Hi Olena,
Can I use quinoa instead of rice? If so, do you recommend 2 cups of quinoa as well? And, what would the cook time be? Thanks in advance!
Yes, same amoutn and cook time 20 mins or so. Keep an eye on it.
This was awesome!!!
Delicious! This one was a hit, and so easy to make. I will definitely be adding it into the rotation. 🙂 My package of chicken breasts was only about 1.3 lb (600 gr) but I kept all of the other ingredient amounts the same, and we didn’t miss the additional meat. My son just came downstairs to polish off the leftovers (about half an hour after I put them in the fridge!) Thanks for another great recipe, Olena. I’m never disappointed!
Awe, that is so great to hear Heidi!
Didn’t have a ceramic pot, just used a regular one, which worked fine too.
Followed the steps completely. Added some habinaro spice after my done cooking.
Delicious, this recipe is going into my binder; to make it again !
Thanks for sharing your positive review Wilma!
Forgot your 5 ***** for this recipe ?
Delicious and super easy to follow! Thank you for this incredible recipe!
You are so welcome Carly!
Very good and easy
Quick question…when using white rice you mentioned cooking time was less. Will the chicken be completely cooked through when making it with white rice?
The recipe sounds delicious.
Yes because it’s a diced chicken breast – cooks fast before any rice. Enjoy!
It was absolutely delicious but I made a fatal error by using a pot top with a small venting hole, this caused the brown rice to take way too long to cook. I will not make that mistake the next time around, You stressed to use a tight top but I never even thought about the little hole! Thank you and keep the recipes coming Olena, I look forward to every email. ?
Oh no, Lori. Yes, I know those lids. They are not meant for cooking grains. Rice should be cooked covered and you can’t even peek inside during cooking. Next time. Glad you enjoyed the flavors.:)
Another great recipe! I added a can of black beans a some frozen corn so that we would have more leftovers.Very delicious! Thank you very much.
You are very welcome Diane!
So tasty it is a keeper for sure!!
Fantastic Christine!
Looks like delicious food looking forward to trying your recipes.
Please don’t be shy to leave a comment and star review once you have made any of my recipes. Have a great day!