One Pan Mexican Chicken And Rice Recipe
Some dinners earn a permanent place in the family rotation. This One Pan Mexican Chicken and Rice is one of ours.
It’s the dinner I make when everyone is hungry, time is short, and I want something comforting without using half the kitchen. Everything cooks in one pan, so there’s hardly any washing up. It’s packed with flavour, and the leftovers make fantastic school lunches the next day.
If you’re wondering what’s for dinner tonight, this is a great place to start.
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One Pan Mexican Chicken And Rice Recipe
I can never have too many one-pan dinners in my recipe collection. They’re easy to make, easy to clean up, and always a hit with the family. This Mexican Chicken and Rice is one of our favourites, and if you enjoy recipes like this, be sure to try my Easy Pesto Pasta with Chicken, One-Pan Chicken Sausage and Rice or Lebanese dirty rice too.
📝 Ingredients for Mexican Chicken And Rice Recipe
You only need a handful of everyday ingredients to make this Mexican Chicken and Rice. Here are a few notes to help you choose the best ones.
- Chicken mince (ground chicken). I would suggest using chicken thigh mince because it is juicier and more flavorsome than the ground meat made from chicken breast.
- Rice. You can use any white rice or brown rice you prefer. I like using basmati rice because once cooked with the chicken and vegetable mixture, it absorbs all the delicious flavors and aromas, creating a satisfying and hearty meal that the whole family enjoys. Plus it cooks much faster than other rice varieties.
- Red bell peppers and yellow bell peppers; we call them capsicums in Australia 😊.
- Onion and garlic. Just regular brown onion.
- Chicken stock or chicken broth. You can make chicken stock at home; it is very easy.
- Mexican spice blend. You can see what spices I used to make my homemade spice blend below or in the recipe card at the end of the post.
- Black beans. Tinned organic beans are the best.
- Tomato paste such as passata.
- Cheese (cheddar or Mexican blend)
For a vegetarian version, try our Mexican Red Recipe. It has all the same delicious flavors but is made without meat.
- Sweet paprika
- Smoked paprika
- Ground cumin
- Onion powder
- Chilli powder
- Fine sea salt
Mix everything together and store in an airtight jar. It takes less than a minute and tastes wonderful in this recipe.
How To Make One Pan Mexican Chicken and Rice
Here’s exactly how I make this One Pan Mexican Chicken and Rice. Follow the steps below and you’ll have a flavour-packed family dinner with very little washing up.
Step 1: Heat some olive oil in a large cast iron pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté some diced onions for a couple of minutes until they soften, then add crushed garlic and cook for another minute. Add diced bell peppers (capsicum) and cook for a few more minutes.
Step 2: Move the vegetable mix to one side of the pan and add chicken mince, quickly frying and breaking up the meat into small pieces.
Step 3: Once the chicken mince is sealed, mix it with the vegetables, and add a Mexican spice blend. Cook everything together for a couple of minutes. If the mixture becomes too watery, turn up the heat to high.
Step 4: Stir in the passata, black beans, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
Step 5: Add rinsed basmati rice and chicken stock, bring the mixture to a simmer, put the lid on the pan, and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. too watery, turn up the heat to high.
Step 6: Remove the lid, sprinkle the grated cheese on top, and put the pan in the oven. Change the setting to broil, and keep a close eye on the dish until the cheese has melted and turned golden brown.
Serve with your favourite toppings like avocado, sour cream, fresh coriander, grated cheese and a squeeze of lime and enjoy!
Before you start
Time Saver
Use one-minute rice to speed up the cooking process even more.
Freezer-Friendly
Double the recipe and freeze half of the sauce (before you add the rice).
Make It Your Own
Add even more veggies by using cauliflower rice instead of basmati rice.
🍽️ Build Your Dinner
Complete tonight’s meal with one of these easy recipes.
Recipe FAQs
In case you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container and refrigerate for a quick and convenient meal during the week. The dish should stay fresh for 1-2 days. To reheat, simply warm it up in a frying pan, adding a splash of water if needed to prevent it from drying out.
I do not recommend freezing this dish because in my opinion, rice doesn’t freeze well. If you like, you can freeze the chicken and vegetable mixture before you added rice. In this way, you will have a perfect meal prep for the week ahead. Simply defrost it overnight and add rice.
Yes. You can cook the chicken and vegetable mixture ahead of time and refrigerate it in an airtight container. When you’re ready to serve, reheat it in the pan, then add the rice and continue with the recipe. I wouldn’t cook the entire dish too far in advance, as freshly cooked rice gives the best texture.
No, this recipe isn’t spicy, making it perfect for the whole family. If you like your food spicier, simply add extra chilli, jalapeños or a dash of your favourite hot sauce before serving.
One Pan Mexican Chicken And Rice
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Ingredients
- 500 g free-range chicken mince preferably from the thigh
- 1 red capsicum (bell pepper) diced
- 1 yellow capsicum diced (bell pepper) diced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp your favorite taco seasoning or you can see mine in the notes below
- 3/4 cups passata Italian tomato sauce
- 1 tin of organic black beans
- 1 cup Basmati rice. See notes about cooking rice.
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup Grated cheese. You can use a Mexican mix or just grate your everyday Tasty or Cheddar.
Optional extras:
- Fresh coriander
- Greek/plain yogurt or sour cream if you prefer
- Avocado
- Fresh lime
- Pickled jalapenos
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200’C (390’F)
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add the onions and cook for one minute. Add the diced capsicum and fry for a further two minutes. Add garlic and fry for one more minute.
- Move the vegetables to one side of the pan, and add chicken mince to the pan. Using a spatula break up the chicken mince and fry until the chicken is cooked. Mix the chicken with the vegetables.
- Add taco seasoning and mix well.
- Add black beans and tomato sauce to the chicken mix, stir to combine.
- Add rice and vegetable or chicken stock, bring to a boil, and turn the heat down to low immediately.
- Cook rice and chicken with a tight lid on for about 10 minutes. Taste the rice, if it is not done yet, cook it for another five minutes. You can add extra stock or water if there is no liquid left in the pan.
- Sprinkle cheese on top and put the pan in the oven. Change the setting to broil. It should take only a couple of minutes for the cheese to melt and get brown, so make sure to watch it closely.
- Take out of the oven and serve! Be careful when taking the pan out of the oven, it is heavy and hot!
Notes
Rice
- I use basmati rice because this is my kids’ preference. However, you can use any kind of rice, just adjust the cooking time accordingly.
- I wouldn’t recommend using brown rice, because it takes too long to cook and your beans and vegetable will be mushy.
- For brown rice to work for this recipe you will have to precook it ahead of time and just add it instead of basmati rice in step 5 in the instructions.
- If using cauliflower rice, only cook it for a couple of minutes, so that cauliflower still has a bite to it.
Taco Seasoning:
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/8 tsp chilly powder
Have you tried this Mexican Chicken and Rice recipe? If so, I’d greatly appreciate it if you could leave a star rating and share your thoughts in a comment. Your feedback means a lot to me, and it can also help others who are interested in trying it out. Thank you! 🌟👩🍳
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Made this last night and my wife and daughter loved it! Great hearty recipe!
Thanks Elena 🙂
So happy to hear that, Hans! Thank you for sharing 😊
!!1
Mexican rice has become a weekly staple in our household. I add jalapeno’s on the side for the adults. It’s also great the next day put hot in a thermos for the kids lunches.
Thank you so much for taking time to write this nice review! It always makes me happy to hear that you guys are enjoying it!x
This was amazing! So tasty…a huge hit with the whole family. It will definitely become a regular fixture. We added the avocado, sour cream and coriander as suggested…yum 😋. Thank you!!
Thank you for the lovely comment Carmen! I am so happy to hear that everyone enjoyed it! 😊
This one-pan Mexican chicken and rice is simply amazing! The flavors are perfectly balanced, and the dish is so easy to make. It’s now a staple in my weeknight dinner rotation. Amazing!!
So many wonderful flavors packed all into one pan! I love how easily this meal comes together and it sounds so good with the vegetables.
One pan meals are my jam! I made this one for dinner last night and my whole family devoured it!
This was delicious. Really comforting and lots of flavour.
Enjoyed this for dinner tonight and it was a hit all around the table! Bold, hearty and delicious; my kind of comfort food, indeed!
It was great!! Nice job especially on the spice mix, I’m going to mix up a batch, probably add a bit more chili and have it on hand:)
Thanks for a yummy meal!
Thank you for letting me know and I am so happy you enjoyed it!!
Mmmmm… I need to try this, looks amazing! Thanks for the recipe.
Enjoy, Zoe! 🙂