Tex Mex Rice Casserole

All the flavors you love in a simple, fun casserole dish from your freezer. The inspiration for this dish is the idea of taking all of the moving parts out of a taco. Our Tex-Mex Rice Casserole recipe is a family favorite and so easy that even the kids can get supper to the table. It’s less messy than tacos, but still works for taco Tuesday. One of the things I love about this dish is how gorgeous it is. Look at that color! Plated black bean and rice casserole is as tasty as it is beautiful.

The thing that has made a good casserole mom’s favorite for decades is the fact that you dump it all in a baking pan, pop it in the oven, and walk away. When you come back twenty minutes later, your meal is perfectly cooked and tastes amazing. Casseroles take all of the guess work out of your busy weeknight meals. If you want more ideas of how to pull a casserole together, check out our Chili Casserole in the Pantry Staples Freezer Stack.

Tex Mex Rice Casserole Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 1/2 cups salsa
• 4 oz. green chilies
• 1/2 can corn, drained
• 1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• salt, pepper
• 1/2 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

How to Make Tex Mex Rice Casserole for your freezer

Assembly Instructions

1. Place the 1/4 cups of cheeses into a medium sized bag.
2. Place the rest of the ingredients into a large resealable freezer bag.
3. Squish gently to mix.
4. Staple the bags together above the seal.

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
2. Place large bag contents into a greased 9×9 pan.
3. Top with the cheese.
4. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.

How do I know when the casserole is ready?

Since the rice is already cooked, the act of baking the casserole only serves to get everything hot and bubbly and meld the flavors. As soon as everything is bubbly and melted, the dish is ready to serve. If you want the cheese on top to brown a little, you can put your oven on broil for one minute at the end.

How can I stretch this recipe to serve more people?

Since it’s one cup of rice and half cans for a lot of the ingredients, you can freeze two bags at a time to use up your ingredients and double the number of people you serve by making both bags. You can put both bags into a 9 x 13 casserole dish and increase the bake time slightly to make sure everything gets good and hot.

Tex Mex Rice Casserole Recipe Ideas

Don’t stress about the individual parts of this recipe. It’s chock full of flavor, but if there is something you don’t love about it – just leave that ingredient out. It’s very forgiving that way.

Bump up the heat by changing the strength of the salsa (mild, medium, hot, or excessive) or adding red pepper flakes, ancho chili powder, diced hot chilies, or hot sauce. The green chilies also come in varying levels of heat and help add kick.

For best results, use jasmine rice, basmati rice, or long-grain white rice. Minute rice or par-boiled rice tends to get too mushy in this kind of dish. This casserole could also be made using cooked quinoa or cooked pasta such as egg noodles or shells.

Top the casserole with crushed tortilla chips or tortilla strips for crunch.

Add protein. Cooked ground sausage, taco-flavored ground beef, chicken, or steak would all work in this Tex Mex Rice Casserole. The meat should be pre-cooked before being frozen in the bag with the other ingredients. If you have leftover meat, you can stir it in on the day of cooking, which is even better.

You can change up the flavors of this dish by changing the salsa. My family is partial to peach salsa, mango salsa, pineapple salsa, or green salsas and each of these brings a different flavor to the party.

Diced zucchini or yellow squash will take on the flavors of the casserole beautifully and add an additional serving or two.

If you have all but the cheese and don’t want to run out to the store, you can leave the cheese out and just make notes on your freezer bag to remind you to add the cheese on the day of cooking.

How do I store Tex Mex Rice Casserole

Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for a few days and reheated in the microwave or oven. As the rice dries out, it may be necessary to add a little liquid to the bottom of the bowl before microwaving the dish.

What to Serve with Tex Mex Rice Casserole

You’ll want to have sour cream or cremé fresh on hand to serve with the taco casserole. My kids also love scooping the casserole into their mouths using tortilla chips like a shovel. Chopped cilantro is another garnish of choice in our family and adds just the right brightness to the dish.

Print

Tex Mex Rice Casserole

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

18 mins

Total Time

28 mins

 

Course: Main Course

Servings: 6

Calories: 410 kcal

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 ½ cup salsa
• 4 oz. green chilies
• 12 oz. kernel corn
• 19 oz. black beans rinsed and drained
• cilantro chopped
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• 14 oz. diced tomatoes drained
• 1 ½ cup cheddar cheese shredded
• ½ cup mozzarella cheese shredded

Instructions

Assembly Instructions

1. Add all of the shredded mozzarella and 1/2 cup of the shredded cheddar cheeses to a medium (quart) freezer bag. Remove excess air, seal and freeze.

2. Add remaining ingredients to a large freezer bag. Squish gently to mix.

3. Remove excess air, seal and staple the two bags together above the seal. Freeze.

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw overnight in the fridge.

2. Empty large bag into a casserole dish. Top with cheese from the smaller bag. Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes.