This Easy Baked Salsa Chicken and Rice is a super easy Mexican-inspired weeknight meal made in only one pan! On the table in about 30 minutes!
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I don’t know about your family but in the Busy Baker house we are back at it – and by “it” I mean the busy fall back-to-school and back-to-activities season that seems to always take us by surprise at the end of summer. I think we do a pretty good job of avoiding the unnecessary busyness and opting for a more stable and structured family life (because, do 5 and 7 year olds really need to be in 20 different activities? I think not.), but that doesn’t mean I’m not reaching for easy one pan meals, like this Easy Baked Salsa Chicken and Rice, several times a week just to get through the dinner hour.
Between school, piano lessons, dance class, and just the regular old family responsibilities like never-ending laundry (can I get an amen!?) and making sure my family gets fed 3 times a day, I depend on meal planning and easy weeknight meals like this one to ensure I’m not going crazy on the daily. And because maintaining a healthy diet is very important to us – we deal with a few food allergies and intolerances in our family – our easy weeknight meals have GOT to be healthy too!
This Easy Baked Salsa Chicken and Rice is one of our faves – it’s super simple to throw together, it’s packed with veggies and delicious fat-free salsa, it’s made with whole grain rice (substitute brown rice if you like that!) and low-fat chicken breasts, AND it’s on the table in about 30-35 minutes. I mean, what’s not to love!?!?
LOOKING FOR MORE EASY WEEKNIGHT MEAL IDEAS?
Get my Quick and Easy 4-Week Meal Plan Guide!
Looking for even more easy meals? Try my One Pan Vegetarian Lentil Curry recipe, or these delicious Slow Cooker White Bean and Lentil Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes!
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I hope you love this Easy Baked Salsa Chicken and Rice as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your favourite Mexican-inspired easy weeknight meal? I’d love to know!
KITCHEN PRODUCTS I RECOMMEND:
Looking for even more weeknight meal ideas? You’ll LOVE these:
- Easy One Pot Pasta Primavera
- Creamy Enchilada One Pot Pasta
- Crispy Oven Fried Chicken
- Skillet French Onion Stuffed Chicken
- Skillet Pesto Caprese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
- Chicken Breasts with White Wine Mushroom Sauce
LOOKING FOR MORE EASY WEEKNIGHT MEAL IDEAS?
Get my Quick and Easy 4-Week Meal Plan Guide!
Recipe Video
Watch the video below to see exactly how I make this spicy recipe. You can find more delicious recipe videos on my YouTube channel
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Easy Baked Salsa Chicken and Rice
Recipe: Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 chicken breasts (about 3 oz each)
- 1 tablespoon low sodium taco seasoning
- 2 bell peppers (I use red and green) chopped
- 1 1/4 cup long grain white rice
- 3 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups fat free salsa
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- chopped cilantro and sliced jalapenos for serving optional
Recipe: Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Heat a large oven-safe skillet over high heat and add the olive oil.
- Sprinkle the 4 chicken breasts with the taco seasoning on both sides and sear the chicken in the pan on both sides. The chicken breasts will only need about 2 minutes per side over high heat - the idea is not to cook the chicken through, but just to develop some flavour on the outside of the chicken and in the pan. (Feel free to skip this step to save time - see recipe notes)
- Turn off the heat under the pan. Remove the chicken breasts to a plate and add the chopped bell peppers, rice, and chicken stock to the pan, stirring everything together.
- Add the chicken breasts back in, nestling them into the rice mixture.
- Spoon the salsa over top of the chicken breasts and then top them with the shredded cheese.
- Add the whole pan to the oven, uncovered, for about 25-35 minutes, or until the rice is cooked and the chicken is cooked through to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit or 74 degrees Celsius. (Because pans and oven temperatures vary, this can affect baking time. Use an instant-read thermometer for best results).
- Once the chicken and rice are cooked through, remove the pan from the oven and serve with a sprinkling of fresh cilantro, some sliced jalapenos (optional), and even a dollop of sour cream, if desired.
Recipe: Notes
Recipe: Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Crazy in love with this cozy dish!
This dish is so tasty!! Its always a big hit!
This will be perfect for a busy weeknight. Give me extra jalapenos!
What a delicious and easy meal that is perfect for dinner tonight. I have everything pulled out and ready to go. Thank you!
This will be a new favorite in our house. This dish is so perfect for weeknight dinner!
I make this all the time for dinner and it’s perfect!
I’m drooling this is everything I love!
Love this dish, but it never cooks in 30 minutes. Usually takes 60, but it is delicious. Wonder what I’m doing differently.
Hey Deanne, thank you so much for reaching out. Are you by any chance using a gas oven? Those tend to be a little less reliable. I suggest getting an oven thermometer and adjusting the temperature accordingly; also, if you have a convection setting that would speed up the cooking process.
I also find it needs more time to absorb more fluids and I tend to reduce the amount of chicken stock .
You could try bumping up the temp in the oven.
Or if you are doing this recipe for a friend our group you could set the ingredients needed for this recipe the night before
Very , very good.
Thanks!🙂
Hi. Could I use pasta instead of rice?
Hello Janine, I wouldn’t recommend that, but you could try my Baked Salsa Chicken and cook some pasta on the site. Happy cooking ☺️
https://thebusybaker.ca/easy-baked-salsa-chicken/
have you ever added corn or black beans? was thinking about those additions
Yes! I’ve added both from time to time and it works great! I usually use canned (or frozen) corn, and canned black beans.
Hello! Thanks for sharing this recipe. Would cooking time be about the same with quinoa instead of rice or should I just cook the quinoa on the side? (Know quinoa typically cooks faster than rice.) My hubs is prediabetic, so we’re watching carbs …
I suggest that you follow my Baked Salsa Chicken recipe and just cook quinoa on the side. Happy cooking☺️
https://thebusybaker.ca/easy-baked-salsa-chicken/
I would give this 10 stars if I could. I just made this for myself and my husband last night. It was ABSOLUTELY
FANTASTIC. My husband who is no a Chicken lover, said that I could make this one again.
‘Thanks for the GREAT recipe!!!!
Tasty but definitely took longer than 35 minutes. I will reduce the liquid next time. At 50 minutes it was still soupy and the rice was not cooked.
Thanks for your feedback. It sounds like maybe your oven wasn’t hot enough…the rice definitely shouldn’t take that long to cook!
I omitted the cheese due to dietary restrictions and it was delicious.
Thank you!!
Very very good! Family all loved it and it’s super easy. I did 1 1/3 cups of rice with the required broth. Just a bit more was required for me to get the liquid absorbed and rice texture that we like.
I baked it in an enamelled cast iron baker and at 400 degrees.
I’m so happy you and your family enjoyed it!☺️
Can you prep this and bake the next day?
I have never tried it myself so I couldn’t tell you, but if you do try, please let us know! Happy cooking ☺️
Can you make this a day ahead?
You can, however, it is best served freshly cooked. If cooking it ahead, you may need to add a bit more stock when you reheat it to keep it moist enough.
This was amazing!!
I NEVER review recipes, but I had to for this one!
I do not feel that your should rate a recipe if you have changed anything. However the only thing I did was only use 1 cup of rice and so decreased the chicken broth by 1/2 cup (and I used chicken broth instead of chicken stock because that is what I had on hand). I did not change anything else and made the recipe exactly as written.
On my first bite I surely felt it was incredibly good, no disappointments, and had to get a second serving.
So, so, so pleased with this recipe and so upset that my printer is broken so I’ve got to just write it all down.
We’re so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
Does this call for boneless skinless chicken?
Yes! Let us know how it turns out for you.
This has been a go-to recipe for me since I discovered it! My whole family loves it and it is the perfect amount of prep for a busy week night.
I’ve had this great plan to save the leftovers and shred them them for enchiladas but I have yet to have any leftovers to test it out!
We’re so happy that you enjoyed our recipe. Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
I used a crockpot after doing all of the stovetop instructions
It still tasted as good as I was hoping
We’re so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!