Chicken taco casserole is an easy-to-whip-up dinner with cilantro lime rice, Mexican-seasoned shredded chicken, a creamy salsa, fresh pico, shredded cheese, and a dollop of guacamole!
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This chicken taco casserole dish is made up of 5 different layers: cilantro lime rice, Mexican-seasoned shredded chicken, a creamy salsa, shredded cheese, then fresh pico, guacamole, and sour cream after it comes out of the oven.
Ingredients Needed
Here’s what you’ll need for this chicken taco casserole:
- White Rice – to start, you’ll need 4 cups of cooked white rice.
- Lime Juice – a 1/4 cup of fresh lime juice (the juice from about 2 juicy limes) gets added to the rice for a punch of acidity and brightness.
- Cilantro – in addition to the lime juice, you’ll also add a 1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro to the cooked rice.
- Shredded Chicken – the second layer of our taco casserole consists of about 4 cups of shredded chicken (about 2 pounds of raw chicken, cooked and shredded) mixed with several delicious spices.
- Spices + Seasonings – 1 tablespoon of chili powder, 1 tablespoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, a 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, and a 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper mix with our chicken to add a really delicious taco flavor to the finished product.
- Salsa – our next layer is a creamy salsa! For this, you’ll need 16 ounces of your favorite salsa. We used a red salsa here, but feel free to use a green salsa if you prefer that.
- Sour Cream – to make the salsa nice and creamy, we’ll mix it with 1 cup of sour cream. When the casserole comes out of the oven, we’ll top each serving with an additional dollop of sour cream, so be sure to have enough for that too!
- Shredded Cheese – the last layer of our casserole is cheese! You’ll sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese over top the casserole before popping it into the oven.
- Pico de Gallo – now for the MOST fun part: toppings! When the casserole comes out of the oven, you’ll top it with 2 cups of fresh homemade pico de gallo.
- Guacamole – we love serving this casserole with a dollop of guacamole on top.
- Cilantro – a garnish of chopped fresh cilantro finishes everything off beautifully!
How to Make
This casserole is so easy and so yummy — here’s how you’ll bring it together:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Mix the rice, lime juice, and cilantro – to start, mix the cooked rice with the lime juice and chopped cilantro. Then, spread the rice evenly into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish.
- Make the shredded chicken layer – mix the shredded chicken with the chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper, and spread it evenly over the rice in the baking dish.
- Whisk together the sour cream + salsa – in a bowl, whisk together the salsa and sour cream. Pour the mixture over the chicken and rice in the baking dish.
- Sprinkle the cheese over top + bake – lastly, sprinkle the cheese over top and bake for 20 minutes, until the cheese is browned.
- Garnish + serve – before plating, spread the fresh pico evenly over the casserole. Garnish individual plates with guacamole, cilantro, and additional sour cream, then serve.
How to Serve
One of the really great things about this casserole is that is a complete meal all on its own. The rice provides a healthy dose of carbohydrates, the chicken provides the protein, and the guacamole + sour cream adds some nice, healthy fats. If you really want to serve this with something else, a simple arugula side salad would be a good choice!
How to Store and Reheat
Store your casserole in an airtight container in the refrigerator or top your casserole dish with either a matching lid or parchment paper-lined (if you’d like) aluminum foil, and reheat a single serving in the microwave or pop the whole casserole into the oven!
Frequently Asked Questions
There are so many options when it comes to cooking and shredding chicken. Our favorite ways to do this are either in the Instant Pot (Instant Pot shredded chicken) or the slow cooker (slow cooker shredded chicken), and if you need to cook your chicken from frozen, we have directions for that too!
This is totally up to you — neither way is necessarily harder or easier than the other, it’ll just depend on when you have time to shred your chicken (right after cooking or later on) and which you prefer!
Nope! You don’t need to cover the casserole while it bakes. In fact, we want the cheese to get slightly browned and bubbly, so it’s best to not cover it.
Absolutely! Shredded pork shoulder, ground beef, or ground chicken would all be delicious options!
More Favorite Casserole Recipes
Quick and Easy Loaded Chicken Taco Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked white rice
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 4 cups shredded chicken this will be 2 pounds of chicken
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 16 ounces salsa
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 cups fresh pico for garnish
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
- Guacamole for garnish
- Additional sour cream for garnish
- Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Mix the rice with the lime juice and chopped cilantro. Spread the rice evenly into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish.
- Mix the shredded chicken with the chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper. Spread the seasoned shredded chicken evenly over the rice in the baking dish.
- In a bowl, whisk together the salsa and sour cream. Pour the mixture over the chicken and rice in the baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese over top and bake for 20 minutes, until the cheese is browned.
- Before plating, spread the fresh pico evenly over the casserole. Garnish individual plates with guacamole, cilantro, and additional sour cream, then serve.
Recipe Notes
- 4 cups white or cauliflower rice, cooked
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 4 cups shredded chicken
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups fresh salsa
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk
- 2 cups fresh pico, for garnish
- Guacamole, for garnish
- Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Mix the rice with the lime juice and chopped cilantro. Spread the seasoned rice evenly into the bottom of a 9×12 baking dish.
- Mix the shredded chicken with the chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper. Spread the seasoned shredded chicken evenly over the rice in the baking dish.
- In a bowl, whisk together the salsa and coconut milk. Pour this mixture over the chicken and rice in the baking dish. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
- Before plating, spread the fresh pico evenly over the casserole. Garnish individual plates with guacamole and cilantro.
Nutrition
Can I freeze ans reheat this casserole?
Hi, excited to try this! Is the nutrition info correct? 5.5g of protein per serving even though there’s 2 lbs of chicken?
No, definitely not correct! I’m so glad you reached out. Nutrition is fixed now!
Did you recently update this recipe? Whenever I’ve made this before (it’s a staple for us) It has been non-dairy. And now I cant remember what the recipe was for non-dairy version. Coconut milk can instead of sour cream? quantity?
Hi Kendra! I’m so glad you enjoy! Yes, the recipe was updated. The original recipe calls for 1 can of full-fat coconut milk. The original ingredients and instructions are copied in the notes of the recipe card for reference. I hope that helps!