Easy to assemble, packed with clean ingredients, and an hour and twenty in the oven gives you this family friendly dish! It’s a casserole, but I live in the Midwest…so it’s hotdish.

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Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Makes about 8 servings

• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 bell pepper (I like red), diced
• 1 cup uncooked brown (or white) rice
• 3 Tablespoons fajita seasoning (homemade or store-bought)
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 14 oz can black beans, drained
• 5 cups shredded chicken
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 oz can green chilies
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1-1/4 cups shredded Monterey Jack or Colby Jack cheese

Optional:

• fresh cilantro
• green onion
• salsa
• avocado/guacamole
• sour cream
• tortilla chips
• bell pepper scoops

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Add onion, bell pepper, uncooked rice, fajita seasoning, and cayenne to a large bowl and stir to combine.
• In another bowl, add chicken broth, green chilies, tomato paste, and olive oil and whisk together until well combined.
• Add to the dry bowl and mix together well.
• Add shredded chicken, black beans, and frozen corn and stir to combine.
• Add entire bowl contents to a 9×13 baking dish (I like spray mine first for easier cleanup) and cover with aluminum foil.
• Bake for 65-70 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.
• Remove baking dish from oven, remove foil, and evenly sprinkle grated cheese on top.
• Return to oven without foil for another 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly golden.
• Remove and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
• Top with optional toppings and serve with tortilla chips or bell pepper scoops (for a healthier choice).

• There are many ways to make this dish with your own preferences. For example, if you wanted to use low sodium broth or even bone broth, any color bell pepper, organic or spiced black beans, mild or medium green chilies, brown or white rice, etc. You can truly do what you prefer to make it your own.
• I make my own fajita seasoning mix, which you can find by tapping here. It makes about 6 recipes’ worth, but you could always cut it in half if you don’t want to store that much at one time.
• I recommend checking the bottom of the dish to make sure the liquid has all been absorbed before pulling it out of the oven. If you notice there’s still some liquid, pop it back in for another 4-5 minutes.
• For a quicker hack, I buy already shredded chicken since this recipe takes an hour or more to bake. You can certainly make your own shredded chicken.
• You can eat this hotdish on its own or use tortilla chips as scoops. For a healthier option, you could also make wide strips with bell peppers and use those as scoops. Or mini bell peppers cut in half.

I love this dish because rather than being a mostly carb based hotdish (or casserole if you don’t live in the Midwest), the chicken ends up taking up a good portion of the dish, so it ends up being more protein. We also use brown rice and chicken bone broth for other healthier swaps.

I hope you enjoy this hotdish as much as we do! Until next time,