Mexican Chicken and Rice Bake - Cheesy Spicy Mexican Chicken with Enchilada sauce baked over rice and kidney beans for a meal the whole family will love.
When I created this Spicy Mexican Chicken and Rice, I had only one thing on my mind Mexican Enchiladas!!
It was a dish I would often order at a local Mexican restaurant local to me when I was at university. It was just sooo good and I often get cravings for it, ever since.
Tortilla wraps however can be quite high in calories and not very filling, so this bake combines many of the components of an Enchilada but without the wrap. It is seriously tasty.
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Calories in Mexican Rice Chicken Bake
This recipe serves 4 and is 514 calories per serving
If you're looking for more recipes within the same calorie range, you'll find an abundance of options in my dedicated collection of 500+ calorie recipes.
If you're following a calorie-controlled diet or a healthy eating plan, it's important to calculate your daily calorie intake using a reliable calorie calculator. Please note that the calorie counts provided are estimates and can vary based on specific ingredients and serving sizes. Personalizing your calculations is essential to meet your individual needs. By using a calorie calculator, you can make informed choices and stay on track with your dietary goals.
See the recipe card for full nutritional estimation.
Enchilada Sauce
Yes there are ready made jars of most sauces, but I stopped buying anything like that a long time ago, it's so quick to make your own sauce and you know exactly what has gone into it when you make it yourself.
In this yummy homemade Enchilada sauce I use just some simple store cupboard ingredients:
- Canned Crushed Tomatoes
- Paprika
- Oregano
- Cumin
- Fresh Onion
- Fresh Garlic
- Cider vinegar
- Maple syrup
- Cayenne Pepper
All cooked in simmered in a pan to bring out all those yummy flavours, before being blended for the smooth delicious homemade sauce for the chicken.
Blending Sauces
When it comes to blending sauces you really do not need any expensive or fancy gadgets. Always go for what is in your budget. Either an Immersion Stick Blender or a counter top blender will blend your sauce perfectly.
I do own a Vitamix and it is amazing for making sauces super smooth and for me as someone who cooks a lot it was a worth while investment, but not everyone needs a professional blender.
If you are limited on storage space and don't like to have lots of different appliances for doing different things, then something like the Ninja Complete Kitchen System is a great choice too, as it has a food processor, mixing bowl and blender in one, as well as blades for grating etc. But it can still be quite bulky with all the different parts so you need the space to store it.
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Best Rice for Mexican Dishes
Long Grain rice is the best rice for using in this recipe, and there are a couple of different varieties - basmati (extra long), jasmine (sticky) and then what is known as long grain rice (or white rice)
So which one of these is best? I don't recommend jasmine rice for this dish, it's a sticky rice which is better for Asian style dishes with sauce. I like to use basic long grain rice, but don't buy the cheap brands as the rice can be broken grains and it really doesn't cook very nice, you will be able to tell if it's a good quality basic long grain rice as each grain of rice will be a perfect shape, no broken ends etc.
If you can't find this then the next best thing is Basmati Rice, it's an extra long grain rice popular in Indian cooking, not my first choice for this dish, but a good replacement if you can't find just basic long grain rice.
Can I use Chicken Thighs?
You will often see me using chicken thighs in recipes, especially if they are a bake or a casserole. In this recipe however I use Chicken breast - it's smoother in a sauce and isn't baked for a longer time, as the rice is cooked when it goes in the oven, so there is no worries about the chicken overcooking and becoming dry.
Sides for Mexican Chicken Rice Bake
For this recipe it's pretty filling, so i just serve with a simple side salad of the following:
- Crisp Romaine or Iceberg Lettuce
- Grape Tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Carrot
you can add any other salad items you like to this - such as peppers, red onion, corn, beetroot etc. My kids love to have a dollop of sour cream to and guacamole, but those are totally optional.
More Mexican Inspired Recipes
Love Mexican style dishes? Check out these:
See more Mexican Recipes →
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Recipe Card
Mexican Chicken and Rice Bake
Mexican Chicken and Rice Bake - Cheesy Spicy Mexican Chicken with Enchilada sauce baked over rice and kidney beans for a meal the whole family will love.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (180g) of long grain rice
- 480ml (2 cups) of chicken stock
- 300g (10.5oz) canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- small handful of fresh chopped coriander (cilantro)
- 2 uncooked chicken breasts, sliced into cutlets - approx 500g (17.5oz)
- 50g (2oz) of mozzarella, grated
- 30g (1oz) of cheddar, grated
- cooking oil spray
- salt and pepper to season
for the Enchilada Sauce:
- 240g (1 cup) of canned crushed tomatoes (or use passata and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste)
- 180ml (¾ cup) of chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon of paprika
- 1.5 teaspoons of cumin
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper (use more of less depending on your spice level)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey
Instructions
- Spray a small saucepan over a medium-high heat with cooking oil and add the onion and garlic, cook for a few minutes to soften. Add the passata, stock, spices, vinegar and maple syrup and stir thoroughly, reduce heat, cover simmer for about 15 mins. Then put it all through a blender and blend until smooth, set aside.
- Rinse the rice until running water until water runs clear and then add the rice to a saucepan with 2 cups of chicken stock
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until all the stock is almost absorbed. Turn off heat, but leave saucepan on hob, covered for approx 10 minutes, this will ensure rice is perfectly cooked.
- Preheat oven to 180c, fan 160c, 350f or gas mark 4
- Season the chicken breast of both sides with salt and black pepper.
- Heat a large frying pan over a medium-high with some cooking oil and add the chicken breasts, fry each side until lightly browned (they don't need to be cooked through, as you will be finishing them off in the oven). Pour in the blended Enchilada sauce and ensure the chicken is all covered in the sauce.
- Mix the rice with the kidney beans and freshly chopped coriander. and add it to an oven proof dish. Layer the chicken breasts with the sauce on top and then top with the cheddar and mozzarella.
- Cover the dish loosely with foil and bake for approx 20-30 mins until all cheese has melted and chicken is cooked. You can place under the grill for a couple of minutes to brown the cheese more if you prefer.
- Serve sprinkled with fresh coriander.
- Enjoy
Notes
Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:
- Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
- WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.
- Gluten Free Friendly - use gluten free stock
- ❄️ Freezer Friendly
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1 SERVINGAmount Per Serving Calories 514Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 104mgSodium 692mgCarbohydrates 63gFiber 8gSugar 10gProtein 43g
Nutritional information, points etc are an estimate and is to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary greatly from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information. It is always advised that you calculate by the ingredients you use.
Jo @ Seeking Healthy Balance says
Wow this recipe looks amazing - I'll have to give it a try. Its hard to believe that food like this allows you to loose weight - thats what I love about Slimming World! I've recently joined Slimming World and updated my blog to reflect my new healthy eating so I'll be popping back here regularly for ideas 🙂
admin says
It is really delicious and like you say you would not believe you could eat stuff like this and lose weight, but then that is the beauty of slimming world 🙂
Jo says
This is a lovely recipe. I did it slightly differently by cubing the chicken and cooking it and some mushrooms and peppers first and then when the sauce was done I combined it with the rice, so it was like a one pan dish. Flavour is lovely and I will definitely make it again.
admin says
yep I don't see why not, or you could perhaps use normal white sugar, if you have some of that.
Lucie says
Cool thank you & thank you for your blog my whole office is looking at it & I'm the only SW girl!
Anna says
are all your recipes slimming world friendly?
admin says
yep they are 🙂
Denise Robinson says
Tried this recipe out on 2 guinea pigs recently and they loved....only thing I might do next time is dice the chicken rather than put the fillets in whole. Thank you for the inspiration 🙂 x
LUH1983 says
Had this last night and it was deee-licious. A great substitute for enchiladas which I rarely have on SW as the tortillas are so high in syns, and I like saving mine for chocolate and wine! 🙂 So glad that i can follow you on facebook now too. Keep up the good work, you're an inspiration to me in the kitchen!
MrsFlu says
This is different to the Mexican Chicken and rice you had before - you've added mozzarella, onion and garlic; I'm assuming (having just followed the old recipe) that this one is better. Ah well, just an excuse to make it again.
JayneD says
This is amazing!
kaye ward says
This is lovely a new favourite. Thanks for posting it.
Noor says
Hi,
Thanks for this recipe.
Made it today,it was awesome,hubby liked it too.
And thank you very much for explaining about speed food.
Just started SW but was not really losing any weight, now I know what I was doing wrong.
God bless
Sarah Rodgers says
Made this recipe last night - it was delicious! Used 1 tsp of mild chilli powder as was making for kids too and it was still pretty spicy. Will definitely be making this again.
Kate Reeve says
Hi, this looks amazing. I would like to give it a go. Hope you don't mind a quick question, I am new to slimming world and understand about choosing HEA and HEB. So this recipie requires a lot of cheese, effectively two off the HEA list in the food optimising book, so is that why it has asynchronous value? Thanks.
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
Hi Kate, this recipe uses two healthy extra a choices but serves 4 people which makes it 1/2 a HEa per serving leaving you to use the other half somewhere else In your day or if you prefer you can syn the cheese and then keep your full healthy extra for somewhere else in that day. Hope that makes sense
Helen says
We've had this twice now and LOVE it. We like it saucy, so double up the sauce amount (but use Sukrin instead of maple syrup). I really thought hubby was going to lick the plate when I made it on Friday!
Nicole DeMarco says
This Recipe is so easy to make and extremely tasty! I am a Mexican food lover and this did not disappoint! I will be making this again for the whole family! Thank you for the recipe. X
Carrie says
Oh my days!! This was epic!! Made the chick, spicy rice without the peas and separate macho peas and sweetcorn.... too much food but all free! Lovely! Will def be making this again. Thanks
Sara says
Hi, lovely recipe! I just wanted to know when adding the kidney beans is that drained or with the water from the can? Many thanks x
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
Hi Sara, the kidney beans are drained - enjoy
Cat says
Absolutely love this meal (and website)!
Made this again on Monday but added some corn into the rice and some peppers with the chicken - it was amazing!
Also, now that we can have 2 HEA - half a syn is perfect 🙂
Alice says
Absolutely scrummy!! Another fab recipe thank you!!
Sarah says
Hi, if I want to batch cook and freeze. Is it just the chicken and sauce I can freeze or can I freeze at the end with the rice?
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
you can freeze the entire recipe 🙂
Charlotte Hargrove says
Can this recipe be done in a slow cooker?? I've got to go out today but really fancy this for dinner...
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
I haven't tested this in a slow cooker, so couldn't comment on how this would work/timings etc.
Georgina says
Delish. Didn't use maple syrup or any other type of sweetener as cooking for a diabetic but didn't detract from the flavour of the dish. Warmed up the leftovers the second night and it was even tastier. Will add peas and sweetcorn next time and maybe leave out the kidney beans as I am not a huge fan. Served with salad first night and asparagus the second night.
Dee Dee says
Made this dish tonight for the first time , absolutely delicious, but I did use white kidney beans instead of red , because I only had white in my cupboard. Another fantastic recipe,
Thank you Slimmmgeats.
Emma says
I can't wait for the recipe book. Your recipes are so much nicer than the S/W cook books xxxx
Trevona says
Yum yum yum! This is so tasty. OH doesn't like kidney beans, so I added diced red pepper and sweetcorn to the rice. Our new favourite Slimming Eats recipe. Thanks Siobhan.
Kate Soper says
Made your old version of this today; husband (Texan) loved it. Told me the trick to good Mexican food is the sauce and that you nailed it!
Maria says
I made this today. Missing a few ingredients, but the result was fantastic. Will be making again with ALL the ingredients. Thanks Siobhan
Anthony says
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. I love the flavors of this dish. Five stars!!!
Peter Brockie says
Made this one tonight, OMG! This will become a regular on my menu! Easy to make and great flavours! Think I will add a wee bit more chilli next time. But that's just me!