Hamdi Saidani Pioneer Woman Tex Mex Chicken Casserole is a cheesy one-pan dish made with shredded rotisserie chicken, microwaveable rice, diced tomatoes with green chiles, and melted pepper jack cheese. It takes just 20 minutes from start to finish.
Ree Drummond shared this as her Easy Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice on Food Network during “The Pioneer Woman” episode “One-Pan Crowd Pleasers.” She builds it entirely in a skillet rather than baking it, so the cheese melts under a lid instead of in the oven.
Toast the spices with the garlic and onion for the full three minutes before adding any liquid. Raw chili powder and cumin taste dusty and flat, so that short bloom in hot oil is what gives the whole dish its warm, layered flavor.
Pioneer Woman Tex Mex Chicken Casserole
Description
A fast weeknight skillet meal that uses rotisserie chicken and microwaveable rice to get dinner on the table in 20 minutes. Pepper jack cheese melted over the top brings the heat and holds everything together.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.
- Add the garlic, onion, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper, and turmeric. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft and the spices are toasted, about 3 minutes.
- Pour in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes with green chiles, shredded chicken, and both bags of rice. Stir everything together and cook until the rice is heated through and starts absorbing the liquid, about 5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low and sprinkle the pepper jack cheese evenly over the top. Cover with a lid and let the cheese melt completely, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and serve straight from the skillet.
FAQs
Why does Ree use microwaveable rice bags instead of cooking rice from scratch?
Microwaveable rice is already fully cooked, so it only needs to warm through in the skillet. Raw rice would need at least 20 extra minutes of simmering with added liquid, which defeats the purpose of a 20-minute dinner.
The precooked grains also hold their shape better in a saucy dish like this. They absorb just enough tomato sauce to pick up flavor without turning into mush the way freshly cooked rice sometimes does.
Why does Ree add turmeric to a Tex-Mex dish?
The turmeric is there for color, not flavor in any traditional Tex-Mex sense. A small 1/4 teaspoon gives the rice a golden tint that makes the finished dish look richer without changing the taste.
You can leave it out entirely and the flavor profile stays the same. Ree uses it as a visual trick to make the white rice blend in with the warm tones of the tomato sauce and spices.
Can you bake this in the oven instead of making it on the stovetop?
You can transfer the mixture to a baking dish after step 3, top it with the pepper jack, and bake at 375F (190C) for 10 to 15 minutes until bubbly. This gives you a browned cheese crust on top that the skillet version does not have.
The stovetop method is faster and dirtier fewer dishes. The oven route works better when you are feeding a crowd and want to prep ahead, then bake right before serving.
What can you use instead of pepper jack cheese?
Monterey Jack gives you the same smooth melt without any heat, which works well if kids are eating. A Mexican blend or sharp cheddar also melts nicely and brings a different flavor angle to the dish.
Stay away from pre-shredded cheese if you can, because the anti-caking coating on bagged shredded cheese slows down melting. A block you grate yourself melts into a smoother, creamier layer in that 2 to 3 minutes under the lid.
Does this Tex-Mex chicken reheat well the next day?
It reheats well in a skillet over medium-low heat with a splash of chicken broth to loosen the sauce. The rice absorbs liquid overnight, so without that extra splash it turns thick and dry.
Microwave reheating works but expect the cheese to separate a little. Stir it once halfway through and add a tablespoon of water to bring back the saucy texture Ree’s version has fresh off the stove.
