This Mexican Chicken Casserole recipe uses rotisserie chicken and is super simple to make! Combine penne pasta with corn, black beans, cheese and more and you’ve got yourself an easy chicken dinner perfect for any night!
For more Mexican-inspired recipes, check out my Spicy Sriracha Shrimp Tacos, Arizona Chicken Pasta or Beefy Taco Lasagna.
An Easy Chicken Dinner Idea
I’m a big fan of quick and easy dinners. I’ve always loved them, but even more so now that we have the twins. By the time they go to bed at night, I need dinner to be as simple as possible. This casserole meets those requirements and more.
In addition to being easy, it’s full of flavor and all the things we love most about Mexican food. It’s also a hearty casserole, since it’s made with pasta. The hubs has been telling me lately that he’s a big fan of pasta (hinting at me a bit, since I’ve been avoiding pasta as I try to lose the baby weight, LOL), so this meal is a great one. It’s something we both love and although we haven’t tried it on the boys yet, they so far seem to really like things with lots of flavor so I’m thinking this would be a hit.
How to Make This Mexican Chicken Casserole Recipe
The ingredients in this Mexican Chicken Casserole are pretty straightforward, which is part of what makes it so easy to put together. (You will find ingredient amounts in the recipe card.) Most of these are things we’d normally have in our pantry or fridge, aside from the chicken:
Penne pasta
Salsa
Sour Cream
Jalapeños
Corn
Black beans
Cheese
Spices – Cumin, Garlic and Onion powder
To start, you’ll want to cook your pasta al dente. What that means is basically you want to cook it until it’s softened, but still a little firm. It’ll cook a little more when everything is heated in the oven, so no need to cook it until it’s too soft.
From there, you’ll combine everything else together, reserving a little bit of the cheese to put on top. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish, cover with that remaining cheese and bake for about 20 minutes, until everything is heated through and the cheese on top is melted.
Seriously, does it get any easier than that?!?
Tips for the Best Mexican Chicken Casserole
While I love this casserole just the way it is, you could of course try different options to suit your preferences.
– If you like a little less spice, leave out the jalapeños. Alternatively if you like more, consider adding red pepper flakes.
– You can definitely try out different kinds of pasta. The hubs is a big fan of penne, so that’s what we use.
– A great way to change up the flavor a bit is to try different salsas. We have a roasted tomato salsa that we love to use and it lends a bit of it’s smokey flavor to the casserole. Try out different ones!
More Tasty Mexican Recipes
Spicy Sriracha Shrimp Tacos
Arizona Chicken Pasta
Beefy Taco Lasagna
Mexican-Style Stuffed Peppers
Pineapple Salsa Pasta Salad
Shrimp and Crab Nachos
Mango Margaritas
Margarita Cake
Easy Mexican Chicken Casserole
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
This Mexican Chicken Casserole uses rotisserie chicken and is super easy to make! Combine penne pasta with corn, black beans, cheese and more and you’ve got yourself a quick dinner perfect for any night!
Ingredients
Casserole
- 1/2 lb | 2 cups dry penne pasta, cooked al dente
- 1 1/2 cups salsa
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp diced jalapeños
- 1 can (15 oz) yellow corn, drained
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained & rinsed
- 2 cups shredded chicken (I use rotisserie chicken)
- 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese, divided
Toppings
- Cilantro
- Green onions, diced
- Tomato, diced
- Avocado, sliced
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9×13 casserole dish with non-stick spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine the cooked pasta, salsa, sour cream, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, jalapeños, corn, black beans, chicken, and 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Stir together to combine.
3. Pour mixture into the casserole dish and top with remaining cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for about 20 minutes.
4. Serve casserole with cilantro, green onions, tomato, and avocado slices, if desired.
Keywords: mexican chicken casserole
Recipe slightly modified from I Am Baker.
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This looks delicious! My husband has a hard time digesting tomato based things like salsa. Do you think if I left out the salsa the casserole would be too dry?
I do think it’d be a little dry, but you could possibly add more sour cream or even some softened cream cheese to offset that a bit.
Delicious on all accounts! This was the perfect meal for a hungry husband, postpartum mom and picky toddler. The flavors are strong but nothing is overpowering and it’s hearty without being heavy. I would have never thought that pasta could pair so well with a Mexican dish but after eating this, its now one of my favorites! Will definitely be adding this to the meal rotation
★★★★★
This was delicious and so easy!
★★★★★
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it!
Lindsay,
Oh my goodness. I made this tonight for my family. We loved it. So simple to make. The flavor is amazing. This will for sure be in our menu rotation.
Thank you,
Cheri K
★★★★★
Awesome! I’m so glad to hear everyone enjoyed it!
Lindsay,
This looks delicious! I am going to put it on my dinner menu for next week. If I left out the chicken, would you suggest more pasta? Or, just continue to make the recipe as is?
Thanks!
Sara
No, I think you could just leave out the chicken. Adding more pasta without adjusting other things could end up making the pasta a little dry. You could potentially add more black beans and corn though.
Perfect, thanks!!