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Weeknight style One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake…finished with all the toppings…of course! Mexican seasoned chicken, rice, and enchilada sauce all cooked together in one skillet, then topped with tortilla chips and plenty of cheese. Throw the skillet in the oven to create the perfect cheesy, one skillet, Mexican inspired chicken and rice dinner. There’s simply nothing not to love. This dish is easy, takes under an hour to make, is cheesy, and all-around delicious. The perfect meal to serve to family and friends.

One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake | halfbakedharvest.com

There are days when developing new recipes, that do not go nearly as planned. The “bad” days don’t happen often, so I’m thankful for that, but they’re never very fun when they do happen. I had a day last week where literally not one of the five recipes I was working on showed any promise. Nothing I was testing was working and the entire day was a struggle. Finally, at the end of the day, I accepted that something was clearly off and it just wasn’t my day for recipe testing.

These days happen, it’s hard not to beat myself up about them. But I’m slowly learning to accept them and attempt to move on the best I can.

Now, all that said, the one good thing I’ve noticed about bad days? Nine times out of ten, the following day ends up being so much better. As my dad always tells me, you wouldn’t know what a good day is without having the bad days.

Anyway, I’m completely rambling, but the point of this long story is that this recipe came to be after a bad day of cooking. It was almost as though I knew I needed a great recipe to make up for the previous day’s failed dishes.

Enter this one skillet chicken and rice dinner. Somehow this dish worked perfectly the very first time I tested it out. It’s probably my favorite recipe of the week. I’ve been excited to share it with you all since the day I created it.

prep photo of skillet with meat and sauce before adding the chips

Here are all the details.

As you can guess, this simple dinner is made start to finish all in one skillet. So, the very first step…find yourself a great skillet. I love using a cast iron skillet, but any oven-safe skillet or even dutch oven will work great.

Next, brown some ground chicken, turkey, or beef. Really, use whatever you love most. I typically use chicken, but when my brothers are in town, beef is always their first choice. Brown the meat, season it up, then pour in your favorite enchilada sauce and water. Bring this mix to a boil, add the rice, cover and let the rice steam for a bit. This only takes ten or so minutes. You do not need to cook the rice completely as it will finish cooking in the oven.

Now, once the rice is “al dente”, the rest is pretty simple and comes together quickly. Top the skillet full of chicken and rice with cheese, then tortilla chips, and finish with one more sprinkle of cheese. Transfer the skillet to the oven, bake until the cheese is melty and the sauce is bubbly.

And that’s it. Simple right? This dish smells incredible and tastes even better. But then, what’s not to love about Mexican rice topped with cheesy tortilla chips!?

So good!

prep photo of skillet topped with chips before baking

The secret to this skillet dinner?

It’s all about the seasoning mix plus that enchilada sauce.

For the seasoning mix, I was inspired by my quick weeknight tacos. I used smoky paprika, ground cumin, and a chipotle chili pepper in adobo. It’s just a touch spicy, a little smoky, and hinted with garlic.

For the enchilada sauce, I like to use the homemade recipe from the original HBH Cookbook, but if you’re using store-bought I typically pick up this one. It’s as close to homemade as it gets. Just be sure to use a sauce that’s high quality and one that you know you really enjoy, as it’s key in this recipe.

Let’s talk about the toppings.

I topped this skillet bake just as I would a taco, with plenty of fresh cilantro, avocado, a dollop of yogurt, and a squeeze of lime. You could even add a pickled red onion on the side if you like.

If you wanted to take the toppings a step further, I would recommend a pineapple salsa or mango salsa. But you all know me, I love a good fruity salsa. Oh, and maybe add a nice margarita too. This strawberry margarita is perfect for the springtime days ahead.

One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake | halfbakedharvest.com

What I love most about this recipe is the fact that it’s a complete dinner. It’s an all-in-one dish that everyone can really enjoy. I can serve this up on busy weeknights, but it’s equally great for a Saturday or Sunday night dinner with friends and family. I’ll be making this dish time and time again…actually, I’ve made it three times in the past week. Yep, it’s that good.

Looking for other one skillet dinner ideas…check out these. Or maybe a couple of my favorites below.

One Skillet Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken and Orzo

One Skillet Greek Meatballs and Lemon Butter Orzo

One Pot Creamy Tuscan Pesto and Artichoke Pasta

photo of One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake with spoon in skillet pulling up the rice to serve

Lastly, if you make this one skillet saucy chicken tortilla enchilada rice bake, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!

One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake

Author: Tieghan Gerard
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 765 kcal

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

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Ingredients

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Instructions

  • 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
    2. In a large oven safe skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the ground chicken and onion. Cook, breaking up the meat as it cooks, until the chicken is browned, about 5 minutes. Add the jalapeños, garlic, paprika, cumin, and salt, cook 1 minute. Stir in the enchilada sauce, chipotle chili, if using, and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, stir in the rice. Place the lid on the skillet and turn the heat down to the lowest setting possible. Allow the rice to cook 15 minutes, until most of the liquid has cooked into the rice, but not all of it.
    3. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro and lime juice. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese over the chicken/rice. Add the tortilla chips on top, pressing them gently into the cheese. Evenly sprinkle on the remaining cheese. Transfer to the oven and bake 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted.
    4. Serve topped as desired with avocado, cilantro, and yogurt. Enjoy!
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overhead horizontal photo of One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake

This post was originally published on March 4, 2020
4.30 from 740 votes (583 ratings without comment)

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    So. Good. I was in that desperate state of dinner-making at 4 pm yesterday evening… the ground beef was thawed but I had no clue what to make and didn’t want to spend forever at the store. I hopped on Instagram and Tieghan had just posted this recipe again to her feed. I had nearly everything, so I ran to the store, got a jalapeño, some cheese, enchilada sauce, and an avocado, and this puppy was ready before my husband was done with work. AND I had time to make brownies from scratch while I waited for the rice to cook!
    It tasted so good, as the chips gave such a nice texture. It was seriously delicious and the mess was negligible. I will be adding this to my meal rotation and couldn’t be happier!
    Thank you for this easy, freakin’ incredible dish. Saved my sanity yesterday, and I’m about to heat some up for lunch 🙂

    Reply

  2. 5 stars
    Delicious!! Can’t wait to make again. Son and husband and me loved it. The lime juice is key. Do t even think about skipping it. Going to try to come up with a vegetarian version for my daughter. Thank you, thank you!

    Reply

  3. 5 stars
    I made this tonight and it was delicious. My only mistake was that I didn’t add enough extra time for my brown rice, so it was a little more al dente than I would like. I added some black beans too, as my kids love them, and made a little Greek yogurt crema with lime juice, avocado, and . It cilantro. It was great and something I will for sure make again!

    Reply

  4. Hi Tieghan, I love your recipes and have been sharing with all my friends!

    Curious if you’ve ever made this in the instant pot (with out the chips) or if you’d recommend it? My cast iron doesn’t have a lid and So I was thinking instant pot may work.

    Reply

    1. Hey Kayla,
      I have not tried this recipe in the instant pot, I honestly don’t know how well that would turn out. You can just use a lid from another pan:) I hope you love the recipe! xTieghan

      Reply

  5. 5 stars
    I made this recipe tonight and 3 out of 4 of us liked it (There are about 6 or 7 things I make that get 100% approval so anything over 50% is considered a win). I have two grade school aged kids and try to make things as palatable for them as possible. Consequently, I chopped the onion real fine so they couldn’t even see it and I omitted the chipotle in adobe sauce, the jalapeño and the cilantro. I gravitated toward this recipe because everyone at my house likes enchiladas and nachos and this recipe is sort of a combo. I added some shredded lettuce and a couple of scoops of salsa to my serving which were great additions. My husband who tries to limit carbs said he didn’t think the rice was necessary. Next time I’m going to try it without the rice (and water). I think it will still taste great and reduce the cooking time by more than 15 minutes. Also, this is the first time I have ever used ground chicken and it was great! I will now try using ground chicken in other recipes. It has much fewer calories and fat than ground beef which we eat a lot of. So thank you for convincing me to give ground chicken a try too! I have liked every Half Baked Harvest recipe I have ever tried. Keep them coming!

    Reply

    1. Hey Megan,
      Thanks a lot for giving the recipe a go, I am so delighted that it was enjoyed! Have a great week:) xTieghan

      Reply

    1. Hey Stacey,
      Thanks so much for trying out this recipe, I am thrilled that you liked it! I hope you have a great week:) xTieghan

      Reply

  7. Hello! Making this tonight but wanted to quicken the process by using already cooked rice! Any recommendations/advice on how this changes the other parts of the recipe or maybe the water added in? Thank you!

    Reply

    1. Hey Anna,
      Yes, that will work, I would just omit the water and it should workout just fine. I hope you love the recipe:) xTieghan

      Reply

  11. I made this last night and it was so. dang. good! I used ground beef. I didn’t feel like opening up two cans of the Hatch enchilada sauce (1 can is 15 oz and the recipe calls for 19 oz), so I only used one and it still turned out great. My cast iron skillet didn’t come with a lid, so I used aluminum foil to cover while the rice was cooking. So much flavor! Thanks for another great recipe!

    Reply

    1. Hey Alex,
      Thanks so much for trying the recipe. That is so great the recipe was enjoyed! Happy New Year! xTieghan

      Reply

  13. 5 stars
    I will definitely be making this again! My whole family loved this dish! It was simple and all the flavors came together. I highly recommend!

    Reply

    1. Hey Bethany,
      Thank you so very much for giving the recipe a try, I am so glad it worked out for you! Happy New Year! xTieghan

      Reply

  14. 5 stars
    I made this tonight and it’s ridiculously good!! My husband said it’s the best Mexican dish I’ve ever made!! We both loved it. Thanks for another awesome recipe!!

    Reply