Pepper Jack Rice Bake – CRAZY good!! Cooked rice loaded with onions, red bell pepper, green chiles, corn, cream of celery soup and pepper jack cheese. Can make ahead and freezer for later. Great side dish for all your spring and summer grilling!! #casserole #sidedish #freezermeal #vegetarian
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Pin This RecipeEasy Mexican Side Dish Recipe
This Pepper Jack Rice Bakes is CRAZY good!! We have made this several times and it is always a hit. Cooked rice loaded with onions, peppers, green chiles, corn, and pepper jack cheese. I could make a meal out of this delicious rice!! Feel free to add some ground beef or chicken to the dish and turn this into a main dish that the whole family will enjoy!
How to Make Pepper Jack Rice Bake
This rice casserole can be made ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen for later. You can also split the mixture between two pans. Bake one now and freeze one for later. We love having a pan of this Pepper Jack Rice Bake in the freezer for a quick side dish when we fire up the grill.
This wasn’t spicy even though the rice has green chiles and Pepper Jack cheese. If you are worried about the heat, cut the green chiles in half and use Monterey Jack cheese. It will still taste delicious!! Alternately, if you want to kick this up a notch, add some chopped jalapeno peppers or a can of drained Rotel tomatoes.
What to Serve with Cheesy Mexican Rice
This cheesy rice casserole is the perfect accompaniment to any Mexican meal. It is also great with grilled chicken, pork, or steaks. You could even add some more veggies and make this a vegetarian main dish! Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this yummy casserole:
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Pepper Jack Rice Bake
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 6 cups cooked rice
- 1 (8-oz) container sour cream
- 1 (10.5-oz) can cream of celery soup
- 2 (4.5-oz) cans chopped green chiles
- 1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
- 2 cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese
- salt and pepper
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Lightly spray a 9x13x2-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper and onion. Cook until softened, about 8 minutes.
- Combine cooked rice, sour cream, soup, green chiles, corn and cooked pepper and onion, and half of Pepper Jack cheese.
- Spread rice mixture into prepared pan.
- Cover dish with foil and bake 30 minutes.
- Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining cup of Pepper Jack cheese.
- Bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes.
Notes:
- Can use any cream of soup in this recipe.
- Can use any cheese you prefer in this casserole.
- You need 6 cups of cooked rice for this casserole. You can use any type of cooked rice you prefer.
Steph
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If I don’t want to serve all at once, do I cook and then freeze or freeze and then cook when I want it?
Either way. I usually divide the mixture between two 8×8 or 9×9 pans – bake one and freezer the other one unbaked. Thaw and bake when ready to eat the extra pan.
Would the recipe work without the green chilies? We are a zero spice family!
You can make it however you would like.
This sounds delicious! Will make it this week. Looks like a husband pleaser, and mine is very picky.
When would be the best time to add cooked chicken or ground burger to the recipe?
When you are mixing the casserole together before you bake it.
This is the tastiest rice dish I’ve ever made! I served it with salsa chicken and it was the perfect compliment, but also I could just eat it as the main course, its that good!
Would chorizo be good added to this recipe?
If you like chorizo it would
I want to make this for Christmas. Can I get it ready the day before, put it in the fridge and then bake it the next morning?
Thanks, I cannot wait to try it.
yes
Thank you for the quick reply.
Merry Christmas
Loved this recipe! I used a can of rotel instead of the red pepper, because that is what I had on hand. However I did sub the corn for cubed cooked chicken breast, and used cauliflower rice in this dish. It turned out delicious!
Sounds delicious!
Delish! I used 1 can of Rotel & 1 can of green Chili’s and extra Pepperjack cheese. Definitely will be making this regularly.
Can you make the leftovers into a soup? If so, how?
A bit confused about the rice because it says 1 1/2 cups cooked (6 cups cooked) so should that have been 1 1/2 uncooked to make 6 cups cooked?
yes
Omg!! So good. I’ve made this once a week now for close to a month. So easy and super tasty. I have even eaten it cold!! Can’t wait to try the pepper jack potato casserole!
The flavor was delicious but my rice wasn’t cooked. I followed the recipe to a T but it came out hard. Any thoughts as to why?
You should have cooked the rice before adding it to the casserole. “1½ cups rice cooked according to package directions (6 cups cooked)”
Can you make half the recipe
yes
This is good. I divided it into thirds to freeze and it turned out well. Very handy to have a side dish in the freezer.
It calls for 1 and a 1/2 cups uncooked rice… isn’t that equal to 3 cups cooked? I don’t want to make 6 cups cooked rice if it really only calls for 3. 🙂 thanks
No, you need 6 cups. It depends on the type of rice you use. Regular long-grain rice is a 4:1 ratio. 4 cups cooked for 1 cup uncooked.