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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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)”
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.
This is a nice side dish. Not too spicy, but with lots of flavors. The others who commented offered really good suggestions too.
I made this tonight…only I doubled the pepperjack cheese and cooked ground pork with the red pepper and onion. It was fantastic! Also used instant rice. Thank for another delicious recipe!!!
Could you replace the rice with brown rice or even better quinoa?
I don’t see why not
I made this when I grilled this weekend with your Orange BBQ chicken. OMG it was NASTY GOOD! It was so good that we had the leftovers 2 days later with the next grill creation and it only got better with age! I also froze 1/2 of it. Amazing! I love your site….you are how I found out about the Downton Abbey exhibit in NYC & went twice! I love trying your recipies and have LOVED all but 1….and even that one was ok lol. ❤ Thank you for helping me be the hostess with the mostest!
Do you drain the green chiles first or dump the entire cans?
Just dump them in there
I had everything except the red bell pepper so I added some rotel which brought a nice color and spicy taste to it. I also halved the recipe except for the cream soup. It was so delicious! Still had plenty leftover.
Sounds delicious! Glad you enjoyed it.
man this is going in my recipe file. I have a weknd stay this late spring for a wedding. I have to take dinner for one night Im adding this to the menu. yum. its like a chili releno deal. peppers ad cheese. im going to use red and orange peppers. thanks for sharing. I have to have that sour cream yum .
I think I want to make something similar but since I don't like bell pepper, green chilis or celery I gotta change it up. Instead of cream of celery I can use cream of mushroom or cream of chicken. Instead of pepper jack I can use colby jack. And just leave out the chilis and bell pepper. Sound good?
Can you use yellow rice for this recipe?
I think any cooked rice will work fine. Enjoy
Do you combine in a bowl or in the skillet with onions and peppers?
Doesn't matter – if your skillet is big enough and you don't want to dirty a bowl, you can combine everything in the skillet. If your skillet isn't big enough, combine it in a bowl.
I made this last night. I am the 'bacon no eggs, kool aide,no sugar' person. I didn't have the soup, or red pepper. I added 2 cups cheese, and extra sour cream. the family loved it!!
We had for dinner tonight and it was a hit. I added 2 boiled shredded chicken breasts and 2 jalapenos diced. Thanks for the great recipe that I could also make my own based on my family's taste for the medium and hot.
Thanks! Looks good. Will be making for the kids when I visit next week!
Do you add water with the soup?
No. Just use the condensed soup.
Will make very soon. Looks yummy
Bet you could add some chicken to this (grilled or rotisserie) and make a complete meal!
Absolutely! Chicken or even ground beef would be a great addition!
Do you cook it before you freeze it? And how do you warm it up after freezing to serve.
I would freeze it unbaked and thaw and follow directions above to bake
Can you use instant rice that has been cooked for this recipe ?
That should be fine
Would this work with cauliflower rice?
I haven’t cooked with cauliflower rice, so I can’t say with certainty. If you have substituted cauliflower rice in other recipes with success, I would go for it.