Chicken Saffron Rice Casserole
This is a much faster & easier way to make Chicken Saffron Rice Casserole with a Santa Fe style flavor. See how to cut your time by a third and how to make it ahead the night before for a quick bake tomorrow. This is a part of the Chicken, Rice, Beans, Mexican, & Oven Dinners categories.
Chicken Saffron Rice Casserole Recipe
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Ingredients
- ⅔ cup saffron rice or yellow rice (⅔ cup = 5 ozs wt)
- 1¼ cup water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 each boneless chicken breasts
- 15 ozs canned black beans, drained
- 1 tsp minced garlic or ½ amt garlic powder
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp cilantro
- 6 ozs shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F.
- Cook saffron (or yellow) rice: Boil water & oil. Add saffron rice, stir, reduce to simmer, & cover for 20-25 minutes.⅔ cup saffron rice, 1¼ cup water, 1 tbsp olive oil
- While rice is cooking, cutup rinsed chicken breasts into cubes. Add to boiling water for 15 minutes. Then, drain.2 each boneless chicken breasts
- Add black beans and all remaining items into a mixing bowl (later adding chicken & rice) and combine well.15 ozs canned black beans, drained, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp lime juice, 2 tbsp cilantro
- Oil a 2½ quart casserole dish and add combined ingredients.
- Bake at 350 °F covered for 25 minutes on middle shelf.
- Remove cover, add cheese across top, and bake (uncovered) 10 more minutes.6 ozs shredded cheddar cheese
Notes
Nutrition
Ingredients of Chicken Saffron Rice Casserole
The chicken saffron rice casserole ingredients give it a flavorful blended cuisine of Santa Fe, Mexican, & Cuban flavors. It uses these key ingredients:
- Chicken breasts
- Saffron rice (or Yellow rice)
- Rotel (or stewed tomatoes)
- Black Beans, canned
- minced garlic, lime juice, & cilantro
How to Make Chicken and Saffron Rice Casserole
These steps make this wonderful chicken and saffron rice casserole dish ready to serve in 1 hour.
- While the oven is preheating, make the Saffron rice in a small pot.
- While the rice is cooking, cutup the chicken breasts into cubes and cook them in boiling water.
- Then, toss the rest of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
- When rice is ready, toss it in.
- After the chicken’s cooked, drain it, and toss it in also.
- Combine all the ingredients well and add it to a greased 2-1/2 qt. casserole dish.
- Bake for 25 minutes, add cheddar cheese topping & bake for 5-10 more minutes. It’s ready!
For an alternative, if you want to try it without making the saffron rice first, here’s another good recipe for a Santa Fe Chicken with Saffron Rice dish.
Sides to Serve with Chicken Saffron Rice Casserole
Here are some great sides to serve with this chicken and saffron rice casserole recipe.
- Tortilla chips and salsa
- Flatbread like naan or pita bread
- topping of sour cream
- fresh green salad
- clear soup
- cold beverage like sweet tea or traditional Margarita
Calories of Chicken with Saffron Rice Casserole
This healthy chicken with saffron rice casserole dish offers about 433 calories per large serving. It’s rich in vitamin A at about 445 IU. And it’s only about 2/10 gram of sugar. Also, it’s extremely low on polyunsaturated fat of about 1 gram. It offers about 19 grams of protein & 8 grams of fiber. Finally, see all the detailed nutritional values in the recipe itself or see nutritional values of basic chicken with saffron rice without a lot of my added items
Leftovers & Storage of Chicken with Saffron Rice
This chicken and saffron rice casserole dish can be easily stored in the fridge for 3 to 5 days as leftovers. Another option is to freeze any leftovers the same day it’s baked. It can then be thawed overnight in the fridge and reheated in the microwave or baked in the oven, covered, for about 20 minutes, at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cooking Tips for Chicken and Saffron Rice
- This chicken and grain dish can be made ahead, stored in the fridge, and baked the following day.
- While the recipe calls for boneless chicken breasts, you can use any kind of chicken you want, even leftover bird. You can also get a whole chicken and cut it up yourself.
- This recipe is great with either saffron rice or yellow. I buy the saffron rice packets but, if you want to try something on your own, here’s a good home style Mediterranean styled saffron rice recipe from scratch.
- Some recipes like this will call for adding the rice and water in the dish and baking for 45-60 minutes but we’ve found, due to the other ingredients, some of the rice doesn’t fully cook. So, it’s truly is best to cook the saffron grain in the pot as part of the preparation process.
- When reheating leftovers (microwave or oven), sprinkle a little water on top to add some moisture.
- This dish calls for 4 servings. You can easily make it 6 servings if you add in another side dish or a bread, and a salad.
Conclusion of Chicken Saffron Rice Casserole
You’ve seen how easy you can bring together a fantastic chicken saffron rice casserole and serve it in about 70 minutes, start to finish. Or, you saw where you can make it the night before and just bake it for 35 minutes the following day. It’s an easy to make 1 dish oven dinner. The different cuisine flavors emphasize a Santa Fe style that brings in a wonderful change for a family dinner.
Incredible flavors!