Vegetarian Mexican Casserole
on Apr 10, 2019, Updated Apr 16, 2024
This vegetarian mexican rice casserole is packed full of veggies, cheese, and black beans. An easy meatless dinner that is sure to be a family favorite!
You will love this Mexican rice casserole!
This family favorite casserole is packed full of veggies, cheese, black beans and enchilada sauce. Serve it with sour cream and tortilla chips for a delicious meatless dinner that everyone will love!
This mexican rice casserole is one of our favorite vegetarian mexican style dinners, just like these vegetarian stuffed peppers. It is incredibly filling, delicious, and so easy to make!
Packed full of protein, veggies, and a delicious cheesy combo of cream cheese and mexican cheese. Fresh lime juice and enchilada sauce round it all out for an incredible flavor!
Here are the ingredients that you will need to make this casserole (the full recipe and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post).
Ingredients needed
- red onion
- garlic
- red bell pepper
- frozen corn
- enchilada sauce
- diced fire roasted tomatoes
- lime
- cream cheese
- cooked white rice: or substitute another kind of rice
- black beans
- spices: chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt
- mexican cheese
How to make vegetarian mexican rice casserole
Step 1: Cook the white rice. I prefer to use a rice cooker as it is just so easy and I don’t have to do anything but set it and forget it. You will need 4 cups of cooked rice.
While the rice is cooking, you will make the rest of the casserole on the stove.
Step 2: While rice is cooking, heat a large heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat. I like using a dutch oven for this recipe, but any large pot will work.
Step 3: Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and sauté the red onion, garlic, and bell pepper for 8-12 minutes, or until onion becomes translucent.
Step 4: Add the corn and fire roasted tomatoes and stir an additional 3 minutes.
Step 5: Add the drained black beans, cooked rice, lime juice, enchilada sauce, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, cream cheese, and ½ cup of mexican cheese.
Step 6: Stir well to combine and heat through, then salt the mexican rice casserole to taste.
For this recipe I used pre shredded mexican cheese, but any cheese will work.
Mix up the flavors by using colby jack, pepper jack, or a mix of your favorite mexican cheeses!
How to serve
The easiest way to serve this casserole is with sour cream on top and tortilla chips on the side for added crunch. Squeezing some fresh lime juice on top is always a great idea!
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Vegetarian Mexican Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 medium red onion, diced
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 8 oz enchilada sauce
- 14 oz diced fire roasted tomatoes
- juice of 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese
- 4 cups cooked white rice
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 3 teaspoons cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup mexican cheese , plus more for topping
- sour cream, for serving
- tortilla chips, for serving
Instructions
- Cook your rice according to instructions (I used a rice cooker) You will need 4 cups of cooked rice to add to the recipe
- While your rice is cooking, heat a large heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat (I used a dutch oven, but any large pot or deep skillet is fine to use)
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and sauté the red onion, garlic, and bell pepper for 8-12 minutes, until the onion softens
- Add the corn and fire roasted tomatoes and stir an additional 3 minutes
- Add the drained black beans, cooked rice, lime juice, enchilada sauce, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, cream cheese, and ½ cup of the mexican cheese
- Stir the casserole and salt to taste (I used 1 teaspoon of salt)
- Serve hot topped with additional mexican cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips
not a casserole as a casserole is cooked slowly in the oven but pretty good none the less
2 cups of rice is enough!
I love this recipe so much! I made some minor changes based on the ingredients I had – omitted the red pepper (although I’m sure it would have been great in the dish if I had one), used 10 oz Rotel instead of the 14 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes, and used shredded white cheddar instead of Mexican blend cheese. I only used about 2 or 2.5 cups of cooked white rice (basmati) because I didn’t think it needed more. I used green enchilada sauce, which I think was perfect. After cooking as instructed I put it all in a casserole dish, added a little extra cheese to the top along with some crushed tortilla chips, and baked just until the cheese melted. It was fantastic!
Cumin and Cayenne Pepper are quite spicy. I cut back on these spices. If I make again, I’d use only 1 tsp of Cumin and 1/8 tsp of Cayenne. Used 1 small 8oz can of corn (drained) as I did not have frozen corn. Tasty recipe.
This is a go to for us! I do it as a “one pot”. Instead of cooking the rice separately, I add 1 1/2 C uncooked rice and 3 c liquid. I use 1 C chicken broth and 2 C water. I save the black beans and cheeses until the rice is cooked through. Amazing!!
Absolutely delicious. Halved the garlic and doubled the cream cheese. Cooked one cup of dry white rice – that was enough. Best vegetarian Mexican dish I’ve ever tasted. Thank you.