The best vegetarian mexican casserole recipe with bell pepper, corn, black beans, enchilada sauce, and cheese. A hearty and delicious vegetarian dinner recipe.
Vegetarian mexican rice casserole – a classic favorite recipe gone meatless.
It’s one of our favorite meatless dinners, just like these vegetarian stuffed peppers.
This casserole 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!
Mexican recipes are so easy to make vegetarian.
Perfect to get your protein and veggies all in one dish!
We eat mexican recipes at least once a week, sometimes more.
Just made this for dinner and my very picky husband absolutely LOVED it!! Thank you for a lovely, easy, and cheap meal.
Vegetarian enchiladas are another recipe that we make regularly.
There are so many ways to make delicious meatless mexican food that we never get sick of it!
Ingredients to make mexican rice casserole
- red onion
- fresh garlic
- red bell pepper
- frozen corn kernels
- enchilada sauce
- diced fire roasted tomatoes
- fresh lime
- cream cheese
- cooked white rice
- black beans
- chili powder
- cumin
- cayenne
- salt
- mexican cheese
How to make vegetarian mexican rice casserole
First, we start off with cooking some white rice in a rice cooker.
Honestly you can make it on the stove, but that sticky, super fluffy rice straight from the rice cooker…now that my friends is what life is all about.
My rice cooker has been one of my most favorite purchases and I use it all the time!
You just can’t beat how convenient it is to be able to just put your rice in and it cooks itself.
Total dinner time game changer!
While the rice is cooking, you will make the rest of the casserole on the stove.
Cooking the filling for the casserole
Besides the rice, this recipe all comes together in one big pot.
I used my dutch oven and it was the perfect size!
Any large pot will work for this recipe.
Chop up all of your veggies and get them ready to cook.
First, add the olive oil, red onion, garlic, and bell pepper to the dutch oven.
Cook over medium high heat, stirring often, until the onion is translucent.
Add in the frozen corn, and fire roasted tomatoes and cook a few more minutes.
Add black beans, the cooked rice, fresh lime juice, enchilada sauce, spices, cream cheese, and some of the mexican cheese.
Stir to combine and heat through, then salt 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!
Serving your casserole
Serve topped with sour cream, cheese, and tortilla chips!
Squeezing some more fresh lime on top will make the flavors pop even more.
We love dipping it with tortilla chips for that added crunch factor.
I’m all about the texture!
No fuss, delicious real food comfort in a bowl.
Full of fresh veggies, cream cheese (that’s where you get that luscious creaminess from!), black beans, fresh lime, enchilada sauce, and more – this casserole is all things delicious!
My family loved it. Easy to make and great taste.
If you’re on the fence about dinner tonight, I highly suggest making this.
Absolutely delicious! Will be a part of our meal rotation from now on. – Hannah
My family gobbled it up and asked for seconds.
We couldn’t wait to eat the leftovers the next day!
This makes a ton of food and is delicious heated up the next day.
Made this for dinner…..a definite crowd pleaser! Hubby and kids loved it! Highly recommend! – Debby
It doesn’t dry out and stays tasting amazing!
Top with extra lime juice each time for an added flavor punch.
More vegetarian Mexican Recipes
- Crock Pot Bean Dip
- Vegan Quesadillas
- Vegan Burrito Bowl
- Tofu Tacos
- Vegan Queso
- The best homemade Guacamole
- Nacho Cheese Sauce
- 5 Minute Homemade Refried Beans
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Vegetarian Mexican Casserole
Hearty and delicious vegetarian mexican casserole recipe with rice and veggies
Ingredients
- 1 medium red onion, diced
- 8 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- 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 + more for topping
- sour cream, for serving
- tortilla chips, for serving
Instructions
- Cook rice according to instructions (I used a rice cooker) - the amount of uncooked rice varies based on your brand. You will need 4 cups of cooked rice to add to the recipe
- While rice is cooking, heat a large heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat (I used a dutch oven)
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and sauté the red onion, garlic, and bell pepper for 8-12 minutes, or until onion becomes translucent
- Add the corn and fire roasted tomatoes and stir an additional 3 minutes
- Add drained black beans, 4 cups of cooked rice, lime juice, enchilada sauce, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, cream cheese, and ½ cup of mexican cheese
- Add salt to taste (I used a teaspoon)
- Serve topped with additional mexican cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips
- Enjoy!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 250Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 826mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 7gSugar: 6gProtein: 9g
Priya
Wednesday 1st of March 2023
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!
Anne
Wednesday 1st of February 2023
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.
Heather
Monday 18th of April 2022
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!!
Kathleen McDermott
Sunday 24th of October 2021
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.
Karla
Monday 30th of August 2021
My family loves this recipe. We've made batches of this with ground sirloin, shredded chicken & increased the amount of cream cheese as well. For my dad's birthday we turned it into a tortilla soup by increasing the enchilada sauce, adding 32 oz beef broth, adding ground sirloin, a block of cream cheese in a large stock pot. Everyone loved it. Tonight I stuffed this mix in bell peppers & am cooking them in our slow cooker. Added a can of spicy Rotel tomatoes to the bottom of the peppers, along with the rest of the mix. Very good!