Tex Mex Chicken Casserole

Name: Tex Mex Chicken Casserole
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 4 oz tortilla chips (broken into large pieces (2 cups)); 1 cup corn (canned or frozen); 15 oz can black beans (drained and rinsed (can do pinto beans too)); 3 cups cooked chicken breast (diced); 2 cups shredded Mexican-style cheese; 3 cups your favorite salsa ((I like Frontera)); 1 bunch scallions (sliced); 2 tbsp taco seasoning; sour cream (for garnish (optional)); avocado slices (for garnish (optional)); fresh chopped tomato (for garnish (optional))

by Joanne Ozug April 15, 2019 (updated October 16, 2020)

This Tex Mex Chicken Casserole takes less than 10 minutes to put together, and is perfect for an easy weeknight meal that feeds a crowd!

You know those times when you feel too tired to cook?

This is one of those recipes where I can always muster the energy to whip it together, even when I don’t feel like cooking.

It demands so little, and it’s easy, delicious, and full of texture.

Plus, you can make a big batch and heat up the leftovers for dinner on any other night of the week. I love leftovers.

You can think of this recipe as a big nacho bake, of sorts. But with less cheese, more salsa, and a casserole-like texture.

It won’t and is not supposed to have the crispness of a tray of nachos, but rather the nachos soak up the salsa and take on a more tortilla-like texture that makes for a hearty bite.

You also gets bits of corn, black beans, scallions, and gooey cheese to tie it all together, and a sprinkling of taco seasoning to enhance the tex mex flavors that go so well in dishes like this.

Let me show you how simple it is to put together this Mexican Chicken Casserole.

How to Make Tex Mex Chicken Casserole:

Start with a handful of crushed tortilla chips:

This is an instance where you want to use the thicker, more robust tortilla chips. Thin ones will get too soggy and flimsy.

Now we’re going to add a bunch of supporting ingredients.

Black beans….corn…

Diced chicken breast…

(I use my slow cooker to cook batches of chicken breast to be used for stuff like this. Here’s the post with instructions for Crockpot Chicken Breast)

Now add salsa, Mexican shredded cheese, scallions, taco seasoning…

Stir it all together:

Then put it in a casserole dish:

Cover it with foil and bake for 30 minutes:

Then you can serve it garnished with scallions, sour cream (a must), avocado slices, chopped fresh tomato, cilantro…whatever you’d like.

Mexican Rice, Mexican Street Corn Salad with Black Beans, and Chicken Fajitas are some of my other favorite recipes in this flavor profile. Enjoy!

More Favorite Dishes with Mexican Flavors: