Mexican chicken and rice tray bake

A complete meal in one dish

Mexican chicken and rice tray bake combines some of my favourite ingredients from this cuisine in a very easy to make meal. I am posting yet another tray bake recipe that only requires a single baking dish to cook the food in. It can be made in 30-35min and it is so so so flavoursome! The juices from the seasoned chicken add a knockout flavour punch to the added rice and vegetables cooking underneath.

Type of chicken cut to use

I absolutely love a good chicken tray bake and even better if I don’t need to clean a frying pan browning off the meat first. That is the reason why I choose skinless chicken thighs, so I don’t have to render the fat before cooking it. They are overall a fattier part of the chicken so they turn out so moist and delicious. Chicken thighs are also available to purchase with the bone in. However, I prefer them boneless to cut down the cooking time. 

To start preparing the Mexican chicken and rice tray bake, you can marinate (and honestly you should) the chicken overnight. The rice may also be left soaking from the night before (according to the guidelines). That way the following day all you have to do is preheat the oven and put the ingredients together in the baking tray.

Chillies – mild or hot

I don’t use a lot of chillies in my cooking for two reasons. Firstly I don’t have a high tolerance for it and secondly I just don’t know how much is too much due to the vast range of chillies at the shops. So when I want to add a bit of heat I use ground cayenne pepper instead, at least this way I can be consistent with it based on my tolerance. Otherwise my go to fresh chilly would have to be the red cayenne chilly if I find it at the shops as that is within the mild range.

One budget friendly idea that I haven’t tested for the marinate of this Mexican chicken and rice tray bake is using a pre-packed taco seasoning mix. Especially if you do not have all the necessary spices in your pantry, it will be a lot more efficient. If you try it out I would love for you to leave a comment below with your thoughts!

Enjoy your meal and make sure you read through my notes below the recipe before cooking. Also if you would like some more tray bake ideas check out this page.

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Mexican chicken and rice tray bake

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Resting time

5 mins

Total Time

50 mins

 

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings: 5

Author: Eleni Georges

Ingredients

Tray bake

• 1 kg skinless and boneless chicken thighs, (see notes)
• 2 tbs olive oil, (see notes)
• 2 limes
• 1 cup of basmati rice, rinsed and soaked (optional)
• 1 ½ cup vegetable pasta sauce, 375g (see notes)
• 1 cup hot water, 250mL (see notes)
• 1 can black beans, 400g
• ½ cup frozen corn kernels, 75g
• 1 medium capsicum, 200g, cut in 1cm strips (see notes)

Seasoning mix

• 2 tsp sweet paprika
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 3/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper, optional or you may substitute with chillies

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Rinse the rice thoroughly until the water running through it is clear (see notes). 

2. From the night before or at least 20min before you cook, marinate the chicken. Using a large bowl, place the chicken inside, pour the olive oil and squeeze one lime. Use your hands to coat the chicken well. Combine the spices together in a small bowl so that they will distribute evenly and then sprinkle the mixture on top of all the chicken pieces. Use your hands and mix until all the chicken pieces are well coated. Cover and place in the fridge.

3. Use a roasting dish (see notes) that is large enough. Pour in the tomato sauce, hot water and stir through the rice. Place the dish in the oven for 10min. I don’t add more salt in the rice a the sauce is quite salty. You can always add more salt before you eat.

4. After that time take out the baking dish and scatter the rinsed black beans, frozen corn and capsicum strips. Then add the chicken in a single layer on top of it all. The key is to have all of the top layer covered with the chicken completely so that the juices from the chicken help cook the rice evenly. Through the cooking process the chicken also shrinks so it’s ok if you think they might be a bit squashed.

5. Place the dish back in the oven for 20min (see notes). After that time the chicken should be cooked but if you want to check, take out the biggest piece of thigh and cut through to check for readiness. Let it rest for 5min out of the oven before serving. Squeeze a lime on top of the chicken and season with salt as needed.

Recipe Notes

1. There were 8 pieces of chicken thighs used for this recipe but sometimes the chicken thighs are bigger/smaller so you might just end up with 6 or even 10 in 1kg.
2. I used as little olive oil as possible because this part of the chicken is quite high in fat content, i just added it to help the chicken brown.
3. I like using a chunky vegetable pasta sauce as the base for the rice, in comparison to just plain passata sauce, because there are already aromatics in it. Especially since I am not frying any onions or garlic for the rice, the pasta sauce gives the rice that extra flavour and sweetness.
4. I usually heat my kettle and add boiling water but hot water from the tap should be fine. I use hot water so that the cooking process starts faster since the meal will be cooking for a small amount of time overall.
5. I used red capsicum as it’s sweeter than the green variety but you may choose whichever type you prefer.
6. You may choose to let the rice soak in water 20min before cooking or even from the night before to help add moisture to the rice. Check out the guidelines of soaking rice as varying room temperatures may be lead to a health hazard. 
7. The baking dish I used measured 28cm x 21cm x 7cm.
8. If there are 6 chicken thigh fillets in the 1kg you purchased then that means they are slightly bigger and should cook for 25min and not 20min. If you choose to use thighs with the bone in, they generally take 10min extra so you would leave the chicken in for at least 30-35min. In that case you won’t need to cook the rice with the tomato beforehand. Simply layer the dish as per instructions and cook it all at once.