New Mexico Casserole–green chile chicken and rice casserole with melty cheese and a creamy sauce. Made with the help of your Instant Pot!
New Mexico Casserole
Today’s recipe is sort of like chicken and rice meets green chile chicken enchiladas. It’s a delicious take that you’re going to love. Rice is the bottom layer followed by a creamy chicken sauce with green chiles and then finally it’s topped with cheese.
At the heart of this New Mexico Casserole is the iconic Hatch green chile. Grown exclusively in the Hatch Valley, these chiles are revered for their distinct flavor profile – a perfect balance of heat and earthiness. Whether you use the mild or hot variety, these chiles add a signature flavor to the casserole.
Try out this casserole for dinner this week! I think you’ll love it 🙂
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
- Chicken breasts or thighs–or a mixture
- Dry minced onion
- Kosher salt
- Cumin
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper
- Converted rice–or long grain white rice, basmati, jasmine
- Diced green chiles–I used mild
- Cream of chicken soup–or cream of mushroom
- Sour cream
- Cheddar cheese–or Mexican blend, Monterey jack, colby jack
Steps
Pour broth into Instant Pot*. Add in the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with onion, salt, cumin, garlic powder and pepper.
Place a tall trivet* in the pot.
Place an oven safe pan* on top of the trivet. Add water and rice into the pan.
Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 12 minutes for frozen chicken or 10 minutes for fresh chicken. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting and remove the lid.
Carefully remove the rice pan.
Spread the rice into a 9×13 inch pan*.
Shred or chop the chicken and add it back into the Instant Pot.
Stir in the green chiles, cream of chicken soup and sour cream until smooth and combined.
Pour the mixture over the rice.
Sprinkle the cheese on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve topped with green onions.
Notes/Tips
- Try serving this green chile chicken rice casserole along with black bean salad, guacamole, pico de gallo, mexican street corn, avocado salad or refried beans.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
- I used one of these stackable pans* for my rice.
- I used this tall trivet* for my pot in pot rice.
- If you don’t want to use cream of chicken soup you can make it from scratch.
- This recipe can be gluten free if you use gluten free cream of chicken soup.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.
New Mexico Casserole
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Green chile chicken and rice casserole with melty cheese and a creamy sauce. Made with the help of your Instant Pot!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup broth
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts or thighs (or a mixture)
- 1 Tbsp dry minced onion
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup uncooked converted rice (or long grain white rice, basmati, jasmine)
- 2 (4 oz) cans diced green chiles*
- 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or Mexican blend)
- Diced green onions, for topping
Instructions
- Pour broth into Instant Pot*. Add in the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with onion, salt, cumin, garlic powder and pepper.
- Place a tall trivet* in the pot. Place an oven safe pan* on top of the trivet. Add water and rice into the pan.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 12 minutes for frozen chicken or 10 minutes for fresh chicken. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Carefully remove the rice pan. Spread the rice into a 9×13 inch pan*.
- Shred or chop the chicken and add it back into the Instant Pot. Stir in the green chiles, cream of chicken soup and sour cream until smooth and combined. Pour the mixture over the rice. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve topped with green onions.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot and Oven
More Chicken Casseroles…
Heather’s Casserole
Instant Pot chicken and rice casserole with creamy sauce and buttery Ritz cracker topping.
Get Better Casserole
A chicken noodle casserole that has the flavors of chicken noodle soup but in a casserole form (and it has melty cheese on top)! It’s perfect to share with a friend and can be made fast in your Instant Pot.
Hawaii Casserole
Chicken and rice casserole with pineapple, sliced almonds, chow mein noodles and melty cheese. A casserole version of Hawaiian haystacks.
Sinful Casserole
Creamy, cheesy chicken and potato enchilada casserole made with the help of your Instant Pot.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Generally speaking, NM chile is not just Hatch chile. Hatch is TOWN in NM and a chile growing area. They grow the SAME varieties that are grown around the state. Hatch has done a great marketing job, but is not the only place in NM growing chile. And while cream of chicken soup is used by some, most of us have graduated to making a homemade cream sauce. Cumin is generally used in red chile. And, yes, I am from New Mexico.
Good to know! Thanks Margaret!
I’m confused as to why you would bake it after you cooked in the insta pot. I can see browning the cheese but honestly I would not dirty another dish for browning or because there was not enough time chosen to cook the chicken. Why not cook everything 15-20 min in the insta for already cooked chicken and 30-45 min for frozen chicken?
I’m not trying to be sparky, if comes across that way, i apologize. I’m truly trying to understand why you are cooking it this way.
thanks in Utah
Can I make this or any recipes that call for pressure cooker/instant pot be baked in oven? Thank you
Is there anything to substitute for the cream of mushroom soup?
cream of chicken or 4 ounces of cream cheese
Make your own cream of chicken sauce via a bechamel sauce.
wish you had the recipes for crock pot also.