Chicken Fajita Rice Bake (One Pan, High Protein)

Chicken Fajita Rice Bake (One Pan, High Protein)

This easy Chicken Fajita Rice Bake recipe is perfect for busy days! Just throw rice, chicken, onions, peppers, fajita seasoning, chicken stock and cheddar cheese into one pan, then let the oven do all the hard work. Better still, it’s high in protein and ideal for meal prep… and of course, there’s only one pan to wash up!

Course Main Course

Cuisine British, Fusion, Mexican

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Servings people

Calories 500kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

200 g long grain rice (see Note 1)
650 g chicken breast diced into 1½cm x 1½cm pieces
1 medium onion finely diced into ½cm x ½cm pieces
1 red pepper diced into 1cm x 1cm pieces
1 yellow pepper diced into 1cm x 1cm pieces
15 g fajita seasoning (see Note 2)
¼ teaspoon chilli flakes or to taste (optional – see Note 3)
500 ml chicken stock (from a cube is fine)
100 g cheddar cheese grated

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark7 / 425F.
Place the rice, chicken, onions, peppers, fajita seasoning, chilli flakes and stock in a large roasting dish (See Note 4).
Use a large spoon to mix everything together, then ensure that the contents of the roasting dish are evenly spread out.
Cover the dish with foil and place it in your preheated oven for 25 minutes.
After the 25 minutes is up, remove the roasting tin from the oven and double check the rice is cooked to your liking.
Give everything a good stir. Ensure that the contents of the roasting dish are evenly spread out once again, then sprinkle over the cheddar cheese.
Place the roasting dish back in the oven and cook for a further 5 minutes, uncovered.
Serve at the table, accompanied by a simple side salad.

Notes

Cooking time will depend on the specific brand of long grain rice you use. Typically in British supermarkets you will find the standard long grain white rice is ‘easy cook’. I use Tesco Easy Cook Long Grain Rice, which yields perfectly cooked fluffy rice when cooked as above. Tesco advise cooking their long grain rice for 15 minutes. If your brand’s instructions advise you to cook the rice for longer than this, you may need to cook this dish for longer and/or use more stock to achieve perfectly fluffy rice.
I have tried this with both Old El Paso Fajita Seasoning and Tesco Fajita Seasoning. Both work well, but personally I prefer the flavour of Tesco Fajita Seasoning, and it’s cheaper!
I like to add a small amount of chilli flakes to give some extra heat to this dish – ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes brings it up to a medium/hot level of spice. If you prefer a milder level of heat, leave this out altogether. If you prefer things hot, add more chilli flakes!
The dish I use is 31cm x 25cm x 5cm, so that is the size I recommend. But this dish is fairly flexible – you can use a slightly smaller or larger dish and it will be just fine.
Suitable for freezing.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition