We LOVE this easy casserole!
Whenever I say something about Green Rice Casserole, most people do a double take. “Green Rice Casserole? What’s that??” they’ll ask incredulously.
My mom has made this recipe for as long as I can remember and I’ve always loved it.
Since I’ve been married, it’s been fun to introduce it to my own family, too. Everyone gobbles it up and usually asks for more!
It’s the perfect gluten-free side dish for burritos or any other Mexican meal. Or, you can do as I do, and just eat it as a stand-alone frugal meal.
Because it’s just that good!
By the way, this is in no way a low-fat recipe, so if you’re on a diet, counting calories, or trying to lose weight, you just might want to skip over this post. 😉
Ingredients for Green Rice Casserole
- 3 cups cooked rice (we use brown rice)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup chopped dried parsley (or 1/2 to 1 cup fresh parsley)
- 4 oz. can chopped green chilies
- 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 small onion, finely chopped (or 1/4 cup dry onion flakes — can be omitted)
Substitutions and Variations
Try adding 2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken or cooked ground sausage to this mixture for a more hearty meal.
Or add 2 or 3 extra eggs to make it more of a breakfast casserole.
Try variations of white, brown, or even wild rice to see what you prefer.
Mix up the seasonings — swap basil for parsley for basil or add more Mexican seasonings like cumin and chili powder.
Try Pepper Jack cheese for a little extra spice, crumbled Feta for a brighter kick, or Mozzarella for a super creamy texture.
How to make Green Rice Casserole
1. Cook the rice (if necessary)
2. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.
3. In a large bowl, combine cooked rice with all other ingredients.
4. Cover dish with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
5. Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
How to Freeze Green Rice Casserole
This recipe freezes beautifully — just cover the pan tightly and pop it in the freezer (before baking) to freeze for up to 3 months.
You can also dump the contents of the uncooked casserole into a gallon-size freezer bag and freeze it flat as a space-saving option.
When you’re ready to bake the casserole, simply defrost it in the fridge or on the counter and continue with the baking instructions above.
Green Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 cups rice (already cooked)
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup dried parsley (or 1/2 to 1 cup fresh parsley)
- 4 oz. chopped green chilies
- 2 cups cheddar cheese grated
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 small onion finely chopped (or 1/4 cup dry onion flakes — can be omitted)
Instructions
- Cook the rice (if necessary).
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.
- In a large bowl, combine cooked rice with all other ingredients.
- Cover dish with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
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Im late to the site but i love these! What’s a good solution for no chilies? I’ll think of something!
This is one of my childhood favorites! My mom didn’t put chili’s in it. I may have to try it that way.
So… I subbed trader joes frozen rices cauliflower for the real rice and subbed 1/2 and 1/2 for the milk- I just used a splash! It was a hit and a great way to get some more veggies in our low carb, THM diet! Thank you!
Riced cauliflower
Clicked on this recipe looking for vegetarian budget casseroles. I’ll used the brown rice, too. Also, to keep it Genotype Teacher friendly, I’ll edit out the chiles. Sounds delicious and money-saving.
HEY!! I have all this stuff on hand! Yippee! No having to go out and shop. COOL! Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I made it last night (splitting it into 2 9×9 pans, one to use and one to freeze). I served it with re-fried beans and we made burritos/tacos combining the two with lettuce, tomatoes and avocado. It was EXCELLENT. Thanks!
Made this tonight with a couple additions. I added the meat from the 2 1/2 pork chops left over from last night, a box of creamed spinach, and used an extra cup of brown rice. 6 of the 7 of us loved it! And (#7)my husband said it was pretty good. I will definitely make this again. But I may run the creamed spinach through the blender with the milk, so my husband doesn’t have to see the pieces of spinach. 🙂
Love, love, love this!! My husband is not normally real crazy about any kind of rice, but I served this the other night with enchiladas and he gobbled up every bit of rice on his plate before he ever touched the enchiladas, then went back for seconds. Definitely a keeper! I made it with fat free milk, reduced fat cheese, egg substitute and butter substitute and it was still delicious. Thank you so much for sharing it!
So glad you all enjoyed it!
Thanks for sharing the recipe. We made this last night and it was really good. Served with some baked chicken. All of your recipes and freezer cooking have been a hit over here.
Yummy! I made this tonight, with a few alterations, and added some Adobo seasoned chicken strips to bake along with it 🙂
The green rice casserole is in the oven for dinner tonight! Thank you so much for posting the recipe. We can’t wait to try it! I am always grateful for new and easy recipes to try. Thanks for adding a new dish to our family menu!!
I made this for my family last night when I saw it posted yesterday! It was delicious! I made it before you noticed the missing parsley. It was so good, I am hesitant to add parsley when I make it again! I used it as a simple vegetarian main dish, with fruit on the side and brownies for dessert last night. We all thought it was a great meal. Thanks again for the recipe!
Question: have you ever thrown in strips of raw chicken to cook with it?
No, I haven’t, but let me know if you try!
Do you use minute rice or long grain rice?
I’ve always used long grain.
Yay! I LOVE it when you post recipes. My family adores the soup recipe you posted! Thanks!
Is the rice minute rice or long grain? I don’t cook much, so I wouldn’t know which one you were talking about.
Crystal, have you ever used olive oil, skim milk, or reduced-fat cheese in the casserole? I’m sure you would have thought of those things in order to lower the fat content, so I’m wondering if you tried and it just didn’t taste the same for some reason with this particular receipe?
No, but only because we’re a family who typically goes for full fat in our food. 🙂 I’m sure it could be made with substitutions, though!
Guess what I had for lunch today? Yum! Very, very easy.
HI! This was exactly what I hoped it would be! Love chilies!!
Planning to make this tonight! We love spicy food and it sounds like this will be a hit with enchiladas! Thanks Crystal! 🙂
This looks delicious!! One of my daughters is vegetarian and I am always looking for filling, meatless dishes!!
I think instead of the parsley I think that I might try fresh chopped cilantro. My husband and I love cilantro and I think that it would go good with the green chilies. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you I made it for dinner. We had fish tacos and I was not sure what to put with it and this was perfect.
That sounds very interesting. Not sure I could do the chilies, but the rest. Yuuummmy!
Wow, when I first saw this post, I thought it said green BEAN casserole and I couldn’t believe all these people that had never heard of it. Then someone said something about the rice being green and I was like, wait a second…I went back and reread the title. Oops!! This sounds really good. I’ll have to try it out soon. 🙂
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I meant gleefal@yahoo.com…sorry it’s been a long night!
Don’t kill me; I hate correcting grammar, but I think you meant “complement” rather than “compliment” unless of course the rice dish was praising the burritos. 😉
Thanks for catching my mistake; much appreciated. 🙂
I’m going to try this one out. I’m always looking for creative starches to serve with the meat and veggies.
Sounds totally wonderful to me.. Now I have to decide if a migraine is worth it since thats what i usually get when I eat chilis.. Its tough.. I have 20+ cans in my pantry, I was raised a few miles from Mexico and I love chilis in anything! 😉
I think Im gonna have to suffer & try some soon!
Thanks! 😉
Made this tonight since we had all of the ingredients except the chilies (husband stopped to get them on sale at Bi-Lo on the way home) and it was EXCELLENT. It was before you added in the parsley in the recipe, but it was great without it and next time we will try it with the parsley! 🙂 Just shows that if someone doesn’t like parsley it is still great!
This looks really good. I need some new recipes.
Thank you so much for this recipe! We have 2 boxes of brown rice at our house and 2 out of 3 people here (myself not included) don’t like it. I bet they’ll like it cooked like this though! Thank you!
Oh, yeah! I “hide” brown rice in cheesy corn and beans over rice: I cook brown rice in my rice cooker. Then I combine one packet of Sazon with 1 can of black beans and about 1.5-2 c frozen corn (roast the corn in a hot, dry pan first for better flavor). Add corn and beans to the rice and top with cheese. Keep warm in the rice cooker until ready to eat.
Yum-O!! You just can’t go wrong with green chilis in my opinion….I needed something to go along with Salmon Patties tonight, and this was delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
I just made this using pepper jack cheese ($0.50 recently at Publix) and 2 Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice pouches (brown) that were recently free. I had no idea how I was going to use those two items in my stockpile so when I saw this, I though the pepper jack cheese could substitute for the chilis (which I don’t have).
Not bad for a meal that took less that five minutes from reading this post to putting it in the oven!
My version is way too spicy for the two year old but the other kids are having this for dinner with some fresh fruit. I think I will try this again in a few weeks with the suggested cheese and without the green chilis (I don’t like them). I’ll add chicken and maybe black beans. It won’t be green rice casserole but might just be a new main course for us.
Thanks Crystal!
You said it stays green Bc of parsley but I don’t see that as an ingredient?
Um, that would be because I forgot to include it in the recipe. I think I’m losing my brain! Will go add that in!
Thanks for sharing! That’s not at all what I was picturing when you mentioned green rice before. This sounds waaaay yummy!
We make this same dish except we use frozen tater tots instead of rice. It is really yummy (goes good with fish sticks. lol)
Oh wow! Would have never thought of using frozen tater tots. How interesting!
Correction our recipe doesn’t call for eggs. However, not I am thinking cheesy hashbrown omelets with a variation of this recipe. Sweet!
Looks delicious! Just wondering …. do your kids like it? Is it too spicy for them?
Yes, they like it, but they also love salsa and spicy things most of the time! If your children tend to not like spicy things, you could leave out the chilies and onions. I’ve made it a number of times without them and it’s still good.
If you take out the chilies, will it still be green?
Yes, because of the parsley. 🙂
What parsley? I’m sure it’s me, but I’m not seeing any.
Oh goodness, did I forget to include the parsley?! So glad someone caught that! Should have triple-checked the recipe!
The mystery of the Green Rice Casserole is solved. You’ve mentioned sooooo many times in the past few months and I kept saying to myself….when will she ever tell us what this is? So last week when you said the recipe was coming this week I was so excited! Thank you for sharing. Sounds wonderful!
I’m so sorry it took me forever to get this posted. I should have a policy that I don’t mention a recipe until the week I’m actually planning to post it. 🙂
Will be bringing this to the church fellowship meal. We do Mexican the first Sunday each month–perfect! Thanks for the idea. Will probably throw some chicken in there too 🙂
I make this EXACT recipe, except with 2 C chopped chicken. It is SO good!
This looks great! Just curious, I have all of the ingredients on hand except for green chiles. But I have a surplus of Rotel tomatoes and green chiles. Yucky? Yummy?
Thank you!
Sounds good to me! Try it and let us know!
Sweet. I’m always looking for easy meals that freeze well and can go meatless. Can’t wait to try this one. Thanks!
So…
Do you think you could through some beans or shredded beef or chicken in there with a yummy effect???
Sounds good, but I am a one dish kindof cook, and my family usually does meat in our dishes.
Absolutely.. I was thinking chicken myself for a one dish kinda yum! (But I gotta have my flesh protein! 😉 )
I say try it out. I’m the same way and have been tweeking recipes a bit lately. Everything turns out great and my family can’t get enough. You won’t know unless you try. 🙂
Oh my goodness Crystal, how do you stay so slim?!?
Seriously, though, this looks delicious. I think I’ll make it for an upcoming potluck (otherwise my husband and I would polish it off ourselves!).
Sounds Yummy! Can’t wait to make it! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
sounds yummy! Question though – cooked rice – will leftover cooked rice from the day before that’s been in the fridge overnight work, or should it be fresh cooked rice?
YUMMY!! That is going on my next weeks menu for sure!
Yum! Thanks for posting. That looks delish!! I’m going to have to make it next time I make my layered quesadillas – it would be the perfect accompaniment! Here’s my recipe if you are interested:
http://simplifylivelove.blogspot.com/2011/02/layered-quesadillas.html
This would have been perfect to make with the enchiladas I made the other night with my free container of cooking creme from Philly.
I have to admit though, the name throws me off— rice isn’t supposed to be green lol
That is a really interesting dish that I think we will enjoy 🙂 thanks for posting it.
wait, what temp does it cook at??
Um, that might help, wouldn’t it?! 🙂 It’s 350 degrees.
it also looks like you put some cheese on top instead of mixing it all in? is that right?
I don’t eat cheese, but I am sure if I was to make it without cheese it would still taste great.
YUMM-O I’m gonna have to try that…
Question about the freezing part: Do you freeze before or after cooking? Does it change the baking time if you do freeze? Defrost before baking? Sorry I have so many questions! Thanks a bunch! Looks like I’ll be trying this sometime soon!
When I made it recently, I froze it uncooked in freezer bags and then just thawed and dumped it into the pan to cook. I think it’d probably taste a tad better this way than actually baking it first and then freezing.
Thanks for making it printable. I think we’ll have to give it a try in next months food menu!
So is it kinda like cheesy rice?? Is it spicy?
The recipe is so simple! This looks amazing and will be a wonderful addition to our meals. Thank you!
Hey, since this includes green chile and cheese, I think my husband will love it! Yum! And it is gluten free, which means I can eat it! A win win, now to convince the kids. Thanks!
I’m glad to see a rice casserole with something other than spinach or broccoli. We love the diced green chilies and I imagine they make this taste out of this world.
Wow! That sounds DELISH!! Can’t wait to try it!!