Layered Mexican Casserole with Chicken and Cauliflower Rice (Video)

This Layered Mexican Casserole with Chicken and Cauliflower Rice is a lower-carb version of a Mexican Chicken Casserole from the past! You’ll love the new version with Green Chile Enchilada Sauce, sour cream, green chiles, and diced chicken layered with seasoned cauliflower rice and cheese!

PIN the Mexican Casserole with Chicken to make it later!

I’m excited to share this new recipe for Layered Mexican Casserole with Chicken and Cauliflower Rice, and we absolutely devoured this when we tested the recipe. This new version of an old favorite was inspired by a commenter who complained that my recipe for Mexican Chicken Casserole with Pinto Beans was not low-carb.

Of course people come to my site all the time who don’t know how my personal eating journey has evolved, so I patiently explained how that recipe with beans was from the days when I followed the original South Beach Diet (and nowhere in the recipe did it claim to be low in carbs, and it wasn’t tagged low-carb either.)

But that comment got me thinking, and I wondered what I could come up with for a version of a Mexican casserole with chicken that was lower in carbs? And this recipe is the happy result of a few experiments for a layered casserole with Mexican flavors!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce (affiliate link) or other low-sugar green enchilada sauce
• frozen cauliflower rice
• onion
• olive oil
• ground cumin (affiliate link)
• diced green chiles (affiliate link)
• Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link) for added heat if desired
• sour cream
• diced, cooked chicken
• green onion
• grated Mexican Blend Cheese

How did we make this Mexican Casserole with Chicken lower in carbs?

This Mexican chicken casserole recipe has one layer with Green Chile Enchilada sauce reduced on the stove and combined with green chiles, sour cream, diced chicken, and sliced green onions. The other layer has a cauliflower rice mixture that also has onions, cumin, and green bell pepper. And of course, every layer has cheese.

And even though we didn’t change the recipe that much from the version with beans, I decided to make this a separate post to avoid confusion. I promise this recipe will be a hit with Mexican food fans, especially if they’re watching their carbs!

Why I love Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce for this Mexican Casserole:

I’m a long-time fan of Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce (affiliate link) which is a delicious canned green enchilada sauce that’s gluten-free. Even though the ingredient list has tiny amounts of sugar and cornstarch, the sauce adds only 3.5 carbs per serving to this recipe. And this sauce is so flavorful and convenient to use that for me’s a product worth using. If you find other canned Green Chile Enchilada Sauce that’s also low in sugar, by all means use whatever sauce you prefer!

Want more low-carb Mexican Food?

Check out 22 Keto Mexican Food Dinners for more tasty Mexican dishes that are low in carbs!

Steps for making the Layered Mexican Casserole with Chicken:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Preheat oven to 375 F/190C. Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray.
2. Take frozen cauliflower rice out of the freezer.
3. Put Green Chile Enchilada Sauce  in a small saucepan and simmer until it’s reduced to one cup.
4. Dice onion and green bell pepper and slice green onions, and cut chicken into small dice. 
5. Heat olive oil in a big frying pan, add onion and green pepper and cook until they’re starting to brown. Add ground cumin and cook a few minutes more.
6. Add frozen cauliflower rice and cook over high heat until rice is hot and some steam has evaporated, about 4 minutes.
7. When Green Chile Enchilada Sauce is reduced to one cup, put it in a medium-sized bowl and stir in diced green chiles. Taste to see if you want some Green Tabasco Sauce.)
8. When the mixture is still warm but not hot, stir in the sour cream, diced chiles, and green onions.
9. Make a layer in the casserole dish with half the cauliflower rice mixture.
10. Add half the chicken/sour cream mixture by spoonfuls, and spread it over the cauliflower rice.
11. Add half the grated cheese over the chicken mixture.
12. Make another layer each of cauliflower rice mixture, chicken mixture, and grated cheese.
13. Bake uncovered about 30-35 minutes. 
14. Let stand 5-10 minutes before cutting, and serve!

Make it a Low-Carb Meal:

I’d love this Mexican Casserole with Chicken served with Spicy Mexican Slaw with Lime and Cilantro or Spicy Lime Coleslaw for a low-carb meal!

More Mexican Chicken Casseroles with Green Chile Flavors:

• Green Chile and Chicken Mock Enchilada Casserole
• Low-Carb Twice-Cooked Chicken with Green Chiles and Cheese
• Salsa Verde Chicken Bake

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep where you’ll find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

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Yield: 8 servings

Layered Mexican Casserole with Chicken and Cauliflower Rice

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

This tasty Layered Mexican Casserole has a layer with seasoned cauliflower rice topped with a layer of chopped chicken, sour cream, and green chile enchilada sauce. And of course there is cheese!

Ingredients

• 3 cups frozen cauliflower rice (see notes)
• one 15 oz. can Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
• 1 medium onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T ground cumin (see notes)
• one 4 oz. can diced green chiles (see notes)
• 1 T Green Tabasco Sauce (optional)
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 cups diced cooked chicken
• 1/4 cup sliced green onion
• 2 cups grated Mexican Cheese Blend

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F/190C. Spray a 9" x 12" x 3" casserole dish with non-stick spray. (You need a dish close to that size to hold this recipe.)
2. Take frozen cauliflower rice out of the freezer and let it start to thaw on the counter.
3. Put Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce (or sauce of your choice) in a small saucepan and simmer until it's reduced to one cup.
4. Dice onion and green bell pepper and slice green onions.
5. Cut chicken into small dice. (We used cooked rotisserie chicken from Costco, which made it easy.)
6. Heat olive oil in a frying pan big enough to hold the cauliflower rice, add onion and green pepper and cook until they're barely starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
7. Add ground cumin and cook a few minutes more.
8. Then add frozen cauliflower rice and cook over high heat until rice is hot and liquid has evaporated, about 4 minutes.
9. When Green Chile Enchilada Sauce has reduced to one cup, put it in a bowl that's big enough to hold the chicken, and stir in diced green chiles. (Taste to see if you want the optional Green Tabasco Sauce.)
10. When the mixture is still warm but no longer hot, stir in the sour cream, diced chiles, and green onions.
11. Make a layer in the bottom of the casserole dish with half the cauliflower rice mixture.
12. Add half the chicken/sour cream mixture by spoonfuls, and spread over the cauliflower rice.
13. Add half the grated cheese over the chicken mixture.
14. Make another layer each of cauliflower rice mixture, chicken mixture, and grated cheese.
15. Bake uncovered 30-35 minutes, or until casserole is bubbling hot and the top is nicely browned. 
16. Let stand 5-10 minutes before cutting, and serve!

Notes

We made th Layered Mexican Casserole with 3 cups cauliflower rice, but if you'd like a thicker cauliflower rice layer you can use a bit more.

If you're not a huge cumin fan, you might want a bit less cumin.

The diced green chiles are mild Anaheim chiles, not Jalapenos!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 285Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 257mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 2.4gSugar: 7gProtein: 18g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
The Green Chile Enchilada Sauce I use in this Mexican Casserole recipe does have teeny-tiny amounts of cornstarch and sugar. But those amounts are so low that this recipe is probably low enough in net carbs for most carb-conscious diets, although possibly not for strictly Keto. For the original South Beach Diet it would be recommended to use low-fat dairy products if you’re making this recipe.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Casserole Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This Layered Mexican Casserole was created in 2021 as a lower-carb version of a favorite Mexican Chicken Casserole from the past! It was updated in 2023 with more information.

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