One Pot Queso Chicken and Rice

One Pot Queso Chicken and Rice is a creamy, cheesy, family-friendly dinner that comes together in just 30 minutes! With tender chicken, fluffy rice, nacho cheese sauce, and zesty Rotel tomatoes, this easy one-pan meal is comfort food at its finest.

Love More Chicken and Rice Recipes? Try My Creamy Smothered Chicken and Rice or this Chicken and Rice Soup next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Cheesy, creamy, and packed with flavor, this One Pot Queso Chicken and Rice is a Tex-Mex inspired dinner everyone will love. Tender chicken, fluffy rice, and melted cheese simmer together in a rich queso sauce for a satisfying one-pan meal. Easy, comforting, and full of bold flavor—it’s weeknight perfection.

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Ingredient List

Main Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2 large chicken breasts)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 2¼ cups chicken broth
• 1 can (15 oz) nacho cheese sauce
• 1 can (10 oz) Rotel
• 1½ cups uncooked long-grain white rice

Optional Toppings:

• Sour cream
• Pico de gallo or chopped tomatoes
• Sliced avocado
• Whatever taco toppings you love

Friendly Notes:

• Nacho cheese sauce is in the Mexican aisle with all the salsa jars – took me forever to find it the first time because I kept looking by the regular cheese
• Rotel comes in mild, original, medium, and hot. I bounce between original and mild depending on whether my mother-in-law’s eating with us (she can’t handle any spice)
• Use regular long-grain white rice – not the instant kind, not minute rice, just regular rice
• Any cooking oil works – I’ve used olive oil, vegetable oil, whatever bottle I grab first
• Chicken tenderloins are actually easier to work with sometimes because they’re already smaller

Why These Ingredients Work

So that nacho cheese sauce is basically doing all the work here. It melts down and mixes with the chicken broth to create this incredibly creamy sauce that tastes like something you’d get at a restaurant. Every time I make this, someone asks me what my “secret ingredient” is. It’s literally canned nacho cheese. That’s the secret.

The Rotel adds some tomato-y brightness and a little bit of chile flavor without making it spicy. My kids eat this without complaining, which tells you it’s mild enough for pretty much anyone. I tried using plain diced tomatoes once and honestly, it was kind of boring. The Rotel makes a difference.

Regular rice takes time to cook, which works perfectly because it needs to sit there absorbing all that cheesy broth. I made the mistake of using instant rice once thinking I’d save time and ended up with complete mush. Never again. The chicken broth keeps everything from getting too thick and gloppy, and sprinkling those seasonings on the chicken while it cooks means you’re not eating bland, boring chicken pieces.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• Big skillet with a lid – mine’s 12 inches and it’s perfect
• Knife and cutting board
• Something to stir with (I use a wooden spoon)
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Maybe a meat thermometer if you’re worried about the chicken being done

How To Make One Pot Queso Chicken and Rice

Step 1: Prepare the Chicken

Cut up your chicken into little bite-sized pieces. I go for about an inch, sometimes smaller. Smaller pieces cook faster and nobody wants to be cutting up their dinner at the table, you know?

Step 2: Cook the Chicken

Heat up your pan with that oil over medium-high heat. When it’s good and hot, toss in the chicken and all those seasonings at once – garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper. Stir it around pretty often so nothing burns. Takes maybe 6-8 minutes for the chicken to cook through. Sometimes there’s extra liquid in the pan after the chicken cooks – just tip the pan and pour it out.

Step 3: Add Liquids

Dump in the chicken broth, the entire can of nacho cheese sauce, and that can of Rotel with all its juice. Stir it all up and let it come to a boil. Shouldn’t take long, maybe two or three minutes.

Step 4: Add Rice and Simmer

When it’s boiling, pour in the rice and stir it around so it’s all mixed in. Put the lid on, turn the heat way down to medium-low, and set a timer for 20 minutes. I know it’s tempting to keep checking on it, but every time you lift that lid, steam escapes and it messes with how the rice cooks. Just leave it alone.

Step 5: Serve

After 20-25 minutes, take the lid off and check if the rice is soft and all the liquid’s soaked up. If it is, you’re done! Scoop it into bowls and let everyone add whatever toppings they want.

You Must Know

Do not use instant rice. I’m serious about this. I know it seems like it would be faster and easier, but instant rice cooks in like five minutes. This recipe needs rice that takes 20-25 minutes because that’s how long everything needs to simmer together. Use instant rice and you’ll end up with gross, mushy slop. Just buy regular rice and save yourself the disappointment.

Personal Secret: I cut my chicken into pieces that seem way too small at first. Like I’ll look at them and think “these are tiny,” but then they cook so evenly and stay juicy. Big chunks always end up dry or unevenly cooked. Go smaller than feels right.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

• Pan size really matters. Too small and it’ll overflow everywhere. Too big and everything spreads out too thin and doesn’t cook right. A 12-inch skillet with sides that come up a few inches is what you want.
• Pour off that chicken liquid. Sometimes chicken releases a ton of water while it cooks. If you see it pooling in the pan, drain it before adding the other stuff. Extra liquid throws off the whole rice-to-liquid ratio.
• If you’re using tenderloins, pull out those weird white stringy bits first. They’re chewy and gross.
• Rice still crunchy after 25 minutes? Add a quarter cup more broth, stick the lid back on, and give it five more minutes.

Flavor Variations / Suggestions

• Make it spicier: Get the hot Rotel or throw in some diced jalapeños when you’re cooking the chicken
• Add beans and corn: A can of black beans (drained) and half a cup of frozen corn turns this into more of a Southwest bowl situation
• Sneak in vegetables: Bell peppers work great, just dice them up and add them with the chicken. Or stir in a handful of spinach at the very end
• Use chicken thighs instead: They’re juicier than breasts and some people like the flavor better
• Even more cheese: Stir in some shredded cheese at the end because honestly, why not

Make-Ahead Options

This really needs to be made fresh, but you can prep some stuff ahead:

• Cut the chicken the day before and keep it in the fridge in a container
• Mix your seasonings together in a little bowl so you can just dump them in when you’re cooking
• Leftovers are actually great – they reheat really well and sometimes taste even better the next day once the flavors have hung out together

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

• The nacho cheese sauce lives in the Mexican food aisle near the jarred salsa. First time I looked for it, I spent ten minutes in the cheese section like an idiot before finally asking someone.
• Any brand of diced tomatoes with green chiles works if you can’t find Rotel specifically.
• This makes kind of a lot of sauce, which I love. If you want it even saucier and cheesier, add another half can of nacho cheese.
• The rice keeps absorbing liquid even after you turn off the heat, so if you’re eating leftovers the next day, it’ll be thicker. Just add a splash of broth when you reheat it and it’s fine.

Serving Suggestions

Honestly this is a complete meal all on its own, but here’s what I do:

• Make a quick salad – something with lime in the dressing is really good with all that cheese
• Put out tortilla chips – everyone likes having chips to scoop up extra bites
• Mexican street corn on the side – the sweet corn against the savory cheese is really good
• Don’t skip the toppings – that’s what takes this from “pretty good” to “why haven’t we eaten this every week?”
• For drinks – beer or margaritas for adults, limeade for kids

How to Store Your One Pot Queso Chicken and Rice

Refrigerator: Put leftovers in whatever container you’ve got with a lid and stick it in the fridge. It’ll keep for 3-4 days. The rice soaks up more sauce as it sits, so it won’t be as saucy the next day.

Reheating: I just microwave individual bowls for a minute or two, stir it halfway through. If it looks too thick or dry, add a little chicken broth or even just water to loosen it up. You can also reheat it in a pan on the stove if you want – just use medium-low heat and stir it every once in a while, add a splash of liquid.

Freezer: You can freeze this for a couple months if you want, but I’ll be real with you – rice gets kind of weird sometimes after freezing and thawing. The texture’s never quite the same. If you do freeze it, let it thaw in the fridge overnight and then reheat with some extra broth to try to bring back the creaminess.

Allergy Information

Contains:

• Dairy (from the nacho cheese sauce and sour cream if you use it)
• Might have gluten (you’d need to check the labels on your nacho cheese sauce and Rotel)

Substitution Ideas:

• Dairy-free: Use dairy-free queso instead of regular nacho cheese sauce, skip the sour cream or use a dairy-free version
• Gluten-free: Should be fine as long as you check the labels – most nacho cheese sauce and Rotel don’t have gluten but some brands might
• Lower sodium: Get low-sodium chicken broth and either use less salt or skip it completely

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

Can I use brown rice instead of white rice?

Not for this recipe, no. Brown rice takes like 45-50 minutes to cook, so your chicken would be sitting in there getting dry and overcooked while you wait for the rice to be done. Just use regular white rice.

My rice turned out mushy – what happened?

You probably accidentally used instant rice or minute rice. That stuff cooks super fast, way faster than this recipe needs. Make sure you’re using regular long-grain white rice that takes 20-25 minutes to cook. Also if you kept lifting the lid to check on things, that can mess it up too.

Is this spicy?

Barely at all. The original or mild Rotel has like the tiniest little kick but my six-year-old eats it fine. If you actually want it spicy, get the hot Rotel or add jalapeños. If you want zero spice whatsoever, just use regular canned diced tomatoes instead.

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