It was the last day of winter break. Jack had been home for 3 days and I hadn’t gotten anything done. I needed to work. I needed to get new content up on the blog. I needed to photograph a new recipe. I needed to respond to comments. We’d had something going on every day that kept me from working. I was way behind.
“But, Daddy,” he said. “When are you going to be done?”
“Daddy, can you please play with me?” I don’t have time, I thought.
And then it hit me. I don’t have time.
All too soon, he won’t be asking me to play. He’ll be going out with his friends.
He won’t be asking me to watch him ride his bike. He’ll be driving to an after school job.
He won’t be asking me to snuggle. He’ll be too grown for that.
I was right, I don’t have time. I don’t have much time… much time left with him being little. So I blew of work, again. And didn’t regret it a second. We played. We cooked lunch together. We snuggled. We played some more.
It reminded me of times when I was little and my mom would spend the entire day playing Nintendo with me. We would scrounge up change to go buy McDonald’s hamburgers. Those were amazing memories. He needs memories like that.
The truth is, I have the rest of my life to work. But my days with him are painfully numbered. Some days you just have to play. So I did. We did. I’m so excited to share this amazingly simple recipe with y’all today. It is one of my favorites and it honestly couldn’t be much easier. You really just dump it all in a casserole dish, cover it with foil and bake. And the flavor is amazing! Like, seriously.
I can’t wait for you to try it. The flavors of the yellow rice combined with the salsa are just perfect. And since it’s all in one dish, prep is super easy, and clean-up is a cinch. I just know y’all will love it.
Recipe Card
Cheesy Salsa Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 3 large boneless (skinless chicken breasts (about 2 1/4 lbs))
- 1 (10-ounce) package yellow rice mix
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt
- pepper
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F and lightly spray a 13×9-inhch baking dish with nonstick spray.
- Place the chicken breast in the dish and pour the rice mix around them. Pour the water over the rice. Season the chicken with the garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Pour the salsa over the chicken.
- Tightly wrap the baking dish with foil and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the chicken juices run clear (about 165°F when tested with a meat thermometer).
- Remove from the oven and remove the foil. Top with the cheese and return to the warm oven just long enough to melt the cheese.
Notes
* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
Maryland Roberson
Can i use regular rice?
I’m not sure regular rice would give you enough flavor in this case.
Cindy Chambers
I meant rice lol
Cindy Chambers
This looks delicious and I want to make it for dinner tonight. However, I only have a 16 oz pkg of Mahatma Yellow Rice. Could you advise me on how much water I would need for this amount of water? Thanks…
I can’t say for sure, but I would guess about 3 cups. Hope it turns out great for you!
Cindy Chambers
Thanks…it worked perfectly.
Tim Martin
Look forward to trying this recipe. Loved the story that started it off!
Thanks, Tim! Hope you’ll enjoy it!
Karen Gregory
I love yellow rice and thought this would be an awesome idea. After making this dish per directions I keep having the same problem! I bake the dish, tightly wrapped, for 1 hour at 400 degrees. I check after 1 hour and all the water is still there! One more time and I will try venting this time.
Is the rice cooked through at that point?
Josie
Can you make it with basmati rice? I’ve never seen yellow rice.
Yes, but it will completely change the flavor. Yellow rice is usually found by the other rice in a gold or yellow package. https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=yellow%20rice
Mike Dondlinger
I’m a type of guy that goes for flavor over heat. The flavor was outstanding. The yellow rice put it over the top for me. Plus it was sooo easy. Always a fan of one dish meals.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, Mike!
Lea Ward
I made this yesterday!! Absolutely loved it as did my family. Thanks!!
SO glad y’all enjoyed it!
mary
I just made this tonight. WOW!! The rice is amazing. So creamy.. Chicken is not bad either. I would say use a good salsa. I don’t care for salsas like Pace but use what you like. If you live in Texas and have an HEB grocery store, buy Salt Lick Salsa. Their medium is excellent, but the hot is made with habaneros. I also sprinkled some of the cheese over the rice.
Thank you for the recipe. My husband, grown daughter and myself really enjoyed this dish. Not to mention it is so easy to make.
Love hearing that, Mary! Glad y’all enjoyed it!
Sara Beth
I tried this recipe last night for dinner and my husband and I both LOVED it! Super easy to put together, and the chicken was perfectly cooked. Love yellow rice too! 🙂
Awesome! So glad to hear y’all enjoyed it, Sara Beth!!
Nikki@SoulfullyMade
This looks like something my family would love! I will be giving it a try soon!
I sure hope you’ll love it!
Json Converter
Thank you so much for your delicious recipes! It’s very usefull!
Winnie Mom
Enjoy your time making memories with your son. This recipe sounds awesome. My better half loves yellow rice so this will be a nice change. I always have chicken broth on hand so would probably swap out the water for broth. Will try this soon as I have everything on hand. Might even try the crock pot for this.
Sounds like a great idea! I’m a huge yellow rice fan too! Hope y’all enjoy!
margo
You may an extremely wise choice, my two oldest have on memories of their dad never having time for them (or me) when I finally divorced him after 15 years, it was amazing how much time he finally found for his children
Thanks, Margo!
Ren
Too true!
Grow up quickly!
Yes they do!
~Dr. Sous~
Okay got silly there for a moment lol!
but they Do grow up so fast!
!Glad y’all enjoyed an awesome time!
The recipe sounds yummy!
Thank you!
Ha! But it’s so true! 🙂
Sharon
Thank you so much for your delicious recipes!
I can not wait to make this! Thank you again!
I love your site!
Thanks, Sharon! I really appreciate your kind words!
Vicky
This looks delicious! I’m gonna buy some yellow rice and try it!
I also wanted to say that you are so very right, them babies grow up way too quick! Enjoy them while they still want to be around you 🙂
That they do! Enjoy, Vicky!
Tina Mayo
Today is my son’s 17th birthday. We hardly play together anymore, but every once in while we spend time together, just me and him.
Like today.
Last week he reminded me that his birthday was coming up. (Like I need to be reminded!) Then he asked if I could take the day off work and spend it with him. What mother could say “no” to that?! So today we’re going to his favorite restaurant, then we’ll mosey on over to the local Asian Market and buy stuff to make Curry Rice for supper tonight. Life is good!
Sounds like the best birthday ever! Tell him we all said Happy Birthday!
Barbara Miller
I’m gonna try this in my 12 x 9 crockpot with chicken tenders.
Great idea! Let us know how it turns out!