Cheesy Mexican Chicken Casserole

This Cheesy Mexican Chicken Casserole is a healthy high protein meal with only 7 ingredients. It also comes together in just 30 minutes!

This month’s Recipe Redux theme was to create a healthy recipe with 7 ingredients or less.* This was a simple task for me since I LOVE creating simple and nutritious recipes that don’t require hours in the kitchen.

Especially now that it’s Spring I love to be doing other things besides hanging out in the kitchen. Spring is when we pretend it’s warm here in Michigan and not below freezing still.

Today, I’m bring you a Mexican-themed meal again.

Honestly, I created this meal because I needed to use up some shredded chicken I had made. But I didn’t have a recipe idea in mind.

My new favorite way to cook chicken is to throw about a pound of chicken breasts (or chicken tenderloins/thighs) in the slow cooker. I add about 1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth to it and cook on high for about 4 hours.

Once cooked, I remove the chicken and shred it with 2 forks.

This way you have a few hours to decide what you’d like to do with the chicken. If you’re like me I don’t always know what I’d like to eat for dinner at 8 a.m. when I’m starting the slow cooker.

Regardless of how you cook or prep the chicken, once you have it cooked you just need to add four ingredients to it. Then add cheese and bake it for about 20 minutes.

I’ve made this dish twice in the last two weeks because it was so simple and delicious. This says a lot, especially when my Mexican food-loving husband gives it two-thumbs up.

I originally made it with 4 ounces of Neufchatel cheese (1/3 less fat than cream cheese) but ran out the second time. SO this time I substituted the Neufchatel cheese with plain Greek yogurt.

And the best part…no one even noticed!

The second time I made this dish I also added an entire 15-ounce can of black beans to up the fiber a bit. Feel free to add or remove any ingredients to your liking.

Dietitian’s Dish

This meal is high in protein (about 30 grams per serving) not only from the chicken but also from the black beans, cheese and Greek yogurt.

This dish also contains a good amount of fiber from the black beans (25 grams) and salsa (4 grams).

Protein and fiber are excellent for helping you feel satisfied while consuming healthy nutrients.

Protein also helps maintain muscle mass while fiber helps you stay regular.

Now if you ask me, this is quite the nutritious combo!

*Recipe Redux is no longer active, however, you can still view tons of amazing recipes in the archives.

This Cheesy Mexican Chicken Casserole post first appeared on Chocolate Slopes.

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