15-Minute Salsa Verde Chicken, Rice, and Beans — Fast, EASY, one skillet recipe!! Between the salsa verde, lime juice, and cilantro mixed with juicy chicken, rice, and beans, you’ll be hooked! Perfect for busy weeknights and meal prepping!!
Salsa Verde Chicken, Rice, and Beans
There’s nothing better than an authentic-tasting Mexican meal made in one skillet that’s ready in 15 minutes. Hello busy weeknights, here’s looking at you! This green salsa chicken skillet also a healthy recipe you can feel good about enjoying and serving.
The salsa verde is so fresh tasting while the rice and beans add a comfort food touch. The truth is that I made this recipe ages ago, and I’ve made many more iterations that I’ll be sharing, but I keep coming back to this one as my favorite!
The fresh lime juice and cilantro really give this recipe the finishing pop of bold flavor that will keep you going back for more.
Ingredients In Skillet Salsa Verde Chicken
This is such an incredibly flavorful chicken, black beans, and rice skillet that will have your family going back for seconds!
To make the recipe, you’ll need:
- Olive oil
- Vidalia onion
- Boneless skinless chicken breast
- Garlic
- Cumin
- Mexican oregano (regular oregano may be substituted)
- Salsa verde
- Rice
- Black beans
- Lime juice, or to taste
- Fresh cilantro
- Salt and pepper, optional and to taste
How to Make the Salsa Verde Chicken Skillet
Simply sauté an onion with boneless skinless chicken breast pieces before adding garlic, cumin, Mexican oregano, and plenty of salsa verde. (I used two 12-ounce jars of Trader Joe’s salsa verde but you can use your favorite.)
To the skillet, next add cooked rice, a can of black beans, lime juice, cilantro, salt and pepper if desired, and get ready to dig in!
Recipe Variations to Try
This is a very flexible recipe and in keeping with the Mexican-themed flavor profile, I suggest:
- Garnishing with avocado
- Adding green onions into the skillet or garnishing with them
- Sautéing green bell peppers with the onion before adding the chicken
- To sneak in extra veggies add jicama or zucchini
- If they’re available in your area sautéed chayote (squash) or nopales (cactus leaves) would add wonderful texture and crunch
What Type of Rice Should I Use?
To save time, I used two packets of Uncle Ben’s Long Grain Rice in the Black Beans and Lime Cilantro flavor.
My dish came out extra black beany because the Uncle Ben’s has a generous portion of black beans included in the rice. If you’re not as into black beans, use a variety without beans, or use your favorite type of cooked rice that you make from scratch.
Can This Recipe Be Made in Advance?
Yes! This is a great recipe for meal prepping because it makes six hearty portions that keep well in the fridge or freezer. Dinner or lunch is as easy as reheating in the microwave.
It’s always nice to have a stockpile of containers in my fridge and freezer for those days when cooking something for my ‘starving’ teenager at the drop of a hat isn’t always possible.
What to Serve with Salsa Verde Chicken
This green salsa chicken, rice, and black beans is a meal in itself. However, if you want to stretch the recipe even further, try serving it with one or more of the following Mexican-inspired sides:
- Baked Corn Tortilla Chips
- Pina Colada Fruit Salad
- Mexican Wedge Salad
- Grilled Mexican Corn (Elote)
- Creamy Mexican Corn and Zucchini Salad
- Blueberry Corn Salsa
And if you’re of age, make sure to wash everything down with homemade margaritas!
Tips for Making Chicken, Black Beans & Rice
I don’t find the Trader Joe’s salsa verde I used to be spicy so the dish doesn’t read spicy at all, but it’s packed with flavor galore.
If you want to make your own salsa verde, I would use the blender portion of the recipe that I begin my Vegan Pozole Verde with. It includes tomatillos, poblanos, jalapeños, and white onion. Add a splash of vegetable or chicken stock to thin it out to salsa consistency.
If you want more heat and a spicier dish, add jalapeno — keep the seeds if you want even more heat.
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15-Minute Salsa Verde Chicken, Rice, and Beans
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large sweet Vidalia onion, diced small
- 1 to 1.25 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite-sized pieces
- 4 to 5 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, regular oregano may be substituted
- 24 ounces salsa verde, I used Trader Joe's; see my Vegan Pozole recipe and make the blender portion to make your own
- two 8.5-ounce pounces, 4 cups ready rice, cooked according to package directions*
- one 15.5-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed (I used no-salt added)
- 2 tablespoons lime juice, or to taste
- 2 to 4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely minced; or to taste
- salt and pepper, optional and to taste
Instructions
- To a large skillet, add the olive oil, onion, and saute over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes, or until onion is beginning to soften.
- Add the chicken and cook until done, about 5 minutes. Stir and flip frequently to ensure even cooking
- Add the garlic, evenly sprinkle the cumin, Mexican oregano, and cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant; stir nearly continuously.
- Add the salsa verde, rice, black beans, and stir to combine.
- Add the lime juice, cilantro, optional salt and pepper, stir to combine, and taste. If necessary, add additional salt, pepper, cumin, lime juice, etc.as desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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great
If I don’t want to use the “convenience” rice, would I want to add pre-cooked rice to the menu or what would you suggest?
Yes I would use pre-cooked rice and add that. Don’t try to cook the rice in the same skillet; there isn’t enough liquid and you’d have to do a lot of other calculations and experiments to figure out how much to use/add.
We didn’t care for this one. It was edible, but nothing special. Not a keeper.
We didn’t care for this one. It was edible, but nothing special. Not a keeper.
I love chicken and rice. This looks tasty.
I had never heard of chayote squash until I was on a low carb diet. My neighbor was also doing Keto. She made “apple” muffins using this squash. It taste just like apple in the muffin. It was delicious. This is the only blog that is not a Keto blog I have seen this mentioned that could be added.
Thanks for all the hard work.
It’s only because I spend a significant amount of time in Mexico and dine traditionally (not Americanized Mexican restaurants) and this is occasionally served but even in Mexico is not all that ‘common’. I love it and I could totally see how it could replace apples in a baked recipe. Very interesting, may need to try that!