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Easy Chicken Green Chili Casserole

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Chili Verde Chicken Casserole

A healthy low carb and keto green chili casserole makes the ultimate comfort food dinner recipe when you need something quick and easy.

The combination of a savory chili Verde sauce, three kinds of cheese and shredded chicken make for the best chili Verde casserole you will absolutely love.

green chili casserole

I’ve been obsessed with whipping up low carb casseroles lately, just last week I made a keto taco casserole that was ammmazing! And now this week I used the same process and turned it into a green chili casserole with chicken. 

If you’re wondering which one tastes better, I’m going to call it a tie! My son devoured the chili Verde casserole and declared it the winner. I’m always in love with anything that has green chilis and white cheese and could it that combo constantly. My husband preferred the keto taco casserole just “slightly” better but said both recipes were winners. 

 

What’s in Green Chili Casserole

This low carb and keto casserole will definitely become one you make over and over. Here’s a list of ingredients you’ll need:

  • 2 lb shredded or ground chicken, cooked
  • 3 T taco seasoning (homemade no sugar option below)
  • 3/4 cup green salsa
  • 1 4 oz can diced green chili’s
  • 16 oz cottage cheese (use full-fat low carb brand)
  • 5 oz Colby jack or 3 cheese blend (shredded or sliced)
  • Sour cream (optional)

Chicken Keto Casserole Tips

Whether you’re following a low carb or keto diet or not, you’re going to love this keto chicken casserole. I can almost guarantee you’ll make it often once you see how simple it is.

You’ll need to start with pre-cooked chicken from the grocery store or pre-cook your chicken at home. Cooking ground chicken on the stovetop would be the fastest method, I actually used an instant pot to make shredded chicken from frozen for this recipe. 

Instant pot chicken takes about the same time as roasting chicken to use for shredding (if you’re starting with frozen chicken like I did), but what I love about the instant pot is I can put it in and walk away, plus it doesn’t heat up my kitchen as the stovetop and oven do.

frozen chicken in instant pot

Do you want to know a secret about shredding 2 pounds of chicken in ONLY 20 seconds? 

shred chicken with kitchenaid

Use a stand mixer! You, of course, can also use a hand mixer if you don’t have something like a Kitchen-aid. But either type of mixer is a game changer when it comes to shredding chicken. No more awkward and tiring fork shredding!

One additional note, if you’re making this a keto chicken casserole, make sure to use full-fat cottage cheese and also sugar-free taco seasoning.

Easy Sugar-Free Taco Seasoning

Here’s the quick and simple recipe for no sugar and no artificial ingredients taco seasoning we often use instead of packaged varieties. 

2 tbsp chili powder

3 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp salt

This WILL give you a little more than you need for this keto chicken recipe, but it’ll keep in an air tight jar for months for later use. So easy to double and triple the recipe!

Chili Verde Casserole

green chili casserole

This chili verde casserole is so simple to make and is definitely kid friendly too, it has tons of flavor but isn’t spicy. If you’re a spice lover like my hubby and son, feel free to add a spicier salsa, add in canned jalapenos, or add hot sauce after it comes out of the oven.

Once you have your chicken cooked and shredded, the next step to make this amazing yet so simple keto casserole is to dump all other ingredients in a bowl and mix them together (other than the chicken and the cheese).

This means you’re adding the taco seasoning, green salsa, drained green chilis, and cottage cheese to the bowl. If you were surprised to see cottage cheese on the ingredient list instead of something like sour cream, it’s because cottage cheese holds its shape and adds a sweeter flavor to the dish. 

If we’d used sour cream this would’ve turned into something more like a hearty hot dip, which still sounds great! But we wanted a low carb casserole that was substantial enough for dinner. Cottage cheese is also our substitute for ricotta when we make lasagne.

Stir until combined.

A little note about the salsa, a chunkier salsa works best but a runnier salsa still works great. We’ve now had it both ways with two different kinds of chili verde salsa and the runnier salsa left a little liquid in the bottom of the casserole dish after it cooled. But truly, it wasn’t a big deal but we just wanted to make you aware.

healthy chili verde

In theory, you could technically add the chicken at the same time, but I do it separately since it’s important to make sure the sauce blends evenly.

The next step is to add the chicken and combine the ingredients well by hand.

Spray the pan with a nonstick cooking spray and add the chili Verde casserole mix into the baking pan.

The pan size I used is 1.5 quart, which is equivalent to a 7″x11″ baking dish. You could also use a round casserole but then you won’t have as much surface area for your cheese, and who wants that?

Slice 5 ounces of Colby jack or spread 5 ounces of shredded Mexican or 3 blend cheese and layover the top of the chili verde casserole mix.

keto casserole recipes

Bake in a preheated 375 oven for 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Garnish with green onions, chives, or cilantro, if desired. 

keto casserole

 

Serving this with sour cream, avocados, and more salsa is delicious!! I highly recommend adding a dollop of sour cream to each serving of the low carb casserole.

Sorry, I didn’t get a photo of the casserole with toppings, my family devoured it too quickly and didn’t want to wait any longer! 😉

Dig in and enjoy!

Keto Chili verde casserole

Be sure to post your feedback below in the comments! We’d also love to see your chili Verde casserole photos by adding it to a Pinterest pin.

Other Chicken Recipes You’ll Love:

low carb casserole

 

Chili Verde Keto Chicken Casserole

Chili Verde Keto Chicken Casserole

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 7 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 27 minutes

An easy green chili casserole filled with 3 cheeses, chili verde sauce and shredded chicken. This recipe is also a gluten free, low carb and keto casserole too.

Ingredients

  • 2 lb shredded chicken, cooked
  • 3 T taco seasoning
  • 3/4 cup chili verde salsa (chunky works best)
  • 1 4 oz can of mild green chilis, drained
  • 16 oz cottage cheese
  • 5 oz sliced or shredded Colby jack or Mexican blend cheese
  • Sour cream, optional
  • Green onions, optional

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375
  2. In a medium sized bowl, mix the taco seasoning, salsa, green chilis and cottage cheese
  3. Mix in the shredded chicken and blend well
  4. Spray your baking dish with nonstick cooking spreay
  5. Spoon mixture into an 11x7 baking dish
  6. Top the casserole with the sliced or shredded cheese
  7. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
  8. Garnish with green onions, if desired
  9. Serve with sour cream and salsa, optional

Notes

We pre-cooked our chicken right before making the casserole, so the chicken was still warm, If you're starting with cold precooked chicken, you may need to cook the casserole a little longer.

Using regular cottage cheese instead of light is recommended, light cottage cheese will add more liquid to the mixture

Using a chunkier salsa instead of a runnier salsa is also recommended. A salsa with more liquid may leave a little liquid in the bottom of the casserole after cooking.

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Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 399Total Fat 20gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 125mgSodium 859mgCarbohydrates 6gFiber 1gSugar 0gProtein 44g
© WholeLottaYum
Category: Dinner
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Are you sure you meant 2-lbs of chicken and not 2 cups? It was so dry so I added 2 cups of sour cream to make it mixable. I also added more chopped green chili. It was delicious and the consistency was perfect!

    Reply

    • Hi Nancy, it was definitely 2 lb of chicken to make this 8 servings. I’m not sure why yours turned out dry? Sometimes just using a different brand can change a recipe a little (like if one brand of cottage cheese has more liquid than another, or the same with salsa). I’m glad you were able to adapt it to a way you really liked! 🙂

      Reply

    • Made it tonight. Loved it. Had no problems with it being too dry. It didn’t look like the most appetizing thing in the world but the taste was perfect! I topped mine with the sour cream like mentioned and a little chili pepper sauce.

      Reply

    • Kathy, you can use ricotta cheese in the keto taco casserole instead, or try cream cheese. The cottage cheese doesn’t taste like cottage cheese in the casserole. I’m not a fan of cold cottage cheese but use it instead of ricotta all the time for hot dishes.

      Reply

  3. Time saving tip: grocery store rotisserie chicken makes a great meal starter. I use it in almost every recipe that requires cooked chicken. Sometimes it’s also cheaper than raw chicken.

    Reply

  5. I too hate cottage cheese. Made this tonight as directed and we’re loved it. We’ve been on keto 3 weeks now and my husband said this is his favorite recipe yet. It was not dry at all. Thank you.

    Reply

    • Isn’t it funny how cottage cheese can taste totally different cooked than cold? Thank you so much for the feedback and I’m glad you loved the keto chicken casserole! It’s one of our staples 🙂

      Reply

  6. Delicious! I made it with shredded pork I had and loved it! I will definitely be having it again.🤗

    Reply

    • Hi Christy, Yes I do think it will freeze well! I’d recommend having her cook it from frozen when she goes to reheat it and to try adding 15 minutes to the baking time. Congrats to the new mommy! So exciting! Jen

      Reply

  13. Made this tonight, I hear my daughter tell my hubby ‘if we don’t like it I’ll run to Taco Bell ‘ , just went into the kitchen and it’s all gone and everybody is happy! No Taco Bell for this house tonight lol

    Reply

  15. If I wanted to add veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, or peppers would you cook it first then mix in and bake or put in the raw veggies and bake?

    Reply

    • Hi Bri!

      I would precook the vegetables in a saute pan before adding to the chicken casserole. Because of the short cook time, if you add raw veggies they might not be all the way cooked through yet. Keep me posted on how it turns out! Adding veggies sounds like a great idea 🙂 Jen

      Reply

  16. Super Yummy! Next time I will use chunky salsa and maybe a different cottage cheese as it had a little too much liquid.

    Reply

    • I’m glad you enjoyed the keto casserole, Rose! Cottage cheese brands can vary quite a bit with liquid content, another option is you can strain the liquid out of the cottage cheese.

      Reply

  17. Hello! I’m adding this to my meal plan for the week and am super excited! I try to make everything ahead of time so all I have to do is throw the pan in the oven. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a chunky green salsa, so I’m worried it will be runny. Should I wait to prepare the “sauce” the day of, or will it be fine to make a couple days ahead?

    Reply

    • Hi Michelle! Sorry for the delay, I was helping move my son out of state for college. It should be fine to prepare the keto chicken casserole a couple days in advance. You can drain some of the liquid out of the green salsa, make sure your ground beef is well drained, and you can also drain the cottage cheese. Those of the 3 ingredients that would contribute to extra liquid in the bottom of the pan. Enjoy! Jen

      Reply

    • Hi Devin, my favorite side with the keto chicken casserole would be an easy green salad with low carb veggies. Primal Kitchen makes a keto friendly bbq ranch dressing that’s tasty!

      Reply

    • Hi Chris, Yes! This should work in a crockpot also. You’ll still want to precook the chicken and in the crockpot you’re basically reheating the dish and melting the cheese. Low for 2-4 hours should be fine, I haven’t tried this in the crockpot yet so I’m not certain of the consistency. By chance it if has more liquid than preferred, you could dish the chicken casserole up with a slotted spoon.

      Reply

    • Hi Autumn, Sorry to hear the recipe didn’t turn out for you. Most likely it was due to forgetting an ingredient or the actual brands that were used in the recipe. The flavor or consistency in brands can vary greatly. Instead of throwing it out, a great idea wouldn’t been to add garnishes like sour cream, hot sauce, salsa, cilantro, avocado, etc.

      Reply

  23. Oh my goodness!! This is soooo good, I just made it tonite for the 2nd time. We love it and love the leftovers!! I was skeptical about the cottage cheese but I wouldn’t change a single thing with this recipe! Thank you for sharing!!

    Reply

    • Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed the chicken casserole, Alyson! I don’t eat cold cottage cheese yet cooked cottage cheese takes on a totally different taste!

      Reply

  24. We are making this tonight. I was super excited until I loaded everything into my recipe maker and the carb count per serving is way higher. What brands of everything do you use?

    Reply

    • Hi Randi! Automatic nutrition calculators are notoriously wrong, I always have to enter the ingredients I’m using manually to get it accurate. The counters just assume a generic brand that probably has sugar in the salsa and adds carbs for the cheese. Cottage cheese is another one that varies greatly between brands so I highly recommend reading brand labels at the store. I used Trader Joe’s full-fat cottage cheese that has 5 carbs, the TJ shredded cheese that has 0 carbs and their green salsa which has no sugar and is very low carb too. Packaged taco seasoning does have a tiny bit of sugar and it usually adds one carb, when I have time I prefer to make my own to store in a jar that has 0 carbs. I hope this helps!

      Reply

  27. I made this tonight. I was worried because my husband is a very picky eater and does not eat cottage cheese. He went back for seconds!!

    Reply

  28. OMG! LOVED THIS. made with medium verde salsa for a little heat. I took my fresh chicken poured in more like 1.5 C of the verde salsa and the taco seasoning in my pressure cooker. Shredded the chicken. Then finished the recipe as instructed. Big hit.

    Reply

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