Our chicken green chili casserole is the ultimate comfort food recipe when you need something quick and easy for your family dinner! We are combining savory green salsa, two different types of cheese, and shredded chicken to make the best green chili chicken casserole in under 30-minutes! Your dinner is about to be a whole lot of flavorful and a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
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Green Chili Chicken Casserole
I've been obsessed with whipping up easy casseroles lately, just last week I made a keto taco casserole, which was amazing! 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 chicken green chili 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.
Either way, our home has some happy boys who are enjoying healthy foods without feeling like they are missing out. And while a casserole is easily a one-pan dinner, we do tend to serve them with salads or charcuterie plates as an appetizer. You could also serve your chicken green chili casserole over a bed of cauliflower rice.
Why You'll Love This!
- Our green chili casserole with chicken needs just 5 ingredients and only 30-minutes of your time making it one of the easiest weeknight casseroles!
- Taco seasoning, green salsa, and diced green chilis combine in your chicken green chili casserole to give your chicken and cheese its robust flavor.
- If you are on a restricted health plan, or simply looking to eat a little healthier, you'll be happy to know that our chicken and green chili casserole is low-carb, keto-friendly, and gluten-free!
We love our keto chicken casseroles to help make dinner quick and easy, flavorful, and compliant with our healthy lifestyle. Be sure to try our green chicken enchilada bake, keto chicken divan, and low-carb salsa chicken the next time you need a quick, easy, and healthy dinner for your table.
Ingredient Notes
This low-carb and keto chicken green chili casserole will definitely become one you make over and over. Here's a list of ingredients you'll need:
- shredded or ground chicken - precooked or rotisserie
- keto taco seasoning - homemade or storebought
- green salsa - the chunkier the better
- diced green chili’s
- cottage cheese - use full-fat, low carb brand
- Colby jack or 3 cheese blend - sliced or shredded from a block
- optional toppings - sour cream, avocado, green onion
Diet Variations
- Our green chili chicken casserole is intended to be compliant with low-carb and keto lifestyles; however, carbs can be hidden in many places. Be sure your taco seasoning is a low-carb version (or make a sugar-free taco seasoning using our 5-minute recipe). Also, watch for added sugars in your salsa. Hidden carbs in dairy will often be found in low-fat varieties and pre-shredded cheese.
Step by Step Instructions
The key to making your chicken green chili casserole in under 30-minutes it to start with pre-cooked chicken, then combine that with the seasoning, salsa, and cottage cheese before you top it with even more cheese and bake it in the oven.
Don't have pre-cooked chicken? No worries. We have a fantastic recipe for precooked chicken right here.
Prep
Preheat oven to 375. Make sure your oven rack is in the middle of the oven.
Assemble
In a medium-sized bowl, add the taco seasoning, salsa, green chilis, and cottage cheese (drained). Mix in the precooked and shredded chicken and stir until it's all mixed and combined evenly.
Spray an 11x7 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Spoon the prepared chicken mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Top the casserole with the sliced or shredded cheese.
Bake
Bake for 20-minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
Garnish with green onions, if desired.
Serve with sour cream and salsa, optional.
Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- The key to your 30-minutes green chili chicken casserole is to start with pre-cooked chicken from the grocery store or home. Cooking 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.
- You'll want 2 lbs of raw chicken for the recipe if you're cooking the chicken first. If you're using rotisserie chicken, it'll lose about 25% of its weight and you'll want to use 1.5 lb of pre-cooked chicken.
- Be sure to drain the cottage cheese before cooking with it to prevent your chicken green chili casserole from being overly liquidy.
- 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.
- If you prefer your cheese crisp, broil after baking for 1-2 minutes.
Common Questions
Your chicken green chili casserole is a complete meal by itself, but feel free to serve it over cauliflower rice, along with a side salad, or with a charcuterie plate as an appetizer
Story any leftover chili chicken casserole in the fridge in a covered container. You can store leftovers for 4-5 days.
We do not recommend freezing green chili chicken casserole due to the dairy. Dairy does not defrost well.
More Chicken Casserole Recipes
Looking for more chicken casserole recipes?
Come connect with us on Instagram! Be sure to tag us (wholelotta.yum) when you make a recipe. You can also find us on Facebook, and Pinterest.
Chicken Green Chili Casserole
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 chicken casserole too.
Ingredients
- 2 lb shredded chicken, cooked
- 3 T taco seasoning
- ¾ cup chili Verde salsa
- 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
- Preheat oven to 375.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix the taco seasoning, salsa, green chilis and cottage cheese.
- Mix in the shredded chicken and blend well.
- Spray your baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Spoon mixture into an 11x7 baking dish.
- Top the casserole with the sliced or shredded cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
- Garnish with green onions, if desired.
- 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 pre-cooked chicken, you may need to cook the casserole a little longer.
Be sure to drain the cottage cheese or it'll make your casserole runny!!
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 1Amount Per Serving Calories 399Total Fat 20gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 125mgSodium 859mgCarbohydrates 6gFiber 1gSugar 0gProtein 44g
Kathy Moen says
Made this tonight and it was a hit! My husband even liked it because it was like my chicken tortilla casserole but this was Keto friendly. This is now added to our regular menu items.??
Nikki says
Just made this recipe tonight. Super easy to make and had a great flavor. I’ll be eating on this for days. Thanks !
Debbie says
As far as spicy, would you consider this recipe spicy? I have some fussy eaters when it comes to spicy, they can handle mild but nothing more.
WholeLottaYum says
No, it's not spicy and is pretty mild
Brandy says
I made this and the flavor is great but mine turned out runny idk if that’s what it’s suppose to be.
WholeLottaYum says
Draining the cottage cheese should keep the casserole from getting runny.
BeckyB says
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.
WholeLottaYum says
Glad you enjoyed this! Clever to cook the chicken seasoned with your pressure cooker! 🙂
Kellie says
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!!
Laurie says
I've made this a few times and loved it! The only thing I did was use my immersion blender to mash the cottage cheese so it had a smooth consistency.
Alisha Ross says
I always not only drain my meat, but rinse it with hot water. This will get all of the grease off. Then I leave it sitting in the collander over couple of paper towels for a few minutes to get as much water off as it can. Then I will bag or freeze it.
And we always do salt, pepper, and garlic in all of our ground beef recipes.
Alexa says
What brand of green salsa do you use?
WholeLottaYum says
Trader Joes
Diane says
Super easy and loaded with flavor. Used a medium spiced salsa verde for a slight kick! Added green onions, cilantro,and chopped tomatoes to the top. Finished with a dollop of sour cream. Was a hit with hubby says he will take leftovers to work for lunch (he’s not a fan of left overs!) and wants the dish again. He couldn’t taste cottage cheese, which he hates!
Dani says
Husband and baby (1) approved! I just made this and it is delicious! I added a few mushrooms just because we love mushrooms but I second the comments above about the cottage cheese. Don’t let that one ingredient scare you away! It’s so good! Thank you for this recipe!
Sue says
My husband loved this recipe! After trying it , he told me to make sure I keep this recipe. I have been trying different keto recipes some turned out good and others bad but this one was definitely a winner with him.
Heather says
I am making this tonight and I am going to try it with ground chicken. Do I use 2lbs ground chicken?
WholeLottaYum says
Yep!
Jana Owens says
Made this tonight for my husband and we LOVED it. Followed the recipe exactly as written and it turned out perfect. We are both having for lunch tomorrow. Thank you for sharing and I will follow you for more delicious Keto recipes.
Jo-anne says
I made this tonight....I read the recipe wrong and only added two cups of chicken not two pounds it was very runny. I am going to try and add some chicken to it and reheat.