by: Andi Gleeson // updated: February 3, 2016 // 30 Comments

5-Ingredient Southwest Chicken Rice Bowls

Name: 5-Ingredient Southwest Chicken Rice Bowls
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 40 min
Ingredients: 24 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts; 16 oz. jar green salsa; 15 oz. can low-sodium black beans (rinsed and drained); 15 oz. can low-sodium whole kernel corn (drained); 4 c. cooked white or brown rice ((Prepare rice while cooking chicken.))

These tasty Southwest Chicken Rice Bowls couldn’t be much easier to make, and the rice is included in the five ingredients!

The dinner I’m about to show you was a huge victory in our house because every single person liked it. Now, when I say “every single person,” I’m mainly talking about the short people in the family because they are the picky ones, especially our 7-year-old. The night before serving these rice bowls, I had prepared a very plain, boring dinner for my boys as usual, including cheese tortellini tossed with butter. On his second helping of pasta, my oldest said, “This pasta is sort of… plain.”

I was actually excited to hear those words and told him that it meant he was tired of eating like a toddler and needed to try more complex foods. I planned right then to make a dinner we could all eat the next night instead of the boys having their own plain meal. I wanted it to be flavorful but not too adventurous since it takes baby steps to move up from plain pasta, baby carrots, and sliced fruit.

What I came up with was these super easy chicken rice bowls. I have seen similar chicken recipes floating around for the slow cooker, but I personally think boneless, skinless chicken breasts often gets way overcooked in the crockpot. I knew I could make something just as quick and easy on the stovetop. I opted to leave tomatoes out of this recipe since the 7-year-old in question isn’t a fan, but you could definitely add drained Rotel or petite diced tomatoes if it suits your fancy!

So anyway, I make this chicken and put it on the table, sort of dreading the typical comments like “Ew, what’s that?” that I usually hear when trying to feed the kids real food. To my very pleasant surprise, instead I heard, “That looks really good!” Not only did The Tall One say it looked good, he ate it up gushing several times about how much he liked it. He even ate the leftovers in his lunch the next day! (I’m not saying much about The Short One because he doesn’t eat much at dinner under any circumstances, but he did eat a few bites without complaint.) The grownups loved it too, so this dish will definitely be a repeat guest at our house!

5-Ingredient Southwest Chicken Rice Bowls

These chicken rice bowls are very easy to make and a dish the whole family can agree on!

Prep Time

5 minutes

Cook Time

40 minutes

Servings

Ingredients

24 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
16 oz. jar green salsa
15 oz. can low-sodium black beans rinsed and drained
15 oz. can low-sodium whole kernel corn drained
4 c. cooked white or brown rice (Prepare rice while cooking chicken.)