Tex-Mex Rice & Corn Casserole with Sour Cream

 

Here's a tasty Tex-Mex inspired rice and corn side-dish that's packed with lots of flavours and textures to tickle your taste buds. 

It was a cold, miserable day with freezing rain mixed with snow. Our church services and potluck were cancelled so everyone stayed home and went on Zoom for the services but we were out of luck on the potluck, ha, ha. Fortunately, I had made several dishes to bring so we had a perfectly fine meal at home. 

One of the dishes I made was this Rice & Corn Casserole with Sour Cream. I wanted to bring it to church and get some feed back before I put it on the blog but as both Don and I really liked it I think it's a safe bet others will also. The only thing I would do differently next time is not put in as many chili peppers. It actually wasn't that hot but we have delicate tongues and like things quite mild. 

I served the casserole with Kidney Bean Roast which tasted so good together. Think of really good rice and beans. This would also make a good side-dish with tacos, burritos or quesadillas. 

This recipe comes from Apron Strings on YouTube. You may notice the original recipe calls for 4 ounces of green chili peppers but I've cut that way down. But be my guest to add more. There are a few other minor changes I made to make it vegetarian.

Printable recipe at end of post.

Rice & Corn Casserole with Sour Cream

• 1¾ cups vegetarian "chicken" or vegetable broth
• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1½ cups shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese, divided
• 2 cups canned or frozen corn kernels 
• ½ cup diced onion
• ½ cup diced sweet green pepper (or green and red)
• 1 tablespoon oil or butter
• 1-1½ tablespoons finely chopped bottled green chilies, or to taste
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, or to taste (I use a stir-in paste)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

How to make it:

Grease a 1½-2 litre baking dish and lay aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees after rice has finished cooking.

Cook rice according to package directions except use the 1¾ cups of broth in place of water. When finished cooking the rice should be slightly undercooked. 

While rice is cooking cook the onions and sweet pepper in the oil until just soft and lay aside.

When the rice is cooked let it cool a few minutes and then place in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sour cream, 1 cup of the shredded cheese, corn, cooked onion and peppers, chopped green chilies, cilantro, salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Mix well and spread in the greased baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven 25-35 minutes or until bubbling hot. 

Makes about 8 servings. 

Cook rice according to package directions except use the 1¾ cups of broth in place of water. 

When finished cooking the rice should be slightly undercooked. 

While rice is cooking cook the onions and sweet pepper in the oil until just soft and lay aside.

Chop the hot peppers as finely as you can. Be careful not to rub your face, eyes or nose if you have touched the peppers with your hands as you will be in for a rather stinging experience. You can't see my hands in the picture but I wore gloves while I was chopping these peppers.

As the fresh cilantro is often unavailable in the grocery stores in my town I keep this stir-in cilantro paste on hand in the refrigerator. It's quite convenient and keeps waste to a minimum.

When the rice is cooked let it cool a few minutes and then place in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sour cream, 1 cup of the shredded cheese, corn, cooked onion and peppers, chopped green chilies, cilantro, salt, black pepper and garlic powder. 

Mix all the ingredients together until well combined.

Spread the rice mixture in the greased baking dish.

 

Smooth out the top of the rice.

 Sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup cheese. 

Bake in 350 degree oven 25-35 minutes or until bubbling hot.

This dish was supposed to go to a potluck but everything was cancelled because of the freezing rain. So we were able to have ample servings at home instead.

The casserole was so good served with Kidney Bean Roast. It was a great way to eat beans and rice.

Rice & Corn Casserole with Sour Cream just hits the spot on a cold, icy day in January.

To print click on arrow upper right side.⇩