One pot vegetarian chilli and rice bake
Vegetarian chilli and rice is one of my favourite dinners. It’s hearty and filling, but can also feel summery if you lighten it up with a nice big salad. It’s sooo delicious – I think I could eat Mexican food every single day without getting bored. And it’s actually pretty healthy too, with lots of veggies and protein-rich beans (just don’t think too hard about all that cheese and sour cream you stick on top…).
To make my old favourite even easier to prepare, I thought I’d make an oven-baked version. This vegetarian chilli and rice bake is all done in one big baking dish, and the rice is cooked right in with the chilli – no pre-cooking required! Just mix together the raw ingredients, and bake. Bish bash bosh.
This recipe is a great pantry dish, too. You know those days when you haven’t been shopping in a week, and the fridge is nearly bare? Or when you’ve just got back from holiday, and haven’t managed to make it down to the shops yet? This vegetarian chilli and rice bake is perfect.
You don’t need a well-stocked fridge, just a few basic vegetables (and to be honest, you could easily just chuck in some frozen veg instead if you needed to), and pretty much everything else can come straight from the kitchen cupboard. Tins of beans, sweetcorn, chopped tomatoes, rice – chuck it all in, and give it a good stir. Feel free to adjust the spices depending on what you have in the cupboard and how hot you like your chilli!
Of course, no chilli is complete without a good handful of cheese on top. And what’s the only thing better than melty cheese? Crispy cheese! You can cook your chilli and rice bake for as long as you need to get your cheese just as crispy as you like it.
This vegetarian chilli and rice bake is a meal all in one, but if you’re feeling a bit fancy, some garnish and a few tasty bits on the side are always welcome. Fresh coriander (cilantro), some slices of avocado or some guacamole, a big dollop of sour cream… all perfect for bringing Mexican food to life!
The recipe serve 6, so my husband and I will be eating this for the next couple of nights… but I can’t say I mind one bit.
One pot vegetarian chilli and rice bake
Ingredients
- 400 g tin black beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 400 g tin kidney beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 200 g tin sweetcorn, drained (160g, or ~ 1 cup, when drained)
- 1 bell pepper, diced (I used red)
- 5 medium mushrooms, diced fairly small
- 3 spring onions, sliced
- 150 g (~ 2/3 cup) uncooked long-grain white rice
- 400 g tinned tomatoes (~ 1 1/3 cups)
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp cayenne chilli pepper
- Generous pinch black pepper
- 150 ml (generous 1/2 cup) vegetable stock
- 100 g cheddar cheese, grated (~ 1 cup when grated)
- To serve: fresh coriander (cilantro), avocado, salad, sour cream, etc. (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
- Add the first 13 ingredients (black beans through vegetable stock) to a large baking dish, and mix thoroughly. Remember the rice will expand as it cooks, so make sure the mixture doesn't completely fill the dish at this stage.
- Cover the dish with foil, and bake for around an hour, or until the rice is almost entirely cooked.
- Remove the foil, and add the grated cheese. Bake again for a further 15 minutes, or until the cheese has crisped up to your liking. Serve with fresh coriander (cilantro), and your choice of extras (avocado, sour cream, etc.).
Notes
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/6 of the recipe, not including any garnish or extras.
Love vegetarian Tex-Mex recipes? Here are 40+ more to choose from!
I have a request and I’m sure it is a frustration for others too. Could you please, include the exact baking dish size you use in your recipes. Size of dish makes all the difference in how well a baked recipe turns out. So please start to put baking dish size in your recipes. Preferably in inches, but centimeters would work too or if using a loaf or round casserole baking dish specify quart or litre size. Other than that frustration, I enjoy many of your vegan recipes or your other recipes I veganize.
Apologies, this one measures around 11 x 9 inches. The vast majority of my recipes do contain the dish size, I just obviously forgot this time – there’s an awful lot to remember when writing a blog post ;)
I made this recipe tonight and absolutely loved it, thank you! I’ve been working my way through your recipes for the last couple of months and love everything, your recipes are a guaranteed winner in my house :-)
Thanks so much Tara, you’ve made my day :)
As some other comments mentioned I will also scale up the spice a little bot next time, and there will most assuredly be a next time because this is genious! So incredibly easy and the perfect rice-to-sauce-to-veggie ratio! And of course the cheese on the top, just making it perfect :) thank you for the recipe!
Thanks Marubi! I always figure it’s better to make my recipes a little less spicy so people can add more if they want to – better than making them too spicy so they have to be thrown away! :) So glad you enjoyed this :D
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I made it for the first time last night and it is absolutely delish! So good that I’ve had it for lunch at work today too :-) I added a little bit of water in my bowl when I reheated it in the microwave just to stop it drying out.
Great idea! Really happy you enjoyed it, thanks for the lovely comment :)
Really tasty, so easy to whip up! I put everything in a bowl a few hours before so I literally just had to throw it in the oven and it was great! Topped with avo and pico de gallo.
Thanks Ali! Really glad you enjoyed it :)
Loved the way this dish bakes up in one pot, my children really enjoyed it but for me and my partner it lacked a bit of flavour, think I will add some more herbs and spices next time. Thanks for another great, easy family dinner recipe
No worries, I always encourage people to make recipes their own :) Glad your kids liked it!
Hi I made this today. I added red onion instead of spring onion, lots of garlic, more cumin, chipotle chilli flakes instead of cayenne, and hot smoked paprika, more mushrooms and pepper. It was delicious…. only small tweaks.
Sounds great, thanks for the lovely feedback! :)
Yummy.I like it
I made this the day it landed in my email! Love it, so easy and I’ve been eating it for lunch all week. Definitely going to try the brown rice version mentioned earlier in the comments. I’d love to have a chickpea curry recipe using this method – I’m going to search your site now to see if you have already written one! Thank you
Ooh you’re quick! So glad you liked it :) I think there’s a biryani-inspired recipe around here somewhere but I can definitely do a saucier kind of curry and rice bake! Good idea!
Another hit! Will definitely be making this again. Loved how easy it was to throw together as well. Thanks!
Ace! Thanks so much Alison :)
This looks and sounds fab. xx
Thanks Karen :)
Is this designed to be served alongside something? Just a bit confused as 150g rice is really not much spread over 6 people.
It’s not, but with all the beans and everything, it’s plenty. If you like bigger portions you can always make it serve 4 instead of 6 :)
Since you cook this for an hour, could you substitute brown rice? I usually don’t have white rice in the pantry.
I imagine brown rice might take a little longer to cook, but you could definitely give it a try – I’d maybe add a tiny bit more liquid just to help it along, otherwise it might end up a bit chewy. And if in doubt, cook it at a slightly lower temperature for a slightly longer time. Let me know how it works :)
Perfect lunch ! Just perfect !