Easy Cheesy Beans & Rice Casserole
Tired of all your go-to easy weeknight dinners? Enter in this Easy Cheesy Beans & Rice Casserole, one of our FAVORITE hassle-free meals that’s super satisfying, fairly healthy and provides for tons of leftovers!
Whole grain brown rice and beans — we used a combination of dark red kidney beans and pinto beans — serve as the base for this delicious dish, with bell peppers, red onions, corn and spices making up the filling. The sauce is a simple trifecta of store-bought red enchilada sauce, lime juice and a bit of sour cream. Pepper jack cheese is mixed into the beans and rice + additional cheese is sprinkled on top to make it extra ooey gooey.
We like to serve this Easy Cheesy Beans & Rice Casserole with roasted broccoli for a well-balanced meal. While we generally consume this casserole as a main course, you could also make it as a side dish to go along with Mushroom Asada Tacos or Green Chile Sour Cream Enchiladas.
You’ll see that nutritional yeast — a favorite cheesy alternative for vegans — is listed as an optional ingredient below. I add nutritional yeast to almost every savory dish I make both because of its taste and because of its nutritional value. Just one serving (two tablespoons) of this staple pantry ingredient contains:
630% daily value B12
520% daily value B1 (thiamin)
480% daily value B2 (riboflavin)
420% daily value B6
220% daily value B3 (niacin)
So why should you care about all these B vitamins? They’re important for making sure your cells function properly, and B12 in particular makes up DNA and helps prevent anemia. B12 isn’t found in plants, so vegans should be extra careful they consume enough through fortified foods like nutritional yeast.
Long story short: if you don’t have any nutritional yeast (we buy Bragg Premium Nutritional Yeast Seasoning from Whole Foods) on hand, it won’t adversely affect the outcome of this dish. However, if you’re a fan like me, go ahead and sprinkle it in liberally!
INGREDIENTS
3 c. cooked brown rice
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 T. minced garlic
1 T. olive oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
15 oz. can fiesta corn, drained
2 - 16 oz. cans of beans, drained & rinsed (suggest using black beans, dark red kidney beans, pinto beans or a combination)
1 T. cumin
2 t. chili powder
2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. smoked paprika
1 to 2 T. nutritional yeast (optional)
8 oz. red enchilada sauce (we used Frontera Red Chile Enchilada Sauce)
Juice from 1 lime
1/4 c. light sour cream
8 oz. pepper jack cheese, shredded
STEPS
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2) Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bell pepper, red onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until the onion starts to become translucent, about 6 minutes.
3) Add the corn and sauté until it starts to smell a bit roasted, about 5 minutes.
4) Add the beans, cumin, chili powder, dried oregano, smoked paprika and optional nutritional yeast. Toss well to combine and add a splash of water to prevent the spices from sticking. Sauté for 5 minutes, adding more splashes of water as necessary, then remove from heat.
5) Add the cooked rice to the veggie/corn/bean mixture, along with the enchilada sauce, lime juice, sour cream and half the cheese. Stir well to combine, then add to a square baking dish and top with the remaining cheese.
6) Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and cook another 20 minutes, then broil until the cheese is slightly browned.