The Best Baked Rice and Beans

Chef John, you rock! This is a great dish that uses pantry foods. I cut it in half since it's just my husband and me (usually more but we are doing the social distance thing!) Anyway, it's really a good staple meal. I cut down on the cayenne and put out the Frank's hot sauce for my hubby which is our usual compromise. Edit: normally I don't make changes to the recipes, but since we are in the middle of a pandemic I did. I used Rotel in place of the salsa. Worked fine.

Loved it! And I'm not the biggest fan of anything involving beans. Used black beans. I halved the recipe and it made at least 6 servings. Served with sliced avocado and sour cream. I might reduced the salt a little next time. The salsa is what makes this dish so good. It takes 5 minutes to assemble. This will definitely become a staple recipe. Update: made this again, this time just using water (no broth, because I forgot it) and only 1 cup of rice (for half a recipe). It turned out great, with all of the rice completely cooked. Served in flour tortillas with sour cream.

I love chief John's recipe! I substituted vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. I left out the oregano because it is my dads least favorite seasoning. I added 1/4 cup dry onion. It turned out great!!!

We made this last night. It may have been the type of rice we used, or a weak foil seal, but we had to about double the fluid (which added cooking time). The dish is great. It was hearty and flavorful, and the recipe is easy. We topped it with a little cheese, cilantro and scallions. I added a dollop of sour cream, my spouse added a bit of extra salsa. It would be good as either an entree or a side dish. The next time I make this I'll halve the recipe because this completely fills a lasagna pan.

I don’t usually leave reviews for recipes on this site, but this is an exception. This is an amazingly easy and comforting dish to make during these rough times. The ingredients are mostly pantry staples and the salsa can be subbed out for canned tomatoes in a pinch (I like Rotel). Chef John came through during this pandemic to create a dish that is maybe “easy”, but definitely comforting and we all need a little comfort, I think!

'Made this first just as written. Excellent, but I wanted to try it with brown rice. I kept all measurements the same but used only 2 cups brown rice and added 30 min to the cook time. It was perfect and maybe just a little healthier.

My picky family teased me all day because I was making beans and rice. I assured them it was a Chef John. Needless to say this is a great recipe. My husband says he cannot wait to make it again!! I had some leftover sausage that I added. Changed nothing else, came out perfect down the the cook time. Thanks Chef John. You are a rock star in our house.

Very flavorful and will be a regular staple in my house!! Super easy to make too!

Great recipe, would make again. Changes I made: Used 2 cups of water with shredded, grilled, leftover KFC chicken instead of chicken broth since I didn't have any of that. Subbed some of the chili powder for smoked paprika, and upped the cayenne to 1 teaspoon because we like it super spicy. Used black beans instead of kidney beans.

Love this! I didn’t have chili powder so used smoked paprika instead, and also halved the recipe and it still made a lot. So easy and so tasty!

Surprised at how easy this is to make. I followed the recipe but the red beans looked mushy when I unfolded the foil. I think I need to make the dish again, it could be my setting in the oven. The spices were great, lots of flavor. My daughter couldn’t stop eating it. She added sour cream. Also, for breakfast, she enjoyed the rice and beans with scrambled eggs and avocado. Yum! I can’t wait to add this dish to our regular family options. Thank you Chef John.

Way too much rice for the amount of liquid. I reduced the rice to 2 cups, and still had to add water several times during baking. I am a huge fan of Chef John, but this was a disappointment. In addition to the rice issue, the taste was pretty bland by his standards.

This was very good! Flavours were nice. I followed the recipe exact but my salsa jar was a little less than in the recipe. Therefore, mine turned out a bit drier. I would add a bit more liguid next time.

Chef John does it again! This dish was so flavorful and very simple to make. My family loved it and has requested it again. I substituted some of the ingredients by using organic brown long grain rice (2.5 cups), vegetable broth, Rotel, crush tomatoes (15 oz) and a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper. I initially cooked it for 1 hour and 30 minutes however the rice was still hard. I added the remaining vegetable broth (16 oz in total) to add more moisture and cooked the dish an additional 40 minutes. I let it rest for approximately 15 minutes with the aluminum foil tightly sealed before fluffing the rice mixture with chopped cilantro. Delicious!!

This is very tasty. Used basmati rice and felt that it wasn't cooked as much as it should be. It could be because I didn't use the tinfoil cover. I used the glass cover that might have let more of the moisture out of the pan. Comfortable quick meal with baked chicken.

Tonight will be the third time making this. It is my new favorite thing. Perfect fluffy rice and meaty beans. I added a can of sweet corn last time and will add it again. It's so delicious and feeds two of us at least 3 times.

We all loved the flavor but it was a bit on the hot side

Wow. I love Chef John. Every recipe of his that I have made has been 5/5! And I am not a seasoned cook! Very much a rookie here. This recipe was fabulously easy and remarkably delicious. I will make this again and again and again.

This was delish! I made half a recipe using brown rice. I were an extra 1/2 c of broth as whole grains need a little more liquid. This is yummy on it's own, but I put some homemade veggie chilli on top! Wow! Froze in small portions. Thanks for the tasty, easy peasy, recipe!

I made this in an 11x17 baking dish. I feel like 9x13 would have been too small. I added a piece of Polska kielbasa I had left over from the Hungarian sausage and potato soup also by chef John. I used half the cayenne and this tastes great! Thank you CJ!

This was a tasty dish, but a bit too dry for my taste. Next time I will add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more of chicken stock. I liked the basmati rice over typical rice. Adding oil and tossing it with the rice to evenly coat each grain before cooking really kept the rice nice and light and separated, not clumpy.

This dish can easily be lunch. So many possibilities. My husband loves this recipe... and its alot easier than it looks!

This was delicious. I halved the recipe and cooked in a 9x9 glass dish. I used Better Than Bouillon and water since I didn't have any chicken broth. I also used a little paprika along with the ground chili pepper and other spices (my husband added cayenne at the table). We had only about a third of a 16 oz jar of salsa (need to buy more!) but I think next time I will add tomatoes or Rotel because that wasn't enough. It turned out a little dry but that was probably because my foil didn't seal tightly enough. Added can of black beans to the leftovers and have more than enough for another meal. Also used Fage yogurt and cheddar cheese for the toppings. Chef John, I've been making your sourdough bread for 2 months - it's super with black olives and the discard makes great crackers.

This is delicious. I followed the recipe exactly and added left over pulled chipotle pork shoulder and roasted poblano pepper. Chef John, I hope you have a blog or some way you are making money on your recipes. You are talented.

Super nice and easy dish that didn`t require any ingredients not already in the pantry. A really savory and filling dish that I even forgot to add cheese to when eating the first day, when reheating the next day I didn`t bother as nothing was lacking. Thanks Chef John!

Followed the recipe exactly as written and it turned out perfect. Everyone gave it 2 thumbs up. Will make again. Garnished with green onions, cilantro and a small scoop of scour cream. Served with 2 tacos.

No salsa in the house. So I replaced with: 3/4 cup of a canned pasta sauce (No spices) and 1/4-1/3 cup of taco sauce and 1tsp of onion powder. I omitted cayenne. Used regular long grain rice. Added shredded cheddar cheese to just melted after removing the foil and a dollop of sour cream on each serving. No cilantro so I used fresh chopped parsley. Ahh the quarantine. Baked for 1 hour at 360 in a heavy baking dish. Was perfect. I will make again and add shredded chicken before serving next time. If I can get chicken! My kids used a soft tortilla to scoop up the rice. Texture was outstanding.

This was fantastic! Unfortunately, I forgot to cover it before baking. Because of this mistake, I cooked it longer and added liquid to it (I used tomato sauce and water). I saved it!!! I served it with corn muffins, shredded cheese and sour cream. Delish. I plan to eat the leftovers as dip for nacho chips!!! I don't care for too much "heat", so I omitted the optional cayenne.

Family loved it- I had to add an additional cup of chicken broth and cook it another 20 minutes. (So am not sure how people got it to cook through using the recipe as written.) I thought it was spicy, my husband thought it wasn't spicy enough LOL. Next time I will reduce the cayenne by 1/2 and just let my husband add hot sauce - which he did anyway.

Amount of broth listed is wrong. 2 cups of liquid is not right for 3 cups of rice. Ratio is 2 to 1 water to rice. Even accounting for the liquid in the salsa it resulted in hard rice at the end of cook time. I added 2 cups each broth and water and baked another 40 minutes and it was delish.

After reading the reviews I decided to cut the ingredients in half, except for the chicken broth. I skipped the cayenne pepper and used only a teaspoon of chili powder because I can’t take that much heat. I checked it after about 45 minutes, and most of the rice was cooked and plump, except for a layer lying under the beans and salsa in the center of the dish. I gave it another 15 or 20 minutes and the rice in the center was done. Like one other reviewer said, the finished product seemed like too much rice in proportion to the beans and salsa. I may use only a cup of rice if I make it again. I have enough ingredients since I bought enough to make the whole recipe. Spices were good. I hoped it wouldn’t be too salty, since I used 2 teaspoons of Better Than Bouillon to make the 2 cups of broth. Nope, not too salty. I’m glad I cut the recipe in half this first time making it.

We have made this dish about 10x since Chef John posted his video. It is absolutely a staple for us now and it never gets old! Since there are two of us, we can get 3 meals out of this one. The first night we have it as-is, the 2nd night we have it in tortillas, and the 3rd night we eat it like dip, with tortilla chips, sour cream, and guacamole. I've made this dish with short grain rice (calrose) and I don't have to adjust the liquids or cooking time. It comes out perfect! I've also made it with homemade beans instead of canned (black and pinto) and it's wonderful. The only consistent substitution we make is to use a can of Rotel for the salsa, which gives it even more heat. I just dump the Rotel in a 2 cup measuring cup and fill it with a little extra water until it hits the 16 ounce line, since this recipe calls for 16 ounces of salsa. It's perfect every single time. I can't recommend this one enough-- the flavors are better then any other beans & rice dish I've tried, and baking the beans and rice give the dish a superior texture vs. stove top.

Will make again

We love this, especially with homemade guacamole, but even on its own. We make it exactly as is Except that we use our pressure cooker. If you want to use a pressure cooker leave the salsa and canned beans out till after cooking the rice or you’ll get a burn notice. There’s enough residual heat after the rice cooks and the beans and salsa are already cooked. You then do 3cups broth to 3cups rice

First time I made this I messed up completely by using dry beans and not soaking them for long enough and using too much of them Second time I made one or two alterations: The rice I kept the same, I only used one can of beans (I used black), and I had only one can of chicken stock so I added a can of no bean turkey chili along with some water to clean out the can because there's less liquid in the chili than in a can of chicken stock. Wow. When I took this out of the oven it smelled amazing, and when I tasted it for seasoning it was incredible. Highly recommend adding half the chicken stock along with a can of chili and about half the chili can's worth of water.

At first when done cooking, the rice was hard. Jag to take half our and cook separately half hour longer and was very good the n

Yummy this was awesome!! Very tasty. Very good as stand alone but I cooked a couple hot Italian sausages and it was great together. Will use left over rice/beans for soft tacos tomorrow.

Delicious! It seems simple, but it’s really very tasty! I used 3 T of olive oil instead of the 4 and we didn’t miss the extra, plus skipped the optional cayenne. I made it in a casserole dish slightly bigger than 9x13” with an extra cup of water and 5 more minutes of baking time (high altitude). Thank you for the recipe!

Great meatless meal!

Very very dry. If I made it again I would add less rice with same amount of wet ingredients. Some salsa are rather thick so that may have been the problem. I also used black beans. Would not use them again as they too were quite dry.

Very tasty. I think I'll tweak the rice content (1/2 cup less) and bean content (a third can) when I make this again. Heavy on the rice for my taste, but the spices are great. You can toss on all kinds of toppings with the recipe - I added chopped green onions and extra salsa on the top when taken to a friend's party.

I had short grain sushi rice so I used that instead (it's what I had). This still turned out really good, not mushy at all like I expected.

This is a great side dish for Jay's Jerk Chicken. The recipe as written makes about 12 servings in a 9x13 dish. I cut everything in half, except I add a full can of chicken broth. Otherwise it's a bit dry. Love this recipe though. It is a quick and easy side dish.

Family loved it! The only rice I had was for sushi but it worked. I used black beans. All the flavors came together so nicely and you can't beat how easy it was to make.

Easy to make and delicious. I'll be making this again. Thanks, Chef John.

Also excellent chilled/room temperature with some oil, vinegar and hot sauce!

Make sure to carefully coat each grain of rice and cover it tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil.

This is so good. I used fresh salsa the second time I made this and it made a good dish even better.

Turned out a little drier than expected. Added yogurt instead of sour cream and crushed tostitos on top. Added more salsa. Kids loved it cause it was like a bean dip.

I halved the recipe and changed the portion of rice to liquid because of the other reviews - 1 1/2 cups rice and 2 cups broth and also halved the beans and salsa otherwise kept the spices whole. It made for a very spicy delicious rice and it cooked perfectly.

Love it! I can only imagine how good it would be with sour cream! And the servings are huge! Keep doing the quarantine recipes, Chef John (I've used a lot of your recipes when it wasn't quarantine time). :) Had to use what I had; no salsa, but had some Rotel, and I used 1 can (made 1/2 the recipe, as I live alone). Also had cheddar cheese, no jack. Everything else was the same.

Making it for the third time right now, it really is a great dish!

Easy and yummy.

TOO HOT. We're fans of flavor, but that had way too much heat for us.

I usually cook my rice n beans on the stove, but when I saw this recipe and I try it OMG came out very good. Loved it so much and we’ll do t again

You really have to keep the foil on it- So, it will not dry out. I liked it, but it made a lot for two people .

No changes. I used medium Salsa and a little Cayenne - it was very spicy! But good. A little on the dry side.

There is something about the combination of rice and beans that I love. This was excellent and so easy. And my super-picky husband also loved it. I cut the recipe in half, and didn't have any salsa so just used tomato sauce, and added turmeric and coriander because cumin, coriander and turmeric are a combo I alway use. Came out great. I've already made it twice.

This was delicious!! My family loved it! We all had eaten two helpings before we even realized. I prepared it with a simple chicken curry. I did make a few substitutions based on what I had in the pantry. I used store bought garlic spaghetti sauce in place of the salsa and a quality Italian seasoning in place of the oregano. Oven cooking makes perfect tomato rice in my experience and coating it with olive oil first made sure it was flavorful and cooked evenly. It was also great to have the stove top space. I put in the oven, set the timer and forgot about it! It did require about an extra 30mins in my oven, but that was not a problem. Thank you for this recipe! Well done!

Halved the recipe as it's just my husband and I. Love how quick and easy it is with pantry ingredients. I was a bit worried after reading reviews but following the recipe exactly, even with regular foil, it was perfect at the end of the recommended cooking time. Will be making this again. Thanks Chef John for another winner!

I made this recipe exactly except I used black beans because that’s all I had. It was delicious! A big hit with everyone. Will make again

I made a few adjustments. I used 1tbsp of taco seasoning, instead of the spices. Did half black, half kidney beans. Added a tin of chicken. Finished the dish with diced pimento olives. I ended up cooking mine for 1hr and 30 min and added a quarter cup more liquid when I found the rice wasn’t done and it was getting dry. The original looked delicious and is a great base for any number of variations.

My daughter only eats baked beans. So that's what I used. Perfect!!! Delicious!!! And she ate it!!! Thanx for the recipe.

Easy and delicious. It makes quite a bit so I made only 1/2 a recipe. It has wonderful flavors and smells terrific. Leftovers reheat well in a rice cooker with a little added water. I did leave out the cayenne pepper because the salsa was very hot. This recipe is a keeper.

Very good recipe for the quarantine going on. I'm now out of salsa, but next time I make this I might use half of rice and half of quinoa!

Loved it!!!!!

Thank you Chef John, my family are very picky eaters and they dislike meatless Monday's how ever this recipe truly lived up to the Best meatless Monday entree as evidenced by the multiple helpings by all members of the family including my wife! I did use one can of Kidney beans plus one can of black beans.The cayenne pepper provides the perfect amount of heat. The only other comment like many of the other reviewers this must have a tight Aluminum foil around the edge and even then I would add an extra 1/4 cup of water. This recipe was printed out and put in my binder of ten out of ten go to recipes that are fast ,easy, healthy and inexpensive to make.

This is one of the first recipes by Chef John that wasn't spectacular. It was dry, not enough liquid for the amount of rice, and rather tasteless. I like the concept for a side dish though and will try to adjust the liquid and spices to suit my taste.

I have made this 3 times. My husband and I both love it. Great side dish for a Mexican meal. When I make this I make half of the recipe. I use black beans due to preference. It only takes 38m in the oven at 350.

This a great meatless meal. I halved this since I am cooking for 2 people. And it still turned out great.

Delicious and easy! The unadjusted serving size of 8 was huge! It makes a ton!

I followed the recipe exactly (but halved) and the entire bottom of the pan was burnt, and the beans turned to mush. I wont be making this again!!

This recipe was a great start. I used brown rice and au jus from a pork butt that I had cooked and skimmed the fat off. Gave it a great flavor. I will definitely make it again, and will use the chicken broth if I don’t have au jus in the fridge to use up.

I am making for the second time tonight - both kids requested it! It is so easy and delicious. Baking rice is the greatest idea and wish I had learned this method sooner :-). Served it with cheese, sour cream, green onions, and cilantro. If my daughter was not a vegetarian, I would love to try it with ground beef or chicken.

Halved the recipe and it still made a ton - used as a side with tacos. It was easy to throw together and tasty but might not make again because kids were not too keen on it. They are picky and not fans of casserole-type dishes, so not the fault of the recipe...

I did a half recipe, I use jasmine rice, I used 2 Saison Goya packets instead of the seasoning but I did put in half as much oregano. I'm doing black beans and yellow rice. I did not bake the beans, those are in my crock pot. I just wanted to see if I could do the rice this way.

A little disappointed at the texture. The rice is very dry and brittle. I feel like it would have worked better over the stove top. I followed recipe to a t and had to add 40 min extra to cooking. The flavor is good.

This was extremely easy to make and OMG so delicious! I might add hamburger next time for more of a dinner feel.

I made this today. My family loved it. I will definitely make again. Didn't have olive oil, so I used melted butter instead.

Amazing. We loved it. I added a few dashes of smoked paprika in place of the cayenne. We ate it with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips! Also sprinkled some Trader Joe's Chili Lime seasoning on top. The family had huge 2nd servings. This will go into my regular rotation, just like Chef John's baked fried rice, which I have made several times! Thank you!

this was incredibly awesome. we loved it thank you!

Hit the spot! Easy and delicious. I added chunks of smoked sausage and highly recommend. It was a little dry, so I would add more liquid next time. Not sure if that was because I used regular long grain rice (instead of basmati) or the sausage.

We loved it. Husband couldn’t handle the HOTness. Next time only 1 teaspoon chili powder. NO cayenne.

I made this recipe and loved it. I cut it in half except for the oregano which I left at full strength. Great flavours. Served with Franks Buffalo chicken legs which I dusted with crushed corn chips. Outstanding combination. Will make it again!

Absolutely delicious! I halved the recipe since it was only my husband and I . I used black beans instead of kidney beans and regular Carolina long grain white rice. The seasonings were perfect. No cheese needed. Did put a dollop of sour cream on them and could use corn and tortilla chips but definitely delicious just as it's written!

This was so easy to make and took literally no time to prep. Flavorful and rice was cooked to perfection!

Loved this recipe! I halved the recipe and I think I added to much cayenne because it was more on the spicy side so that just meant I ate it with more sour cream so it was still absolutely delicious. I also served it with pulled beef to make it like a burrito bowl and now I'm thinking I won't need to ever get Mexican take-away again.

Best rice I've made and the taste was phenomenal

Easy recipe! Very tasty. Next time I put try in the Instant Pot.

I made a half batch of this, and I'm sorry I did. Nothing but whole pans of this from now on! This stuff is amazing - good flavor and just enough heat so it doesn't overwhelm. It comes together really easily as well. Another hit from Chef John!

Super flavourful. Super easy. One of hubby’s favourite dishes of all time. I don’t even make any alterations (other than using veggie broth and mixing up the beans occasionally) to original recipe!

Good recipe I enjoy his recipes greatly

This was an excellent and easy recipe. The oven does all the work!

Best rice and beans ever!

I only had short-grain rice and decided to try this recipe in a rice cooker (it’s a decent . After adding the the salsa, I added chicken stock until the liquid was just a touch under the line I would usually fill to for short-grain rice and then mixed in the beans. Worked perfectly!

Yummmmmm! This is a keeper. Followed others’ suggestions and used two cups of brown rice. I love so planned to use black beans but the store was out so grabbed three cans of tri-beans (a mix of pinto, kidney and black beans). Cooked up very nicely in my Instapot. Topped with a bit of cheese and extra salsa. Hubby loved it as well but asked me to up the beans so will add four cans next time ... and there WILL be a next time. Thanks, Chef John!

This is an amazing way to cook rice! So simple and very hands off. I’ve made this twice and both times it took an extra 10 mins but came out perfect. Only complaint is it makes a ton of rice, consider halving the recipe.

This meal has a little kick to it but even my picky 12 yr old like it. We added sour cream and cheese to it just to add a topping but it was very good.

Great technique. When I went to the pantry there were no red kidney beans so I used cannellini and the salsa was very hot so I skipped the cayenne. I'll be sure to have a less aggressive salsa and kidney beans in the pantry as I'll surely make this again.