Our viral chicken green chili casserole with cottage cheese and green salsa is the ultimate comfort food recipe. It's high protein, easy, and comes together in less than 30 minutes using pre-cooked shredded chicken. 58g protein per serving!
Why you'll love our cottage cheese chicken casserole recipe!
- Our green chili casserole with chicken needs just 5 ingredients
- Trying to get more protein? Our chicken and cottage cheese casserole packs 44 g of protein in each serving!
- Taco seasoning, green salsa, and diced green chilis combine to give the casserole its Tex-Mex flavor.
- Our chicken and green chili casserole is low-carb, keto-friendly, high protein, and gluten-free!
Be sure to try our low carb taco casserole with cottage cheese to add variety to your life, which is very similar except it's made with ground beef and a red salsa. You'll want to check out all of our cottage cheese recipes since it's such a versatile ingredient.
This Green Chili Keto Chicken Casserole is the best!
I just made this today as I was looking for an easy, inexpensive meal and WOWZA is this ever delicious! ~ Alexandra
I double this for a family get together. It was a hit! ~ Jorgie
Made this for the work week today and added riced cauliflower to stretch it and it was amazing. ~ Linda
What you'll need
- shredded or ground chicken - precooked or rotisserie
- taco seasoning - homemade or storebought, use a sugar-free brand if possible.
- green salsa - the chunkier the better, made without sugar. LaVictoria has a great chunky brand.
- diced green chili's - we used mild, but feel free to use spicy chilis
- cottage cheese - use a full-fat, low carb brand (4% milk fat), low fat will work too if you drain the liquid.
- Colby jack or 3 cheese blend - sliced or shredded from a block, pre-shredded doesn't melt as well and has hidden carbs
- optional toppings - sour cream, avocado, green onion
How to make green chili chicken casserole
Step 1. Prep. Preheat your oven to 375 F. Spray an 11x7 baking dish or casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Step 2. In a medium-sized bowl, add the taco seasoning, salsa, green chilis, and cottage cheese (drained). Mix in the precooked and shredded chicken and stir until it's all mixed and combined evenly.
Step 3. Spoon the prepared chicken mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Step 4. Top the casserole with the sliced or shredded cheese.
Step 5. Bake for 20-minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
Garnish with green onions, if desired. Serve with sour cream and salsa, optional. This is delicious served over cauliflower rice! Enjoy!
Depending on the cottage cheese you're using, the salsa brand, or how chunky your chicken is shredded...some readers have said this casserole is on the runny side.
For best results, drain the cottage cheese. A medium shredded chicken works best, if the pieces are too large the sauce doesn't blend well and sinks to the bottom. Regardless, it's amazing!
Jenni's tips
- The key to this being a 30 minute recipe is starting with precooked chicken. If you need to cook it beforehand, boiling chicken on the stovetop would be the fastest method, we used an instant pot to make shredded chicken from frozen for this recipe.
- You'll want 2 lbs of raw chicken for the recipe if you're cooking the chicken first. If you're using rotisserie chicken, it'll lose about 25% of its weight and you'll want to use 1.5 lb of pre-cooked chicken.
- Be sure to drain the cottage cheese before cooking with it to prevent your chicken green chili casserole from being overly liquidy.
- Using a chunkier salsa instead of a runnier salsa is also recommended. A salsa with more liquid may leave a little liquid in the bottom of the casserole after cooking.
- If you prefer your cheese crisp, broil after baking for 1-2 minutes.
Can this casserole with cottage cheese be lightened up?
Our chicken casserole recipe with cottage cheese was originally written back in 2018 for our low carb audience. The original recipe uses full fat cottage cheese and cheese slices. Yes, we were putting cottage cheese in recipes before it was even a trend 😉
To reduce the fat in the recipe, you can use low fat cottage cheese and just do a light sprinkle of cheese over the top.
Many readers have also added in cauliflower rice to increase the bulk and sneak in extra veggies!
More Chicken Casserole Recipes
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Recipe
Cottage Cheese Green Chili Chicken Casserole (Keto, Low Carb)
Equipment
- 1 casserole dish or 9x9 pan
Ingredients
- 6 cups cooked and shredded chicken breasts ** See NOTE below
- 3 T taco seasoning
- ¾ cup chili Verde salsa chunky if possible, like La Victoria brand
- 1 4 oz can of mild green chilis drained
- 2 cups cottage cheese, 4% drain if it seems on the runnier side
- 5 oz sliced or shredded Colby jack cheese you'll need to cut some of the slices down to fit in the pan
- Garnishes - chopped green onions and/or Sour cream optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 F.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix the taco seasoning, chili Verde salsa, green chilis, and cottage cheese. Add the shredded chicken and combine it all together.
- Spoon the mixture into the baking dish and top it with the Colby Jack cheese slices.
- Bake the chicken cottage cheese casserole for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
- Garnish with green onions and serve with sour cream and salsa on the side. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Having pre-cooked chicken in the freezer is a life saver for assembling easy dinners like this one! If you need to cook your chicken, you'll need 6 cups of cooked and shredded chicken, which is about 2 lbs of raw boneless skinless chicken breasts or 1.5 lb cooked chicken meat). You can boil fresh chicken breasts, boil chicken tenders, or pressure cook frozen chicken tenders.
- In recipe testing, the chicken was cooked before making the casserole and it was still warm. If you're starting with cold pre-cooked chicken, you may need to cook the casserole a little longer.
- Some readers have reported that the casserole was delicious but on the runny side. The shredded chicken is the key to how the casserole consistency turns out and medium shred for the chicken works best. If the shredded chicken pieces are too chunky, the sauce sinks to the bottom of the casserole and it becomes runny. Although, If you shred the chicken too fine, it seems more like a dip. Either way, it'll still taste amazing and this is a reader-favorite recipe and you can adjust your shred the second time you make it! You can either shred your chicken with a mixer or shred it with 2 forks.
- You can also use ground chicken instead of shredded chicken like we did with our beef taco casserole, but this recipe with ground chicken hasn't been tested.
- Using regular cottage cheese (small curd 4% milk fat) instead of light is recommended, light cottage cheese will add more liquid to the mixture, plus regular. cottage cheese is great for a low carb keto friendly casserole.
- Using a chunkier salsa instead of a runnier salsa is also recommended, the one we use is La Victoria brand.
Nutrition
Bri says
If I wanted to add veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, or peppers would you cook it first then mix in and bake or put in the raw veggies and bake?
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Bri!
I would precook the vegetables in a saute pan before adding to the chicken casserole. Because of the short cook time, if you add raw veggies they might not be all the way cooked through yet. Keep me posted on how it turns out! Adding veggies sounds like a great idea 🙂 Jen
Jasmin says
Made with packaged fajitas seasoning instead of taco and added to layers it was DA BOMB
WholeLottaYum says
Fajita seasoning makes a fabulous substitute. Thank you for the feedback! Jen
Sharon says
I was looking for a link to the keto taco recipe you mentioned.
Tiffany says
Made this tonight, I hear my daughter tell my hubby ‘if we don’t like it I’ll run to Taco Bell ‘ , just went into the kitchen and it’s all gone and everybody is happy! No Taco Bell for this house tonight lol
Christy Dickins says
Do you think this would freeze well? Thinking of bringing it to a new mommy 🙂
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Christy, Yes I do think it will freeze well! I'd recommend having her cook it from frozen when she goes to reheat it and to try adding 15 minutes to the baking time. Congrats to the new mommy! So exciting! Jen
linda griffin says
you have the nutritional information but what is the serving size that you used?
WholeLottaYum says
8 servings! Thanks, Linda 🙂
Jess says
Can you use ground turkey instead?
WholeLottaYum says
Yes! Ground turkey would be a great alternative 🙂
Sharri says
This is delish!!!
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you so much Sharri! Glad you enjoyed the keto chicken casserole!
Sarah says
So its 3Tablespoons of taco seasoning?
WholeLottaYum says
Yes! 3 tablespoons of taco seasoning 🙂
Sarah says
So the T is for tabs. correct?
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Sarah, yes, T is tablespoons for the chicken casserole
Janice says
Delicious! I made it with shredded pork I had and loved it! I will definitely be having it again.?
WholeLottaYum says
Making the green chili casserole with shredded pork sound amazing! Great idea Janice!
Michelle says
I too hate cottage cheese. Made this tonight as directed and we're loved it. We've been on keto 3 weeks now and my husband said this is his favorite recipe yet. It was not dry at all. Thank you.
WholeLottaYum says
Isn't it funny how cottage cheese can taste totally different cooked than cold? Thank you so much for the feedback and I'm glad you loved the keto chicken casserole! It's one of our staples 🙂
Sarah Holstein says
I made this with canned chicken, which is a 1st for me, and it was just delicious! I will definitely be making it again. Thanks for sharing.
WholeLottaYum says
Thanks Sarah! Using canned chicken is a fantastic way to cook the keto casserole even faster!
Jen says
Time saving tip: grocery store rotisserie chicken makes a great meal starter. I use it in almost every recipe that requires cooked chicken. Sometimes it’s also cheaper than raw chicken.
WholeLottaYum says
Rotisserie chicken is always great to speed things up even more! 🙂
Kathy says
I don’t care for cottage cheese. Can you suggest an alternative.
WholeLottaYum says
Kathy, you can use ricotta cheese in the keto taco casserole instead, or try cream cheese. The cottage cheese doesn't taste like cottage cheese in the casserole. I'm not a fan of cold cottage cheese but use it instead of ricotta all the time for hot dishes.
Nancy Watilo says
Are you sure you meant 2-lbs of chicken and not 2 cups? It was so dry so I added 2 cups of sour cream to make it mixable. I also added more chopped green chili. It was delicious and the consistency was perfect!
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Nancy, it was definitely 2 lb of chicken to make this 8 servings. I'm not sure why yours turned out dry? Sometimes just using a different brand can change a recipe a little (like if one brand of cottage cheese has more liquid than another, or the same with salsa). I'm glad you were able to adapt it to a way you really liked! 🙂
Ann says
I noticed when I used chicken breast it seemed drier. I added some of the chicken broth to moisten the chicken. Dark meat works better in my opinion
Trista says
Made it tonight. Loved it. Had no problems with it being too dry. It didn't look like the most appetizing thing in the world but the taste was perfect! I topped mine with the sour cream like mentioned and a little chili pepper sauce.
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you Trista! I'm glad you enjoyed the keto chicken casserole! 🙂
Sheila says
Make sure it’s 2 lbs chicken, cooked - not 2 lbs “cooked” chicken. ? I did the same thing you did & realized my mistake.