9 One Pot Mexican Dinners for Busy Weeknights

These one pot Mexican dinners for busy weeknights are the taco night flavors my family asks for, cooked in a single pot so I’m not standing over three pans at once.

From a chicken enchilada rice to a chili mac, a taco pasta, a chicken tortilla soup, skillet fajitas, and a chili lime chicken and rice, they all start with the same handful of pantry spices and end with cheese, lime, and cilantro on top.

Here are the nine we make most!

Cumin, chili powder, garlic, a jar of salsa, and a can of tomatoes with green chiles are the whole spice cabinet for this list, and a packet of taco seasoning covers most of it in a pinch.

The toppings are what make each one feel like a different dinner, so I keep sour cream, shredded cheese, and limes in the fridge every week.

1. One Pot Chicken Enchilada Rice

Chicken, rice, enchilada sauce, black beans, and corn cook together in one pan, and a layer of cheese melts over the top under the lid at the end.

It’s every flavor of a chicken enchilada without rolling a single tortilla.

The rice soaks up the enchilada sauce, and it comes out red and savory.

Sour cream, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime on top!

2. One Pan Chicken and Mexican Rice

Chicken thighs brown in the pan, then rice cooks underneath them in tomato sauce, broth, cumin, and chili powder until it’s the orange rice from every Mexican restaurant.

The thighs stay juicy on top and the rice takes on their flavor as it cooks.

Peas or corn stirred in at the end for color.

A wedge of lime on every plate, and it’s the dinner my kids call restaurant rice.

3. Chili Lime Chicken and Rice Skillet

Diced chicken cooks with chili powder and lime, then rice, broth, peppers, and black beans go in and simmer under a lid until the rice is tender.

It’s a burrito bowl that builds itself in the skillet.

Avocado, cilantro, and more lime on top.

The leftovers roll into tortillas for lunch the next day.

4. Chili Mac

Ground beef, beans, tomatoes, chili spices, and elbow macaroni cook in one pot, and cheddar melts through it at the end.

It’s chili and mac and cheese in the same bowl, and it’s the dinner my kids would eat every night if I let them.

The pasta cooks right in the chili and thickens it as it goes.

Sour cream and green onions on top.

5. One Pot Taco Pasta

Browned beef gets a shake of taco spice, then salsa, broth, and a box of dry rotini go into the same pot and simmer until the pasta is tender, with a pile of cheese stirred in to finish.

All of the taco flavor with none of the assembly, and only one pot to wash.

Crushed tortilla chips on top for the crunch that tacos have and pasta doesn’t.

6. Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken, tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, and broth simmer in one pot with cumin and chili powder, and the chicken shreds into the soup at the end.

It’s a thirty minute soup that tastes like it simmered all afternoon, and a rotisserie chicken makes it faster.

Tortilla strips, avocado, cheese, and lime in every bowl.

It’s the one Mexican dinner on this list I make in summer and winter both.

7. Skillet Chicken Fajitas

Strips of chicken breast, three colors of bell pepper, and a sliced onion hit a screaming hot skillet with fajita spice and cook until the edges blister.

Nothing on this list is faster, and the skillet goes straight to the table so everyone builds their own.

Warm tortillas, sour cream, and salsa, and that’s the whole meal.

Lime squeezed over the pan at the end wakes everything up!

8. One Pot Taco Spaghetti

The same taco-spiced beef and salsa base, with spaghetti snapped in half and simmered right in the sauce until a layer of Monterey Jack melts over the top.

My kids are convinced this and the taco pasta are two different dinners, and I’m not going to argue.

Push the noodles under the liquid as they soften so every strand cooks.

Cilantro and sour cream on top.

9. One Pot Taco Macaroni

Ground beef, taco seasoning, tomatoes, corn, and macaroni cook together into a cheesy skillet dinner that’s halfway between taco pasta and hamburger helper.

The macaroni cooks in the sauce and the cheese goes in at the end.

It feeds six for the price of a pound of beef and a box of pasta.

Diced tomato and green onions on top, and hot sauce on the table.

Notes on Mexican Dinners in One Pot

A jar of salsa is the fastest sauce base there is for these, since it brings tomatoes, onion, peppers, and acid in one ingredient.

Brown the meat with the spices before the liquid goes in, because the spices bloom in the fat and taste stronger for it.

Rice and pasta both cook right in the pot, and the lid stays on for rice and comes off for a stir every few minutes with pasta.

Cheese goes in at the end, and lime and cilantro go on at the table, since both fade if they cook.

A 12-inch skillet with a lid is the pan for the rice and fajita ones, and a Dutch oven for the soup and the chili mac.

I mix my own taco seasoning in a jar so there’s always some, and a citrus squeezer gets more out of every lime.

A tortilla warmer keeps the tortillas soft through dinner for the fajitas and the leftovers.

Most of these reheat well, and the rice ones are better with a splash of broth when they go back on the stove.

More Mexican Dinners on the Site

The quick crockpot dinners with ten minutes of prep post has the slow cooker salsa chicken that started my taco night habit.

My crockpot meals with chicken breast that don’t dry out post covers the shredded chicken that goes into half of these.

And the slow cooker chicken and dumplings is what I make on the nights nobody wants tacos.