Chicken and rice casserole is perfect comfort food and great for a busy weeknight meal. It’s filled with rice and creamy sauce and packed with veggies. Then it’s topped with tender chicken topped with melted cheddar cheese.
If you love recipes like this, you’ll have to try our hamburger casserole dish.
Chicken and Rice Casserole
My husband used to make a very bland rice casserole when we were first married. I think it was something that we just threw stuff into a dish and cooked. I always loved the idea of having a more sophisticated version of our old standby, and now I have one.
This chicken and rice casserole is full of rice and packed with vegetables, then it’s topped with tender chicken and melted cheddar cheese. It’s a meal all in one.
Now that we have kids, making easy meals is really important. Over the years, I’ve learned to keep old standbys on hand for when I really need a good meal, but one that I can do on any night – no matter how busy we get.
Ingredients
- Cream of chicken soup – this adds such creaminess to the rice and it also adds a depth of flavor to the overall dish
- Water – helps to thin the thickness of the soup so the rice will cook while it bakes.
- White rice – this is the base of the dish. I love that you don’t have to cook the rice before you bake the rest of the meal.
- Onion powder – for flavor
- Pepper – bring more seasoning to the dish
- Mixed vegetables – we like to use a frozen mix that includes carrots, corn, and green beans, but you can use any mix you like.
- Chicken breasts – don’t make these too thick or they may not cook through enough.
- Cheddar cheese – melt it on the top
How to Make Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Preheat oven to 375
- Prepare 9×13 casserole dish and spray with non-stick cooking spray, set aside
- In medium mixing bowl add soup and water and whisk to combine until smooth. Add rice, onion powder, peper and mixed vegetables. Pour mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- Place chicken breasts on top of mixture. Seacon chicken with salt and pepper.
- Cover baking dish with casserole dish cover or aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes. Add shredded cheese and return to oven, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Do You Cook chicken Before Putting It In a Casserole?
It depends. Some casseroles use pre-cooked chicken. This one, however, uses raw chicken. We’ve altered the cooking time to be sure the chicken gets fully cooked.
Can You Put Raw Rice in a Casserole?
For this recipe, we use raw rice. The trick is to make sure the recipe has enough liquid in it and that the rice is completely covered so that the raw rice will cook through.
It’s one of the reasons I love this recipe so much — it’s just an assembly of ingredients that get baked all at once.
What To Serve with Chicken and Rice Casserole?
This is simple to answer: not much! If you create a simple side salad for this recipe you’d have a complete meal.
You don’t even need the salad because there’s already protein, vegetables, and carbs in this dish.
Want More Comfort Food Meals?
Try our:
Ground beef stroganoff
Chicken tetrazzini
Frito pie casserole
Chicken and Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 can 10 ¾ oz. cream of chicken soup
- 1 ⅓ cup water
- ¾ cup uncooked white rice
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
- 4 chicken breasts boneless chicken breasts halves (you don’t want these to be really thick chicken breasts)
- ½ cup cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375
- Prepare 9×13 casserole dish and spray with non-stick cooking spray, set aside
- In medium mixing bowl add soup and water and whisk to combine until smooth. Add rice, onion powder, peper and mixed vegetables. Pour mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- Place chicken breasts on top of mixture. Seacon chicken with salt and pepper.
- Cover baking dish with casserole dish cover or aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes. Add shredded cheese and return to oven, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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