This classic chicken and rice casserole recipe is a one pan meal that’s full of tender chicken and creamy rice, all baked together to golden brown perfection. A classic dinner that the whole family will enjoy.
Casseroles always hit the spot, my family enjoys chicken enchilada casserole, beef noodle casserole and this creamy chicken and rice dish.
This chicken and rice casserole is actually a family recipe that comes from my mother-in-law. It was my husband’s favorite dish growing up, and his mom always made it for company. It’s pretty old school with the canned soups, but sometimes you just need a little classic comfort food, and this casserole definitely fits the bill. How can you go wrong with tender chicken and ultra creamy rice?
How do you make chicken and rice casserole?
The other thing I love about this dish is that it can be made in one pan. The rice and soup mixture gets stirred together in the pan, then the chicken goes on top and gets drizzled with butter and seasonings. You may be wondering why this dish includes butter since it also has creamy soup. The butter helps the chicken brown during the last part of the baking process, and it adds such great flavor to the rice! I season my chicken with salt, pepper and a little smoked paprika. If you have a favorite seasoning blend that would also be great on the chicken.
This chicken and rice casserole works best with bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces. If you use something like boneless skinless chicken breasts, they’ll dry out during the long bake time. I prefer to use dark meat chicken, like chicken thighs, drumsticks or legs. Here I’ve used a combination of thighs and drumsticks so that there’s something for everyone!
Chicken and rice casserole variations
You can add other flavors into this dish to make it your own, I often add other ingredients that I have on hand to spice things up a bit.
- Vegetables: Add 1 cup of vegetables such as sliced mushrooms, carrots or broccoli to the dish before it goes into the oven.
- Cheese: Sprinkle 3/4 cup of shredded cheese over the top during the last 10 minutes of the baking time.
My husband is thrilled that our kids love this casserole as much as he does. Add a green veggie on the side and you’ve got an easy dinner for those times when nothing will do except comfort food!
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More great chicken recipes
- Garlic & Herb Roasted Chicken
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Bacon Wrapped Chicken
- Honey Mustard Chicken
- Chicken Santa Fe
Chicken and rice casserole video
Chicken and Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in skin-on chicken pieces such as legs, thighs or drumsticks
- 2 cups white rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 can cream of celery soup
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon paprika regular or smoked paprika
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9"x13" baking pan with cooking spray.
- Add the rice, water, and 3 cans of soup to the pan. Stir to combine.
- Place the chicken pieces on top of the rice mixture. Drizzle the butter over the chicken and rice.
- Season the chicken with salt, pepper and paprika.
- Cover with foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Uncover and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed and chicken is browned. If you like extra crispy chicken skin, broil the casserole for 3-5 minutes after it's done baking.
- Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Mrs Williams Patrick says
I don’t have any cream of celery… can I use an extra can of cream of mushroom? What substitute can I use that’s already in my house?
Sara says
That’s fine to use cream of mushroom!
Debbie says
Can this be made the night before?
Sara says
Yes you can reheat it the next day.
Kenneth Davis says
All I have is instant rice could I put it in it the later part of the cook
Sara says
You could try that but I haven’t tested the recipe this way so I’m not sure if it would work.
C says
Love this recipe! Any tips of how to freeze to enjoy later? Thanks!
Sara says
You could freeze it, then bake it from frozen in a covered dish until it’s heated through, heat at 350 degrees F.
marcy says
I’d like to cook more than 6 drumsticks , can I squeeze in a few more, and does that affect the cooking time?
Sara says
That should be fine, and the cook time should stay the same!
Nancy F says
Do you add 2 cups of water to the rice mix or 3 cans of water?
Sara says
It’s 2 cups of water.
Terry Williamson says
I just love your recipes. You really have some good ones. Like this chicken and rice casserole. The chicken you use is my favorite pieces. The bone in skin on is the most flavorful part of the chicken. Most recipes use the boneless and skin off breast. To me they are dry with little flavor. This recipe is one of the best I’ve had and it doesn’t need any changes. It’s perfect when made as is!
Cynthia Lopez says
Can you use jasmine rice instead of regular white rice?
Sara says
Yes that’s fine!
Deb says
My family loves this comfort food recipe and they seem to ask for it all the time!
Linda Woods says
I added Lipton Recipe Sectets onion soup and dip mix to mine. Yum.
Cynthia Keen says
can you use brown rice instead?
Sara says
Yes that’s fine!
Byenia says
Made this tonight and only thing I changed was I used homemade chicken broth in place of the water, plus added in canned mushrooms and frozen broccoli. Turned out delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Kelly S says
Cream of bacon?! How did I not know that such a thing existed?!
Suzi says
Where do you find it?
LaVonda says
Just saw cream of bacon at Kroger. Has anyone tried it?
Joy says
How long would you cook if you use boneless chicken pieces instead of bone in?
Sara says
You can reduce the cook time by 20 minutes.
Nancy says
I used boneless chicken an I cooked it the same time as the recipe came out great the next time I’m going to add broccoli
June Stickland says
Do you use regular whole grain rice or minute rice?
Sara says
Regular rice not minute!
Yellowknife says
can i prepare the meal in the casserole and bake it in the oven later in the day?
Sara says
That should be fine!
Michelle says
I have a very silly question…is your rice already cooked or just uncooked regular rice? I used to make this a very long time ago and totally forgot until I ran across your recipe…but I could never get the rice to fully cook. It was always crunchy! I just thought I had no idea what I was doing since I was maybe 16 years old – highly likely that was what went wrong! Great recipes, btw! I love your blog!
Sara says
This recipe calls for uncooked rice!
Veronica says
Hi, this looks yummy. I was wondering if you considered bringing the chicken before, or approximately how much salt you used? I want it to be flavorful, but I was worried about oversalting since there is already salt in the soup.
Thanks,
Veronica
Sara says
I would not brine the chicken for this recipe, it would be way too salty! I use about 3/4 teaspoon of salt over the chicken pieces.
Melissa says
All i have is chicken tenders for this recipe will the cooking time change?
Sara says
This recipe is designed for bone-in chicken pieces which cook at the same rate as the raw rice. Chicken tenders will cook a lot quicker, but the rice won’t be done until at least an hour into the cooking process.
Alyx Aphelia says
I made this with 2 cans cream of bacon and one can cream of onion and it was amazing!