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Home » Quick & Easy Dinners » Chicken and Rice Casserole

May 8, 2017 By Sara 142 Comments

Chicken and Rice Casserole

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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.

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Chicken and rice casserole with baked chicken pieces and creamy rice in a serving with with a serving spoon.

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?

Chicken and rice casserole in a white baking dish, topped with chopped parsley.

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.

A spoon serving up a portion of chicken and rice casserole.

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


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!
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4.82 from 27 votes

Chicken and Rice Casserole

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!
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword chicken and rice, chicken and rice casserole
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes
Servings 6
Calories 665kcal
Author Sara Welch

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.

Nutrition

Calories: 665kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 147mg | Sodium: 1145mg | Potassium: 478mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 695IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 2.6mg

Filed Under: One Pot Meals, Quick & Easy Dinners Tagged With: Casserole, Chicken, ricec

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Comments

  1. Linda Woods says

    December 2, 2019 at 4:54 pm

    I added Lipton Recipe Sectets onion soup and dip mix to mine. Yum.

    Reply
  2. Cynthia Keen says

    November 24, 2019 at 8:25 am

    can you use brown rice instead?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      November 25, 2019 at 8:28 am

      Yes that’s fine!

      Reply
  3. Byenia says

    November 9, 2019 at 12:26 am

    5 stars
    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!

    Reply
  4. Kelly S says

    October 21, 2019 at 4:21 pm

    Cream of bacon?! How did I not know that such a thing existed?!

    Reply
    • Suzi says

      November 7, 2019 at 10:27 am

      Where do you find it?

      Reply
  5. Joy says

    October 21, 2019 at 11:19 am

    How long would you cook if you use boneless chicken pieces instead of bone in?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      October 21, 2019 at 8:51 pm

      You can reduce the cook time by 20 minutes.

      Reply
    • Nancy says

      October 28, 2019 at 6:05 pm

      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

      Reply
  6. June Stickland says

    October 18, 2019 at 8:11 am

    Do you use regular whole grain rice or minute rice?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      October 18, 2019 at 9:13 am

      Regular rice not minute!

      Reply
  7. Yellowknife says

    October 7, 2019 at 12:21 pm

    can i prepare the meal in the casserole and bake it in the oven later in the day?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      October 7, 2019 at 7:52 pm

      That should be fine!

      Reply
  8. Veronica says

    October 5, 2019 at 8:05 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Sara says

      October 6, 2019 at 10:57 pm

      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.

      Reply
  9. Melissa says

    September 24, 2019 at 12:59 pm

    All i have is chicken tenders for this recipe will the cooking time change?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      September 24, 2019 at 11:10 pm

      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.

      Reply
  10. Alyx Aphelia says

    September 9, 2019 at 7:37 am

    5 stars
    I made this with 2 cans cream of bacon and one can cream of onion and it was amazing!

    Reply
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