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Home » Quick & Easy Dinners » Chicken and Rice Casserole

May 8, 2017 By Sara 233 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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4.87 from 38 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. Vicki Pieper says

    December 9, 2020 at 12:36 pm

    Can you use minute rice if that’s all you have?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      December 9, 2020 at 4:44 pm

      You could but you’d need to reduce the liquid and the cook time!

      Reply
  2. Rachel Baker says

    December 8, 2020 at 3:19 am

    Please verify the temperature and length to cook this as 1 1/2 hours then 20-30 min uncovered seems long .
    Thank you 💐

    Reply
    • Sara says

      December 8, 2020 at 8:14 pm

      It takes that long to cook the rice through and have it absorb all the liquid!

      Reply
  3. Wesley says

    December 4, 2020 at 4:25 pm

    On the calories is the correct? Like 665,000 or am I reading it wrong?It looks great and I’m going to cook it either way but it seems kinda high…

    Reply
    • Sara says

      December 4, 2020 at 7:16 pm

      A kcal is another way to describe calories, it’s 665 calories per serving.

      Reply
  4. Courtney says

    November 29, 2020 at 8:39 pm

    How would you adjust for using boneless skinless chicken thighs?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      November 30, 2020 at 8:46 pm

      Reduce cook time by 20 minutes!

      Reply
  5. Brianne says

    November 19, 2020 at 1:09 pm

    5 stars
    This is a dish I grew up eating and plan to make for dinner tonight. I’m using 4 drumsticks and a square 9×9 pan. I was just curious about cook time adjustments as changing the servings only changed the Ingredients. I don’t want to over/undercook the chicken or rice.

    Reply
    • Sara says

      November 19, 2020 at 6:28 pm

      I’d try baking for an hour!

      Reply
  6. Keenan says

    November 18, 2020 at 9:59 am

    Is that 2 cups of cooked or uncooked rice?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      November 18, 2020 at 5:06 pm

      Uncooked rice!

      Reply
  7. Jo says

    November 4, 2020 at 4:23 pm

    I definitely seasoned my chicken legs, and added my salt n pepper to my rice. I also skipped the cream of celery. Aside from that..this recipe is perfect. I’ve never successfully cooked my chicken and rice without it being over or undercooked, and this was spot on.

    Reply
    • Theresa says

      November 12, 2020 at 11:23 am

      Can you use boneless, skinless chix breasts?

      Reply
      • Sara says

        November 12, 2020 at 6:32 pm

        You can but you’ll want to adjust the cooking time down a bit so that they don’t dry out!

        Reply
  8. Pamela says

    October 30, 2020 at 9:06 am

    Can I add cheese to the recipe? Appreciate your recommendations!

    Reply
    • Sara says

      October 31, 2020 at 10:00 pm

      Yes cheddar would be great!

      Reply
  9. Katherine Kelley says

    October 21, 2020 at 12:10 pm

    5 stars
    Have made this at least once a month since your recipe was first posted, with the addition of Tarragon, which for me took it from 5 to 10 stars. This is my favorite chicken & rice recipe! Going to experiment tonight as I have a lot of leftover rotisserie chicken in the freezer, thinking to stir the shredded chicken in the last couple minutes to warm it up. Not usually so brave, will let y’all know how it goes!

    Reply
  10. anna says

    September 19, 2020 at 9:47 am

    could I use brown rice?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      September 19, 2020 at 9:51 pm

      That should work but the cook time could change since brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice!

      Reply
  11. Charlene Weatherbee says

    September 13, 2020 at 3:54 am

    5 stars
    I think everyone should know that this recipe makes a lot. Really a lot! But I think it will freeze well ( yes?) so yay for quick delicious, warming dinner another day too!

    Reply
  12. Elizabeth says

    September 1, 2020 at 3:11 pm

    5 stars
    My mom made this while we were growing up, so I was thrilled to find it here, thank you! Her trick was to turn the breasts upside down to start, then right side up during the uncovered last bit – the meat was incredibly juicy with a fabulously crisp skin. I’m making it tonight!

    Reply
  13. Ellen says

    August 10, 2020 at 4:37 pm

    Can I use chicken wings for this recipe?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      August 11, 2020 at 3:18 pm

      I don’t think that would be a good choice since they’re so small, they’d be more likely to dry out before the rice is cooked.

      Reply
      • Sherri says

        December 2, 2020 at 3:59 pm

        Can you make it with biscuits on top?

        Reply
        • Sara says

          December 2, 2020 at 4:56 pm

          I haven’t tried it this way, where would you put the biscuits?

          Reply
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With 3 young kids, dinner can feel like feeding time at the zoo! I'm a mom on a mission to create easy, healthy and family friendly recipes ...Read More
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