This 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.
Casserole recipes always hit the spot, and my family enjoys favorites such as pierogi casserole, King Ranch chicken, chicken enchilada casserole, beef noodle casserole and this creamy chicken and rice dish.
This easy 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 rice in creamy sauce?
Table of Contents
Chicken And Rice Casserole Ingredients
This dish is made with simple ingredients that are easy to find in any grocery store.
- Chicken Pieces: I find this recipe works best with bone-in, skin-on chicken such as drumsticks and/or chicken thighs. You can also use bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. Boneless chicken does not work as well, as it may dry out before the rice is done cooking.
- Rice: This recipe calls for long grain white rice. It will not set properly with minute rice. If you choose to use brown rice, you’ll need to add more water and possibly increase the cooking time.
- Cream Soup: I use cream of chicken, cream of celery and cream of mushroom soups for maximum flavor. It is ok to use low sodium or light versions of the cream soups. You can also just use one or two types of soup if that’s what you have on hand, so long as it still amounts to three cans.
- Water: This ingredient is to hydrate the rice. I do not recommend substituting chicken broth because you could end up with an overly salty casserole.
- Butter: I add butter to this dish to give it a little richness, it also helps to ensure the chicken will brown nicely.
- Seasonings: The chicken is seasoned with a blend of salt, pepper and paprika.
- Parsley: A little fresh chopped parsley adds extra flavor and a bright color to this dish.
How Do You Make Chicken And Rice Casserole?
Place the rice, water and cans of soup in a casserole dish and stir to combine. Add the chicken pieces on top of the rice, and season the chicken with butter, salt, pepper and paprika. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Uncover and bake a little longer until the rice is tender and the chicken is browned. If you prefer chicken with a crispy skin, you can broil the casserole for a few more minutes. Add a sprinkle of parsley, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- It’s important to use bone-in, skin-on chicken for the best results. Boneless skinless chicken can get dry during the longer cooking time.
- This dish can be assembled up to 4 hours before you plan to bake it. Store it covered in the refrigerator until you are ready to put it in the oven.
- Leftovers will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I do not recommend freezing this dish as the rice will change texture when it’s thawed.
- Serve your casserole with a veggie or a salad on the side. Some of my favorites include mandarin orange salad, asparagus salad, mustard greens, sautéed mushrooms and onions and fennel salad.
Quick Tip
Cream soups contain plenty of sodium, so add extra salt to this dish sparingly!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can cook raw chicken and rice together. This is best achieved in casserole form, so that the two can cook together in the even heat of the oven, and be done at approximately the same time.
Generally speaking, a chicken casserole will bake at 350 degrees F. For this particular recipe, after the initial baking time, the temperature is increased to 400 degrees F to give the chicken a chance to brown.
In this casserole, the cream soups add all the flavor to the rice. Generally speaking, when making rice, you can amp up the flavor with additions such as broth, sauteed onions, fresh herbs or minced garlic.
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Chicken And Rice Casserole Flavor 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, green beans, carrots or broccoli to the dish before it goes into the oven.
- Cheese: Sprinkle 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese over the top during the last 10 minutes of the baking time.
- Herbs: Add extra flavor with additional varieties of herbs such as thyme, dill, green onions or fresh basil.
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!
More Great Chicken Recipes
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Chicken Santa Fe
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Chicken And rice casserole video
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Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
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.
Notes
- It’s important to use bone-in, skin-on chicken for the best results. Boneless skinless chicken can get dry during the longer cooking time.
- This dish can be assembled up to 4 hours before you plan to bake it. Store it covered in the refrigerator until you are ready to put it in the oven.
- Leftovers will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
If iused mintue rice can i add it the last ten minutes of cooking time?
My only concern with that is that the rice may not soak up the liquid in the same way that regular rice would over a longer baking time. You may end up with a soupy casserole.
Can you add broccoli to the rice mixture? If so do I need to add more water? This looks so much like a recipe I had over 35 years ago.
Yes you can add broccoli, you shouldn’t need to add more water!
Can you substitute the cream of celery with on of the other soups?
Absolutely, you can use whichever cream soup flavors you like!
Could I make this ahead of time? Thanks!
Yes you can!
All I have is boneless/skinless chicken thighs on hand. Should I cut the baking time down so they don’t dry out? Or add them later after the rice cooks a bit?
You can cut down the cooking time and it should work just fine!
Cut the baking time down to what? (For boneless, skinless, chicken thighs)
I’d bake it for an hour, then uncover and bake for 15 minutes.
About to try this recipe! Would I have to use a rice measuring cup, or a regular measuring cup?
I just use a regular measuring cup!
This was really good. First time I have made this kind of recipe and the rice did not turn out greasy. The rice was perfect and the chicken so tender. Definitely going to make again.
Can u put cooked rice in the cassoulet or it has to be uncooked
Can u use cooked rice or not or does it have to be un cooked
It should be uncooked rice!
Best recipe I’ve tried in a long time! Have made this about 4 times in the past 6 weeks or so. It took a little experimenting to cut it down to 2-4 servings and still have the rice come out perfectly, but Wow! this is good. My husband and I like garlic, so added a few cloves diced fine. If you like Tarragon, try it with a few shakes in the rice mixture plus a little sprinkled on the chicken, makes a world of difference taste-wise plus the smell while it’s baking is mouth-watering!
Lay chicken breasts on top of cooked yellow rice, add soups/ cup of wine, lay a slice of swiss cheese on top of each chicken, add bread crumbs then drizzle with melted butter. Delicious.
Couldn’t I brown the chicken first which would probably cut the baking time?
Yes you can brown the chicken first!
If I browned the chicken how much can I reduce the baking time? 1 hour covered, and half hour uncovered?
Yes that should work!
I make a similar casserole using brown rice, chicken, celery, mushrooms, bullion cubes and water….Everything cooks up quite nice. Wonderful flavors…
Can I use minute rice?
Regular rice is best as minute rice may be mushy due to the long cook time.
Can you use any other meats like pork chops?
I have not tried pork chops but would be concerned that they could dry out during the bake time unless you used a thick cut bone in chop.
Can you use brown rice or jasmine rice? I’m assuming this isn’t instant rice?
Yes any variety except instant will work!
Would this dish be ok to freeze? Reheat in oven or microwave?
I have never tried freezing it before, if you decide to try it, please report back and let me know how it goes!
This sounds so incredibly good! Could you use brown rice instead of white? All I have on hand is brown.
Brown rice should work just fine!
Have you ever made this with boneless chicken breasts?
I would recommend bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, only because the boneless breasts will dry out during the long bake time.
How long would it need to be cooked if I were to double the ingredients?
This recipe as written fills up a 9×13 dish, you could probably squeeze in another couple of pieces of chicken with no ill effects but there likely wouldn’t be enough room in that size dish to double the rice. If you have a larger baking dish than 9×13 you can double the recipe, the cook time should be the same.
I know this will taste great but the amount of sodium in it is so very bad for my family due to congestion heart failure! I will need to figure out how to make it 38th less sodium!
You can buy low sodium soups!
You can make your own homemade condensed cream of soups also.
You could make a white sauce and use it instead of the soups, then you would be able to control the sodium. You could use the sauce that’s used in chicken a la king. I use the recipe in the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.
Agreed. The cream soups add a lot of salt. I will have to adjust it. Otherwise good weeknight dish.
My suggestion would be to combine a white sauce with low sodium soups for the liquid, use unsalted butter, and instead of salt & pepper, a no-salt seasoning (like Mrs. Dash.
Well done! Speaking as you mother in law, I have to say you have improved the old family recipe and made it even better! Yum!