Chicken & Rice Casserole

An easy casserole recipe for creamy rice and fork-tender chicken that cooks in one dish. No need to precook the rice or brown the chicken first – just mix and bake!

If you’ve been with me very long you know how much I love rice. It is my verrrrrry favorite food of all time! Not plain rice, mind you (though I like it too), I mean savory dishes made with rice.

My baby boy – well, he’s 12 now so I guess he’s not a baby anymore except he is because he’ll always be my baby – asked me the other day what one food I would pick if I could only have one thing for the rest of my life.

I quickly answered that I would choose rice! He opened his mouth to tell me his answer (which was probably something like Milk Duds) then stopped and just looked at me for a minute…

Then he asked if he chose rice too would that include fried rice, the rice at our favorite Mexican restaurant and chicken bog (like, who am I? the hypothetical game rule maker??). I said sure, why not?! then he told me he wanted to change his answer to rice too.

That apple didn’t fall far from the tree, eh?

I have a few rice casserole dishes I make all the time (I’ll list them below) that include ground beef, pork chops or sausage but none that are made with chicken so this weekend I decided to make a new casserole recipe using chicken and rice!

I used chicken broth and cream of celery because I think chicken and celery just go together but also because – and this is weird – I really love cream of celery soup for cooking! They’ve come a looooooong way with canned creamed soups so I use them more than I once did but I especially like cooking with cream of celery. If it’s not your thing, feel free to use whichever variety you like best!

My fear about using cream of chicken in this was that I didn’t want the dish to be too “chickeny”… I wanted there to be some other flavor kicking around in the dish. And since Husband haaaaaates mushrooms, I didn’t use cream of mushroom. But again, use whichever you like best!

I’m sitting here typing this up, about to start with the actual recipe, and I got to thinking about something. I see beautiful chicken and rice casserole recipes online all the time but when I click over to look at them, most of them are made with instant rice and I HATE INSTANT RICE so I suck my teeth and move on.

So, I started wondering why?

What’s wrong with me that I hate instant rice so much? So, I googled it and learned a little about what the difference is. It’s not that I’m a rice snob (well, I kinda am because my part of the South is BIG on rice and we pride ourselves on our rice-making ability), it’s because it’s a stripped-down, processed version of regular rice!

Check out this article from The Watering Mouth that explains more about the process of how instant rice is produced. In summary, the writer, Cheri, says:

“This process removes virtually all nutrition that the rice could have contained along with most of the flavor and almost all of the texture. What you’re left with is a mushy, shell of a rice grain that has practically no redeeming qualities.”

Preach it, sister!!

PREACH IT!!

If you love main dish casseroles made with rice, check out a few of these recipes too!

• Sausage & Rice Casserole - a simple recipe perfect for supper, side dishes, potlucks and Thanksgiving (sometimes called Rice Dressing).
• Pork Chop & Rice Casserole - An easy pork chop bake made with rice and French onion soup.
• Jailhouse Rice - A delicious casserole recipe with rice, ground beef and sausage perfect for feeding a crowd.
• Hamburger & Rice Casserole - Ground beef and rice baked together in a classic casserole recipe that's easy to make your own.

Chicken & Rice Casserole

Yield: 6 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 1 H & 25 MTotal time: 1 H & 35 M

An easy casserole recipe for creamy rice and fork-tender chicken that cooks in one dish. No need to precook the rice or brown the chicken first – just mix and bake!

Ingredients

• 3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 14.5-oz cans chicken broth
• 2 10.5-oz cans cream of celery soup
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 cups uncooked white rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Additional salt & pepper

Instructions

1. Combine chicken broth, cream of celery soup, butter and rice in a bowl then stir to combine.
2. Combine salt, paprika, garlic and pepper then stir well. Add HALF of the seasoning combination to the rice mixture then stir well.
3. Spray a 3-qt 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray (or rub with butter) then pour rice mixture into dish.
4. Cut each chicken breast in half. Season the chicken with additional salt and pepper. Arrange chicken on top of rice mixture then sprinkle the remaining seasoning combination over the dish.
5. Cover tightly with aluminum foil then bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove aluminum foil then continue baking for 10 additional minutes. Remove from oven then allow dish to rest 10-15 minutes before serving.

Notes:

It is imperative that the dish be covered tightly with aluminum foil – consider covering with two layers.

If rice is not tender, return foil to dish then continue baking for 5-10 minutes (my rice was perfectly tender but all ovens do not cook the same).

You must use a 3-qt or larger baking dish for this recipe to prevent the dish from cooking over. Mine was pretty darn close to the brim while it was cooking. Consider placing a cookie sheet under your dish to prevent any messes. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have sometimes, ya know?

Feel free to use cream of chicken or mushroom soup instead of cream of celery.

Cutting the chicken into two pieces is totally optional. Feel free to leave the chicken breasts whole.

This recipe could easily be cut in half. If using a 13x9 dish, reduce the cooking time to 1 hour with additional 5 minutes uncovered. If using something smaller, cook per the instructions above.

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