Easy Chicken Rice Casserole – A One-Dish Comforting Meal

This one-dish chicken and rice casserole requires few ingredients, is packed full of flavor, and is the perfect dish whether you need an easy weeknight meal or a dish to pass at the next potluck.

I’m from the Midwest, so of course I love a good old comforting casserole! There’s just something so simple and filling about a casserole that makes you feel right at home. (For all you who are anti-casseroles, you can just see yourself out!)

I got the base for this casserole recipe from my husband’s family. It was one of the first non-Hamburger Helper-type dishes that I ever made. (Trust me, I did not grow up a natural cook or baker! I’ve come a LONG way since I was first married.)

While this chicken rice casserole might not be the healthiest meal out there, sometimes you just need a meal that is simple to put together, hands off as it bakes, and will fill you up right! It’s become a go-to when our family has a busy weeknight at home and I just want to throw a meal together quickly to cook while we do our family things.

This recipe calls for the use of three different cream of condensed soups. Yes, three. You can definitely use homemade “cream of” soups if you prefer. Besides the soup, there are only three other ingredients – that’s it!

How To Make Easy Chicken Rice Casserole

*Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the full recipe, including exact measurements and amounts. You can also print out the instructions. I go into a bit more detail about the recipe here first, just in case you need it.

Ingredients

This casserole only takes six simple ingredients to make. You can adjust the flavors slightly by swapping out the cream of XYZ soups for a different flavor if you want to play around with it some. This is the combination that we usually stick to. It’s hard to mess with tried-and-true when you know this one works so well!

• Chicken – You can use either raw chicken or leftovers from a rotisserie chicken or another meal. If you are using raw chicken, it will need to be fully cooked and shredded before adding it to the casserole.
• Butter – The original recipe calls for an entire stick of butter (or eight tablespoons). To make it a tiny bit healthier, I cut the amount back to six tablespoons. If you feel like your casserole is a bit too dry after baking, increase the butter back to the full amount.  
• White Rice – Don’t use instant in this recipe or it might end up too mushy when the cooking time is done.
• Cream of Mushroom Soup – Campbell’s is always our go-to for condensed cream of whatever soups. Feel free to swap this out for homemade if you have a good recipe for that!
• Cream of Celery Soup
• Cream of Chicken Soup

Equipment Needed

As for kitchen gear, you are going to need a 9×13 or similar casserole dish that has an oven-safe lid. If you don’t have an oven-safe lid, you can use heavy-duty foil to cover the dish.

This is when I usually bust out my old Corningware bakeware with the glass lid. The oval 2.5-qt baking dish works perfectly for this recipe! (Product Link: CorningWare Ceramic Bakeware Set with Lids)

Otherwise, a basic glass 9×13 baking dish and a bit of foil work just fine (like what I used in these photos).

Instructions For Easy Chicken Rice Casserole

Start by preheating your oven to 300º Fahrenheit. Low and slow is the game with this recipe. I love that option because I can prepare the ingredients and stick them in the oven while I go about my work at home. Then, in a few hours, dinner is ready!

If you are using raw chicken, get that cooked now in whatever method you prefer. When I use chicken tenders, I don’t mess with cutting them. If I use chicken breasts, however, I like to cut the breast into smaller pieces to allow it to cook a little quicker.

To cook chicken the way I like to do it, season each side with a little bit of pepper and salt. Cook the chicken in a hot cast iron skillet seasoned with a little bit of your preferred oil. (I like to use tallow when cooking chicken in our cast iron skillet.) Cook the chicken until the internal temperature reads at least 165º Fahrenheit.

Whatever chicken you use, shred it and set it aside for the moment. I despise shredding meat, so I like to use my handy little shredder tool. It works so well and I couldn’t recommend it more! Product Link: Chicken Shredder Large Chicken Breast Shredder Tool)

Mix The Ingredients

Next, get your butter melted. If I need to cook the chicken, I like to stick my baking dish in the preheating oven with the butter in the bottom of the dish. As I cook the chicken, the oven preheats and melts the butter. Just don’t forget about it or else you will end up with browned butter!

Remove the casserole when the butter has fully melted. Or, just stick the butter in the microwave to melt. That works too!

Now, another shortcut I do to make this easy chicken casserole recipe even easier is to mix all of the ingredients directly in the baking dish. You just have to be a bit careful to clean the sides after mixing. (Well, if you are messy like me!) Otherwise, you can just use a large bowl for mixing and then just pour the ingredients into the casserole dish.

Start with the melted butter in the bottom of the baking dish or bowl. Add the rice and mix until the rice is completely coated with the butter. Next, add the three condensed soups to the casserole dish and carefully mix them and the rice together.

Once those are combined, dump in the shredded chicken. Stir it together with the other ingredients until everything is fully mixed. If you used a bowl, pour all of the ingredients into the casserole dish now.

Cover & Bake – Easy Chicken Rice Casserole

Cover the dish with the oven-safe lid or heavy-duty foil and bake for 2.5 to 3 hours. The rice around the sides of the dish should be slightly browned when it is done.

Serve the chicken and rice casserole with your favorite side dishes like Sautéed Garlic Butter Zucchini, 7-Layer Salad, or a more refreshing side dish like Summertime Fruit Salad. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. (I think it is just as good warmed up the next day!) Enjoy!

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
– Chelsea

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