Chicken Rice Casserole makes for a crowd-pleasing dinner that comes together in under 5 minutes of prep time.
Made with only 4 ingredients, this dish has juicy chicken breasts and tender rice in a deliciously creamy sauce. This is a casserole that meal packs a lot of flavor in a filling one dish dinner and a meal that everyone will love!
Enjoy!
There is nothing like Chicken Rice Casserole for dinner. This dish is deliciously easy, creamy and totally satisfying and you’ll never believe it needs just 4 ingredients!
This is a special dish because the recipe comes from my BFF, Penny and she’s been making this for years. It’s her go-to, must have, favorite easy weeknight meal that I just had to try.
I have to admit, when I first made it I knew it would be tasty but… I had NO idea what I was in for and it’d definitely become a regular in our rotation!
This easy dish comes together in under 5 minutes, it’s one of the quickest dinner preps on my whole site (along with One Pot Pizza Tortellini Bake).
This dish is belly warming and comforting while being simple and easy to make, it’s like serving a nice warm hug from your Mom!
The chicken comes out incredibly tender and juicy, the rice is perfectly cooked in a rich and creamy sauce and the whole thing is loaded with flavor!
This easy Chicken Rice Casserole takes about an hour to bake (depending on your oven, you may need a few extra minutes but for me it’s about an hour), but that is one of the things that make it kind of the perfect dish.
We’ve made this just as written over and over but I’ve also added a little bit of onion to the bottom of the pan or a couple of handfuls of fresh mushrooms.
With very little minimal prep time, you can slide this casserole into the oven and relax, or maybe help with homework without feeling the usual dinner time rush!
5 minutes of work, and then perhaps a glass of wine or read your book for an hour? I feel like that’s a good idea for ALL weeknights!
I use homemade onion soup mix in this recipe, but you can use the kind in the envelope if you haven’t had a chance to mix up a batch yet. The flavor will be amazing either way!
My friend Penny also said she sometimes replaces the onion soup mix with a packet of gravy mix depending on what she has on hand!
If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, this makes for a delicious lunch the following day.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup long grain white rice uncooked
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 ounce dry onion soup mix 1 packet or use homemade
- 10.5 ounces condensed cream of mushroom soup 1 can
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Spray a 9×13-inch casserole dish or glass baking pan with cooking spray (the rice doesn't cook well in a metal pan). Add chicken breasts and season with salt & pepper.
- Pour uncooked rice over chicken. Sprinkle with onion soup mix.
- Combine mushrooms soup and 1 ½ cups of water. Pour over chicken.
- Cover and bake 1 hour 15 minutes or until rice is tender.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Main Course
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Could you use chicken stock in place of the water? Also I know that you used long grain white rice, but could you use minute rice?
Hi Clarissa,
Last Sunday I made this for my family. I used chicken stock. I found it cooked a little faster and got dry. If you want to use chicken stock for extra flavor, I would recommend half water and half chicken stock, to keep it from cooking down too fast! I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Bake at what. 375
I mad this tonight and it didnt turn out right. There was still a lot of water when i pulled it out. Any suggestions on why it didnt turn out?
That is disappointing. Was it covered tightly?
325 degrees. It’s a low and dloe recipe so the rice can cool and the chicken will be tender
That looks amazing and super easy. Do you think minute rice would work? That’s what I have on hand right now? (Not sure what the diff is exactly lol).
Thamks a bunch!
Beth
Minute rice won’t work. Long grain rice or any rice that cooks for 20-25 minutes on the stove top is what is being called for in this recipe.
I have been making this for 50 years. I use the minute rice because I don’t care for the long grain
Minute rice works perfectly fine with this recipe.
I see you keep repeating white long grain rice. I use Jasmine rice all the time. Not knowing the differences in rices, can Jasmine rice be used for this recipe? My family loves rice and loves chicken, diffenitely making this :-)
I think you could use Jasmine rice for delicious results!
Can I make this in the crockpot? If so how much time should I give it?
I make a lot for senior church groups and hope chicken tenders will do well in this dish. I will triple the ingredients for 16 people.
What kind of gravy mix would you use?
Yes!
Looks great. What are the nutrional values on this?
Think this can be adapted for a crockpot? Like maybe reduce the 1/2 or more of the water and cook on low? I work two jobs and I either have to cook in the crock pot or it has to be made within 20mins, so even tho this is a great recipe I just don’t have an hour to cook it. Any suggestions?
Use chicken tenders, they’ll cook faster. (That’s my plan for tonight!)
Do you want the chicken breast thawed, or can they be frozen?
Did you end up using raw chicken? If so, how’d it turn out?
I made this tonight and I must say this is EXCELLENT!! I Googled “Easy Chicken and Rice Recipe” and this one caught my eye with only 4 ingredients, I thought, let me give this a try. I read through the most recent reviews to see what I should be on the look out for; crunchy rice seemed to be the most common complaint. Mom taught me that water to rice ratio is 2 tp1, why would I bake rice in less water than what I would use to cook it on the stove top? Not complaining because that is THE ONLY thing I changed about this based on the reviews. The flavors are perfect and it’s so filling!! Thank you, this will be a staple!!
You’re welcome! So happy to hear that you love this casserole so much!
My husband can’t eat mushrooms, so I’ll be making this with cream of chicken soup! Or maybe cream of celery!!
I’ve used cream of chicken many times with this recipe!
Can you use pork chops instead of chicken and if so, would you cook the same amount of time?
Thanks
You could try pork chops but their texture is completely different, so it would require a different amount of cooking time.
Hello could you cook this in a slow cooker.. if so how long..would it be low for 8 hrs or would that be too long sorry work full time and wiuld not have time to cook after work… tia.
Hi,
This is probably a silly question… but do you cook the chicken before you bake it or do you put it in raw? TIA.
The chicken goes in raw.
I used Brown rice and added peppers it was amazing!
So glad you loved it, peppers would be amazing in this!
I made with long grain wild rice and it was awesome! My husband loved it! Actually it’s in the oven now!!!
Did you have to alter the cooing time with using brown rice?
how much water did you have to add and how many minutes to cook the rice?
Is the cooking time the same with brown rice?
You guys never really say what kind of rice, minute rice, long cooking rice, what type of rice please
Long grain white rice.
I assume it’s regular rice, not the minute rice.
Yes that is what white long grain rice is no where in the recipe does it say minute rice
This recipe is the same as mine except I us equal amount of cream of mushroom and cream of celery. Mix with minute rice. Mixture should be thick, spread in oiled pan, cover in water and cut slits in it. Put your chicken on top and crushed up Lipton onion soup mix sprinkled over it all. One pkg should do. Cover, bake 350 degrees for about 50 minutes , then dig in.
Dana, do you mean cover with foil, not water?
Unless a recipe specifies Minute or other type of rice, it almost always means generic white long-grain regular rice, not pre-cooked, par-boiled (Uncle Ben’s), or instant (Minute). Never use instant rice in a recipe unless it specifically calls for it.
Wow..went to Walmart… stopped at hardware store…with husband…so it took an extended time….and of course it was Lowe’s..so I had to check out the spring stuff then to pharmacy.. to wait of course… then home. Chop and bag the weeks lunch stuff(grape tomatoes, celery, peppers etc).. run stuff to the compost…talk to neighbor over the fence and STILL MADE DINNER AND ITS ONLY 4:25…..BAM.. made the 4 ingredient chicken and rice tonight AND I can still watch TV tonight…yay
YAY!! And now everything’s done! Enjoy a relaxing evening!
Hi! What type of rice, like can I use minute rice? This recipe looks devine
I used long grain white rice.
I use the minute rice and I’ve been making it since I was a teen ( I ‘m 65) I don’t care for the long grain rice cause it takes longer to cook.
When using the minute rice, do you use the same amount of water as called for in this recipe?
I accidentally used minute rice instead of the long grain! I just wasn’t thinking. Out of habit I usually cook with minute rice. Oops! I’m wondering how you made it work with using minute rice and how long you cooked it for. I’m worried I ruined the dish.
How did it turn out with minute rice
Could you use brown rice?
Yes!
Do I put the chicken in raw or cooked?
The chicken is raw.
The chicken Rice Casserole sounds delicious – I
can’t wait to try it! Have you ever tried to use the
cauliflower “rice” in the recipe? If so, how did you
adjust the recipe (quantity, liquid, etc.) Thanks for
sharing.
I haven’t tried it but if you do, I’d suggest eliminating most or all of the water. The rice soaks up the water and cauliflower may produce a little bit of liquid as well.
Hi Holly!
I’ve made this dish and LOVE it. Just wondering if I needed to double quantity of rice if I would also increase the cooking time as well as water/mushroom soup combo?
I have only made this as written so I can’t say for sure how much time it would take if you doubled the rice.
Not all my rice cooked all the way!! What did u do wrong?!?
Did you add the water to the casserole? Was your casserole tightly covered?
I doubled the rice but used a bigger can of Cream of CHicken soup, added 2 cups of rice with 3 cups of water and it cooked perfectly in 75 minutes. Just so you know. I prefer the Cream of chicken over mushroom but has added broccoli to this and it turned out great.
I have been making this for years. I use the instant rice and the amount of water it calls for and no need to increase the cooking time
Funny you “asked” if u could use minute rice & then 9 months later you say you’ve been making this recipe since you were a teen and your 65 now. Ha ha ha ha ha
Kat- that was a different Linda. Linda Oaks asked about the rice, Linda Ross has been making it for years. ;)
You used the amount of water in his recipe for the minute rice?
But instant rice is disgusting