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.
4 Ingredient Chicken & Rice Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 cup long grain white rice uncooked
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 package onion soup mix or use homemade
- 10 ounces cream of mushroom soup condensed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Spray 9×13 pan with cooking spray. 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.
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Holly, if I cubed the chicken thighs for the creamy chicken. & rice, would that change cooking time or temp ?
Hi Robert, this recipe cooks until the rice is tender. So I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure, but cubing the chicken likely will not change the cook time.
I used long grain white rice and mixed it into the soup/water mixture before adding and made sure it was all submerged, but after 1.5 hours the rice was still hard and unpleasant. Did i use the correct rice? The taste is good. My oven runs hot, even. Idk if i would make this again, because of the rice.
I’m sorry to hear that Allison. We do use long grain white rice. We have made this recipe many many times and it should be cooked after the time indicated, and if not, you may want to bake a little longer.
I sprinkled raw rice on bottom of pan then place chicken on top. I sprinkled the onion soup mix (your recipe) onto the chicken and the rice that was showing. Then I whisked the soup and water together and poured over top. Baked at 315 degrees (my oven is screwy and tends to run very hot) for 1 1/2 hours. PERFECT and delicious!
the rice had an overpowering salty onion flavor. The chicken was dry and bland. We dumped the rice in the trash and attempted to salvage the chicken breasts by dipping them in bbq sauce.
Loved it! I’m going to make it again tonight and try adding some broccoli for a twist.
I usually don’t comment but this recipe came out amazing. I cut chicken in strips browned a little, seasoned added rice cream of mushroom and water mixture with a little more cream of mushroom soup and fresh asparagus seasoned a little more. Covered and baked. Delicious and yes try nestling rice on bottom or in between chicken
Our family LOVES this and it’s quick for me to prepare. For those complaining about the rice, try using a rice pilaf mix like Near East long grain rice and make sure the rice is under the liquid when you pop it in the oven. Deelish.
Yep the rice on top of chicken took longer to cook. I find that if you take a fork and spread it into the sauce it works better. Next time I will incorporate the soup and water plus the rice before adding. Also I added lots of spices to the chicken prior. We are older and our tastebuds don’t work like they used too. I will definitely make this again with just a few changes. It was quite yummy.
The had a good taste but the rice was undercooked. I will partially cook the rice first.
Thank you for this recipe. If I make the homemade onion soup mix, how much do I use of it in this recipe?
5 tablespoons of homemade soup mix is equal to 1 packet of soup mix. I hope this helps Lisa!
Thank you so much the 5 Tablespoons of homemade soup mix worked out perfectly and the flavor was just wonderful! My family loved this recipe and it was so, SO easy!
Worst recipe I’ve ever used. The rice didn’t cook, horrible. The chicken was pale looking.
Next time I’ll wing it
I wish I would have read the 12/11 review before I made this. The rice wasn’t close to finished after 1.5 hours. I need to find my old The oven temp needs to be increased or cook longer.
I made this recipe with large boneless chicken breast. I used 2 breasts but made the complete sauce and rice. The rice and sauce was delicious at 1 hr and 15 min but the breast was so dry it was really not eatable. I covered tightly with heavy duty foil also. I looked at video to see if BONE IN breasts were use which would make sense for 1 hr and 15 min. Sorry it did not work because the prep time was easy . Any remarks please
Sorry to hear it was dry. I have made this many times and it worked for me. Other readers suggested using larger chicken breasts. Hope it works for you!
Could the soup be switched to cream of chicken?
Any cream of soup should work just fine in this recipe Elizabeth! If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
While the chicken thighs were cooked through, the jasmine rice I used was very undercooked and hard… even with 10 min more time added. I am trying to save this by removing the chicken and cooking rice in the liquid longer and at higher temp (375) in the covered casserole. I imagine this works just fine with some thing like a minute rice but clearly this recipe must be adjusted to let people know which type of rice works best. Simply saying long grain white rice is not adequate. Disappointed
Rice was good but chicken was tough and tasteless. Next time I’ll marinate chicken in buttermilk for 24 hours.
Before I cook it I’ll season chicken well with something that brings the flavor out more.
Been in oven for 75 minutes and rice is no where near done. Is still very liquidy. Pretty disappointed right now! Oven temp recently checked and correct. 325 isn’t proving hot enough.
Can you use thighs instead of breast?
Hi Don, chicken thighs have worked well for other readers. Sounds like there is no need to change anything, just ensure the chicken is cooked to 165°F.
Really delicious, I add extra mushrooms and broccoli
I’m taking this to a friend. It looks and smells great. However, some of the rice on top of the chicken did not get cooked. I will definitely put the rice in the pan first next time. Also, I cut the chicken breasts into thirds; I did not put them in whole.
I’m making tonight so hopefully I’ll see your answer first. Is it ok to cut up the chicken first? Would this change the cooking time?
I have not tried cutting up the chicken first, but other readers have with success. I would not reduce the cook time as the rice will need the full cook time. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
The rice was crunchy and it just tasted like onions.
I’m sorry to hear that Heather. Did you use long-grain white rice? We have made this recipe many many times and it should be cooked after the time indicated, and if not, you may want to bake a little longer. Ovens can vary in their heat, so that could be another reason.