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.
So simple, so very good! Thank you for sharing!
So glad you loved it!
Made this today because my mushrooms went bad for another recipe Took seriously 5 minutes and was done in an hour! I used minute rice and thin slices chicken breast and everything was perfectly done!!! Love this recipe and will make again and again when need something fast and kinda healthy! These are all ingredients most have in their pantries at all times!
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
This was an awesome meal. My family and I loved it. It will definitely be made again in the near future.
I am so glad this recipe was a hit with your family!
I’ve looked at all the comments but I didn’t see the answer so I’ll ask the question again….
If you use brown rice how much water should I use & how about cooking time?
I’m sure it would work however I’ve only tried this with white rice. Please let us know how it works out for you if you tried it!
Great recipe. Easy and only 4 ingredients. Will make again.
Horrible recipe. Followed it exactly, checked the chicken and it’s still completely raw! Whoever wrote this recipe shouldn’t quit their day job.
This is my day job. :) Chicken breast should definitely not be raw after cooking it for 1 hour and 15 minutes, have you checked your oven temperature runs at the right temperature?
I made this tonight and it was absolutely AMAZING!! I used 1 1/2 cups of rice and since I was cooking 2 cans of cut green beans, I used 1 1/2 cup of the juice from the beans and 1/2 cup water and mixed it with the cream of mushroom soup. The only thing I changed was a little more rice and enough liquid to compensate. The ones of you that said the rice was still hard….. The list of ingredients doesn’t have the water listed but if you read on, it says to sprinkle onion soup mix on top of rice then it says to mix the can of mushroom soup with 1 1/2 cup of water then pour over the top of everything. Mine turned out very creamy and seasoned perfectly. I paired it with the green beans seasoned with butter and mesquite seasoning and cooked til most of liquid is gone (taste like fresh beans like that) and toasted some garlic bread. I will start using this as my go to recipe. It made a lot! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
My mother in law made this dish and it was always yummy. But I make it and not so. The rice cooks up mushy. I am hoping to try again using your method. It must be a mother in law thing.
A little different. We used one can of cream of mushroom soup or chicken soup and one can of golden mushroom soup and 2 cups of water or chicken stock. A teacher gave us this recipe about 50 years ago and we have been using it frequently ever since. There times we substitute a cup of wine instude of one of the cups of water, that gives us a different flavor since we serve it a lot. Our 3 boys loved it and have taught their wives how to make it. I guess our version would not be classified a penny recipe.
I love recipe that are handed down like this. Wine is always a good idea in my opinion and will be trying your version soon!
Super easy – I loved it!
Happy to hear that Darla!
Was wondering instead of the mushroom soup could I use something different want to make this looks delicious just not a fan of mushrooms?
“Cream of” anything should work just fine in this recipe. Celery or chicken are great options!
Holly, I made this tonight; and it was delicious!!!!! :-) Only thing I altered was I used cream of chicken soup, but time was spot on; thank you soo much for sharing; it’s a DEFINITE KEEPER!!! Looking forward to making others of your recipes, soo easy and fast it’s a 5 star meal without a doubt. :-)
I’m so glad you loved it! :) Thank you!!
I was thinking of using broccoli and cheese soup and ranch packet. Should I use all water or one cup of water and 1/2 cup of milk?
I haven’t tried it with ranch mix but I would follow the same directions as listed in the recipe.
I only have instant rice on hand. How long do you suggest I bake the chicken, if there is no rice mixed in? Just the chicken, onion mix, and soup
I have only tried this recipe as written. Please let us know how this works out if you try it.
Did you use glass or metal pan?
In this case I used a glass pan.
I’ve made this recipe several times for my ridiculously picky husband who does not like casseroles….and he loves it! I do have to bake it at 350 or it will never get done. I even goofed this time and only used 1 cup of water instead of 1 1/2 and I think it was even better, much thicker sauce.
So glad he loved it!!
This is so good! But instead of mushroom soup I used cream of chicken so delicious!
Can you make this in a crockpot
This is sooo delicious (and having a fiancé on crutches for the next 3 months) it’s incredibly easy to prep! I don’t quite use 1 and a half cups of water; I cut it down just a bit to make the rice and cream mixture thicker. Love this recipe!
I do not recommend using the homemade onion soup mix recipes advice of 5 T= 1 pack of onion soup mix, I only used 4 and it was WAY too salty! 2 T would’ve been much better.