This Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole is a family favorite full of flavorful rice and creamy sauce with celery, mushrooms and chicken. It only takes 10 minutes to get it into the oven which makes it perfect for busy nights! If you have leftovers they heat up well.
How to Make Great Chicken and Rice Casserole
Chicken and Rice Casserole is a classic that most people love but there are a lot of BAD recipes out there. Often they are boring, bland or even dry! It is a simple dinner, sure, but there is no reason it can’t have amazing flavor!
This easy recipe is my answer to America’s favorite casserole. Lots of bold flavor but still a simple dinner that you can tweak any way you like for your family. Love cheese? By all means add some! Kids won’t eat mushrooms? Leave them out. Want more veggies? Add broccoli or carrots? Make it the way you love it!
Drop me a line in the comments and let me know how your family likes to eat it!
Tools In This Post: A digital thermometer is one of my most important kitchen tools. It is handy to make sure my chicken is fully cooked but not overdone. My favorite brand is ThermoPro. This one is on sale right now for about 1/3 or regular price!
More Easy Chicken Dinners
- Cheesy Hatch Chile Chicken Bake
- Instant Pot Chicken and Rice With Mushrooms
- White Enchiladas With Chicken and Rice
Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 cups celery diced
- 8 cremini mushrooms sliced
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup uncooked rice short grain white
- 2 Tablespoons dehydrated onion
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/2 teaspoon course ground black pepper
- 1 package dry onion soup mix
- 2 cans condensed cream soup celery, mushroom or chicken - my favorite is one can celery, one can mushroom
- 32 oz chicken stock 1 box
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
- Add butter, water, celery, mushrooms and salt to a large frying pan and cook over medium high 3 minutes until starting to soften. If excess liquid remains, discard it.
- Spread the rice in the bottom of a rectangular 9”x13” casserole dish. Scatter the cooked veggies and the dehydrated onion over this.
- Place the chicken on the rice and veggies, evenly spaced.
- Sprinkle celery salt, pepper and onion soup mix over that.
- Open cans of cream soup and scoop dollops of if unto and around the chicken until it is pretty much evenly spread out in lumps. No need to smooth out.
- Pour the stock over the top.
- Bake in preheated oven for about an hour until rice is tender and chicken has reached 160 F with an internal thermometer. I check the dish after 45 minutes and then at an hour.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
MirlandrasKitchen.com is written to share great recipes. While we do our best to provide nutritional information as a general guideline, we are not registered dietitians and the values provided here should be considered estimates – not exact scientific data.
The Bearded Hiker says
On my list for this coming week. It looks delicious!
Angela says
This sounds incredibly delicious, but what’s the sodium content per serving? The dry onion soup mix, 2 canned soups, and 32 oz. of chicken stock make for a dish which is very high in sodium. When I make this, I’ll use the ‘Heart Healthy’ (Campbell’s) canned soup, and low sodium chicken stock. Obviously, I can’t do anything about the sodium in the packaged onion soup, but perhaps I’ll use a little less of it. We usually try to eat (fairly) healthy, but we now have my dad (who has heart issues) living with us, so I’m now much more vigilant. Please don’t get me wrong, as I’m not criticizing your lovely recipe….I just want to make others aware that we can decrease the sodium in most recipes, just by choosing a ‘healthier’ alternative.
Mirlandra says
If you put it through any online nutrition calculator you should be able to get that information. I certainly understand where you are coming from. We have several extended family members who need to have a low sodium diet and I’m very careful with what I prepare for them. Honestly when it comes to prepared food the sodium adds up fast (as you know). This recipe has a lot of prepared stuff in it to be a easy week night meal for busy families who do not have diet restrictions. You certainly can use lower sodium versions and you can also substitute homemade versions to help control the sodium. Using less of the onion soup could work well or even using a no-salt type seasoning mix. Costco has a great one and most stores seem to have some options in the spice section. I imagine you already have one you like. Another thing we have done for my mother is to use “Nu-salt” to get a bit of salt type flavor in food without using salt. It is made of potassium. You can find that in the salt section in a blue bottle.
Thanks for starting such a good conversation on recipe adaptation! It is so important for people to be able to cook the way their family needs to eat. Let me know what changes work well for you!
Thanks for your thoughtful comment! I
Linda says
I looked online and found the ingredients to make the onion soup mix. I use it all the time in recipes that call for it.
Mirlandra says
Excellent! I’m glad you found an option that works for you 🙂
Marsha Lamb says
If one wanted to use organic brown rice would you just increase the cooking time or pre cook it first some. Most of there recipes call for instant rice and I never use that.
Mirlandra says
That is a good question. I’m not a fan of instant rice because of the texture. It just isn’t as good! The challenge with brown rice is going to be cooking time. I think if you added it about half cooked it MIGHT work. My concern is that different varieties of brown rice will cook at different rates and when you are thinking about making a major change to a recipe it takes some experimentation to get it right. I wish I had a better answer for you but there are so many variables it is hard to give you something definite. I do like the idea a lot though – let me know if you end up trying it and how it goes! I’m curious to give it a shot in my kitchen too – I will post a new recipe if I figure something out 🙂
Cheryl says
Not sure if this is covered or not. I thought rice, liquid and covered. Not sure I’ll regret.
Mirlandra says
You don’t need to cover this one. It cooks great without that. I hope it turns out wonderfully for you!
Cyndi says
I’ve made this twice. First, exactly as published. Second time, I sauteed mushrooms, celery, and chopped onion in butter with spices, and then made a “roux/white sauce with milk and flour instead of canned soup. The “white sauce” with veggies was 20 ounces, and the consistency of the undiluted soup. The rest of the recipe was as you wrote it. It’s a good option if the cook has specific dietary needs, and also delicious!
While I’ll use chopped onion always and Not the powder, I love the original version! 1 can mushroom and 1 can celery was how my Mom made it! It’s comfort food for me.! I want a dinner that is quick to fix, delicious, and tastes like home as much as anyone!! Great recipe, Mirlandra! Thank you
Mirlandra says
Hi Cyndi – Thank you so much for sharing this! It is wonderful to have options. I want to try it your way too – I love anything with a homemade white sauce 🙂 My mom is from St. Paul, MN and she raised me on creamed potatoes and peas. It was always a special treat! I’m so glad you popped in to share your version. Please say hi again soon! 🙂
Darlene North says
What is Crenini Mushrooms? Also can you use canned Mushrooms instead of the ones I just asked about?
Mirlandra says
Hi Darlene – great question! These are just brown mushrooms, sometimes called “baby bellas.” They have more flavor than the white button mushrooms you usually find in the store. Canned mushrooms don’t have the same flavor as fresh ones so if you want the mushrooms to be the star of the show than use fresh. If you don’t mind them being a side flavor than go ahead and use canned ones. I would try two cans – drain them and fry them in a little butter – maybe 1-2 Tbsp. before you add them to the casserole. This will give them a bit of a fresher flavor! I hope that helps 🙂 Enjoy your meal and happy cooking!
Barbara Rupnick says
Hi, Can you substitue chicken breasts instead of thighs?
Mirlandra says
This is a great question! I’ve never done it with breasts and the trick would be timing. This recipe needs to cook long enough to cook the rice. If you use boneless breast it might not have enough time. If you use bone in breast it might take so long to cook the chicken that the casserole dries out. I wish I had a better answer for you but unfortunately this recipe was developed specifically for thighs and I’ve not tested the timing for other options.