This Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole is an easy chicken casserole recipe for a busy day. Only a few minutes of prep work and the oven does the rest!
Not only does this casserole taste good, the aroma that fills the house while it is cooking will have everyone asking when dinner will be ready. This is definitely a dish I would label as comfort food. The rice is warm and creamy and the chicken always turns out perfectly moist, never dry.
This Chicken and Rice Casserole has been in our family for years. Whenever I serve it to my family, I am reminded of my Grandma Edwards. She made this dish all the time. It was always a favorite of ours when we went to her home for meals. She often served it with cut up chicken pieces as opposed to boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Isn’t it interesting that food can take you back to a time and place? One bite of this casserole and I am a 7-year old girl sitting with my parents and siblings around my Grandma’s kitchen table eating delicious food, enjoying the conversation, and wondering what delightful dessert was awaiting us. I love food memories!
There are some variations to this Chicken and Rice Casserole if you would like to add vegetables to it. Small cut-up pieces of broccoli can be added. Mushrooms, onions, and/or green peppers can also be added. I personally prefer to serve the casserole with cooked vegetables on the side in the winter months, and in the summer months I serve it with a large garden salad.
If you are not a fan of using “cream of” soups from a can, our Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup Substitute works great in this recipe. It is just as creamy and flavorful without the Modified Food Starch and Monosodium Glutamate (and all of the other mystery ingredients). You also don’t necessarily need to stick to a Cream of Chicken Soup. Cream of Mushroom Soup and Cream of Celery Soup also taste great in this casserole, or a combination.
- 4-6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves thawed
- 2 c. uncooked rice not minute rice
- 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese divided
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 2 cans 10.5 oz. cream of chicken soup (undiluted)
- 3 c. water
- 1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
- Layer rice, 1 cup cheese, salt ,and pepper in pan.
- Place chicken breasts on top. Dob rounded teaspoons of cream of chicken soup over the chicken breasts and rice.
- Pour water on top and sprinkle with onion soup mix.
- Bake uncovered for 1 1/2 hours, checking water after 1 hour. (If water is absorbed before chicken and rice are completely cooked, you can add an additional 1/2 c. to keep moist)
- Remove from oven, and stir excess sauce into the rice. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.
- **If using brown rice, cooking time will be about 15 minutes longer.
Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole Frequently Asked Questions:
As you can see from the number or comments below, this has been a very popular and loved recipe by our readers. To save you some time going through the comments, here are some quick answers to some of the commonly asked questions that have been asked about this recipe:
Q. Can I use other “Cream of Soups” other than Cream of Chicken?
A. Yes, Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Celery both taste great, or you can use one of each.
Q. Can I use chicken broth instead of water?
A. Yes, chicken broth will add even more flavor. You can also use a combination of both.
Q. Do I cook the chicken before adding it to the casserole?
A. No, the chicken is uncooked. That’s one of the great things about this recipe! The chicken cooks with the rice. Frozen chicken breasts can also be used if they are the packaged frozen breasts purchased at the store that thaw quickly.
Making this tonight! Thank you for posting. Looks good! I love your website!
i love your recipes but, i would love to know how many people it would feed. with a big family i usually need to know if i have to double or triple recipes
It makes 4-6 pretty good sized servings. It would be one full chicken breast half for each person.
Could I add chicken broth to it for moisture?
Yes, that would be the perfect thing to add if you want more moisture. Thanks for asking!
I make this for my family alot. I have a fanly of 7 and sometimes 9. I just cut the chicken breasts in half so you use 4 chicken breasts for 8 people and i use 2 cups of rice. It is usually PLENTY. Use a nice big pan for this dinner. ♡
Just wanted you to know I found this recipe on Pinterest, had the chicken thawed out so made it last night for dinner. My entire family loved it, even my son who hates rice, he had 2 servings! This is a new family favorite, fast, easy and loved by all. Thanks so much for sharing it!
I’m just learning how to cook and I made this for my family tonight! My two kids under five LOVED it. I think I might skip the salt next time – the onion soup mix and crm of ckn seemed to have plenty of sodium…I don’t think the recipe would miss it! Thanks for the post!
Does this rice cook all the way? I have a chicken/rice recipe that someone gave me that I tried a couple of times and my rice was never cooked all the way through. I would just like to know before I cook it.
It should cook all the way through. I have never made it and had the rice NOT cooked through. If you are worried about it, add more liquid and cooking time.
I mixed my liquids poured over rice and then laid chicken on top – make sure pan or casserole dish is large enough – need room for liquid and rice to cook
I just cooked this and it looked so good . I must say to make sure that you first put some liquid on the bottom of your dish because my rice did not cook at all
This was really good.I made it easier and used a rotisserie chicken.Cooked the rice separate then added all the other ingredients ,including shredded chicken, in a casserole and baked with a panko bread topping.I did only use a little of the package of onion soup as the chicken already had seasonings.My family loved it.It’s also a winner at potlucks.
How much of the water did you use?
Do you think it would tastes as good made with a ranch packet instead of the onion packet???
It is not going to taste the same, but give it a try and let us know how it turns out!
I was going to ask the same thing. I have an onion allergy, and sub ranch for onion soup mix when I can. I’ll try it and let you know. 🙂
I tried this tonight, and it turned out wonderful! I did substitute a can of Campbell’s Cheddar Cheese soup for one of the Cream of Chicken, and didn’t add any of the cheese. Also added a can of Rotel!
I substituted organic brown Texmati rice, cream of mushroom soup and chicken broth for the water. I did add 1/2 cup broth after an hour in order to finish the rice and then cooked it for another 15 minutes. Delicious!
I noticed you did not mention to cover with foil while baking. I was just curious why you did not cover with foil?
You read correctly, this recipe does not require covering with foil.
Any chance anyone has tried freezing this? We love this recipe and I make it every other week or so. I wanted to make up a few dishes to throw in the freezer before baby arrives, but wasn’t sure.
Yes, I have frozen it! It worked out great.
I am preparing to cook this this evening. I know the hubby will love it! Thanks fo sharing it
Made this tonight. Everyone enjoyed it! Thanks! I think next time I’ll mix the rice, seasonings, and soup together first though, there were too many patches of dry rice and then others of straight cream of chicken. Thanks for the easy and delicious dinner!!
I’m sick. When I feel like this I want salt, a lot of salt. Taking advantage of a casserole for dinner is a perfect answer for the exhaustion from a cold. There isn’t an easier recipe for Chicken and Rice anywhere! It turned out perfect! There is quite a bit of left overs, because it is just two ofus eating. Recommend stirring before serving.
This looks delicious! Do have any advice on how I could go about adding zucchini and squash to this recipe? Or would you advise against it all together? I’m just trying to save time and not have to prepare veggies separately and any recipe I can find where zucchini and squash are included doesn’t look anywhere near as good as this does 🙂
I would just chop them up and add them in before you cook it, they will cook in the casserole. That actually sounds really yummy!
Did anyone try using milk instead of water?
Just wondering if you don’t use Minute Rice what rice would you suggest?
Just the regular long-grain white rice…
What if all I have is minute rice ?
It will work with minute rice, you will just want to stir it in after the chicken has already been cooking for about 30 minutes. Thanks for asking!
My mom used to make this when we were growing up, only she tightly covered the casserole with foil before baking. Also, the addition of salt is unnecessary since the onion soup mix is already salty.
Would you recommend adding broccoli to it?
Yes, its great with broccoli!
Would there be any way you could use hash browns
Instead of rice? Not a rice lover? Thanks for advice.
I don’t see why not? That actually sounds really good!
Why do people comment when they haven’t even tried the recipe??? I do not find “reviews” helpful when they aren’t reviews! We all know when a recipe looks good. Do I find other people’s opinions of a recipe before they’ve even tried it helpful? Not at all!
I totally agree!
Does it matter if you use SHARP cheddar cheese?
You can definitely use sharp… or not… any cheese will work 🙂
I made this last night for my boyfriend and I and we both loved it. We both agreed that the only thing we would change about it that shredded chicken would be better rather than the whole chicken breasts. Wonderful dish!
So glad you liked it!
Any idea the nutrition facts for the recipe? Just curious because im doing weight watchers. Thanks!
I don’t know the nutrition facts on this, you might want to try plugging the recipe into livestrong.com or a site like that. It will tell you and it is pretty accurate!
If I planned on freezing it, what temp and how long would I put it in to reheat?
Usually when I freeze casseroles I like to thaw them before cooking in the oven (it will cook more evenly). Once thawed it takes about 40 minutes, covered — but check it at 30. Hope this helps!
All I have is minute rice. There must be some way to substitute. Any ideas?
I have not tried this recipe with minute rice. I think it would work if you reduced the water in the recipe to 1 1/2 – 2 cups instead of 3. Keep an eye on the casserole as it cooks and add more water if necessary. Good luck!
Am I reason this correctly that you assemble everything uncooked? Want to make this but also want to make sure I avoid food poisoning! 🙂
Yes, when you layer the ingredients, the rice and chicken are uncooked. The dish cooks for 1 1/2 hours, so the chicken is thoroughly cooked when you remove it from the oven. Thank you for asking!
I used half chicken breasts tonight and all ingredients in this recipe are completely cooked. There is not the slightest bit of pink in the chicken. When you cook at that temp for that long everything is completely safe. Baking in an oven actually cooks the chicken more evenly than pan frying. That is how everyone used to do chicken unless they were deep frying it. 🙂
Thank you for your comment! I agree with you. I’ve never had a problem with the chicken cooking thoroughly.
Hi Echo:
Do you think it would work with cream of mushroom soup or cream of celery soup? We are out of cream of chicken and its a trek to the grocery store. If you don’t recommend the substitution I’ll make it another time. Thanks
Yes! Either one of those “cream of” soups would work just fine. I use cream of chicken soup because my kids are picky about the mushrooms and celery. If that’s what you have on hand, save the trip to the store! Thanks for asking!
Could I use cooked chicken?
Yes, you actually cook the chicken first anyway, that would just save you a step.
I only have Beefy Onion Soup a Mix. Do you think that would be ok to use?
Yes, that will work great
can you use minute rice? Will it still work?
We haven’t tried this with minute rice so I am not sure how it would turn out. If you try it, let us know!
I made this tonight. Very good! Fed 3 adults and 2 children and had tons left over. I used 6 half breasts. 15 min before it was ready it still looked watery, but I let it go and added an extra 10 min and it was brown on top by then. Loved it. I will also leave out some salt next time because it has lots. Oh I had chopped spinach ready to go into it too and totally forgot. I think that would be a great healthy addition. We served brocolli with it instead.
I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for sharing! This recipe reminds me of my Grandma, she made a similar dish when we would go to visit.
would love to make this tonight but do not have cream of anything soup. The weather is horrible don’t feel like making the trek to the store. Any suggestion?
Yes, here is a great homemade “cream of” recipe from our friend Mel, click here:
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/homemade-condensed-cream-of-chicken-soup-and-how-to-sub-in-recipes/
Could I use chicken thighs or any other part of the chicken for this dish?
OH my! My boyfriend wanted chicken and rice of some sort so I started my google journey, trying to find the casserole that would best suite his taste (like a child). I made this recipe subbing 3 c of water with 2c of chicken stock and 1c of water.
I cut the chicken breasts in half and then half again to get tenderloin size pieces.
When I checked the casserole at 53 mins (I was impatient…) I added 1 more cup of water evenly distributed around the casserole and I added an additional cup and a half of cheese… I threw it back in the oven for 37 more mins… and sweet baby jesus…
This casserole fed 6 adults (I served with salad and a veggie tray). I could have had more it was so tasty and worked out so well. Everyone was raving! Thanks for such an easy recipe. I bet people will be asking for me to make more of it!!
I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for sharing your success and your substitutions!
I really want to make this for dinner tonight! Would this work in the crockpot? Have you tried that cooking method??
Followed the recipe to the tee… It is in the oven now! I can’t wait to try it!!!
Can this be cooked in the crock pot??? How long would it take???
We haven’t made it in the crock pot before but I am sure it could be done! If you try it out, let us know!
My mom used to make a recipe like this and she added half orange juice and half water. It was so good. I’m going to try this on Sunday for a potluck at church. I’ll let you know how it comes out. Thanks for the recipe as I had lost my mom’s.
I made this for supper tonight and it was very good! I used long grain rice and I had trouble with getting the rice done. I had to add more water and put it back in the oven for 15-20 minutes longer, quite a few times. But it finally did get done, my husband and son really liked it so I’ll be making it again but probably will make the rice separately.
My Husband made this and he followed the recipe exactly. Next time I would have mixed the onion soup mix and chicken soup right into the rice as the onion soup was very salty on top and did not dissolve and the rice was white. I am an experienced cook so he did not think to do this. No need to add xtra salt, peas or corn would b good for colour.
Do you think I could use frozen chicken?
You probably could– you will just want to cook it longer– the problem with that is that your rice may get a little dry. Ideally you will want to thaw the chicken first and then cook it.
can you use already cooked rice???
We haven’t tried it with cooked rice but I don’t see why not– you may just want to reduce the liquid if you try it. The rice will already be soft and won’t need the extra moisture
Hi this delicious iam going to make this I have never seen Lipton onion soup mix before what could I use in place of the onion mix could i use French onion mix instead.
Yes, you could use a French Onion dry mix. You could also use a combination of dried onion and onion powder. You will want to use 1/4 cup, which is the amount in one packet of Lipton soup mix. Thank you for asking!
Just made this tonight and while it smells delicious and tastes great our rice is still only half cooked. I added water to the bottom before putting in the chicken and then added more water on top and it still was not cooked! I took it out and mixed it all together and added 2 more cups of water. Cooked it another 15 minutes and still partially hard rice. Juse added another cup of water and cooking another 15mins. That is a grand total of 6 cups of water so far for 2 cups of rice. If it isn’t done this time I’m giving up and making frozen dinners!
Oh no! I hope it turned out! I’m not sure why you would need that much water. Are you using brown or white rice?
All I have to say is I was so excited to try this recipe I placed it in the oven as directed by following all instructions including the uncooked rice……however it is four hours later and my rice is still uncooked!!!! Do not use this recipe! & or try cooking rice prior!!!!
I’m so sorry this didn’t work for you. I will revisit this recipe and see if we need to make some changes. I appreciate you letting us know. Thank you!
Echo, I think if you mix the rice with the soup and whatever liquid you use it will cook more evenly. I had a few spots in the pan that the rice did not fully cook. I used chicken stock when I made mine and the taste is wonderful! I love this and will make it over and over and find new things to add!
Thank you, Toni! I have this on the menu for this week. I will try it this way and adjust the recipe. I appreciate you sharing this!
I tried this tonight. Its really good!!! The I next time I make it, I think I will mix the soup with the rice, pepper (I would omit the salt if you use the Lipton Soup Mix) together I think you will get better rice consistency. I added some diced onion and celery to the top layer of the rice when I made it tonight. This recipe is wonderful. I also covered it with foil for about an hour of the cooking. I still got some pockets of hard rice under the chicken. Next time I think I might cut up the chicken and try it that way. I will definitely make this again. Great winter comfort food!
I used to make a chicken and rice casserole but had not made it in along time. Did this one last night for 2 with leftovers tonight–1/2 recipe using a package of Earthly Grains long grain and wild rice (equals 1 cup of rice), 1/2 cup of cheese, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1/2 pkg onion soup mix and about 1 cup of water and 2 lg chicken breasts. It was very tasty. Husband approved.
I used taco seasoning instead of the onion soup mix (none on hand), pepper jack cheese, and added corn. Love it!
I’m definitely excited to try it again truly following the original recipe.
Great recipe, thank you for sharing it.
I am making this tonight. My plan is to mix everything together then place the chicken on top. Adding some veg as well.
I used minute rice and it turned out just fine for those who don’t have regular rice. The dish was really good.
I made this after reading most of the comments.
I used a rotisserie chicken which I chopped up.
I rinsed my two cups of rice three times.
I used 2 cups water as the recipe says. I used cream of chicken and cream of celery soups (plus the rest of the ingredients as listed). I mixed all of it together in a bowl and poured it in the 9×13 pan. (I poured half, added grated cheese, and poured the rest.)
After an hour I stirred it and added more water (1/2 cup) as it was seeming to be dry. In about 20 minutes I checked it again , stirred, and added about another 1/2 cup water . And another 1/2 cup in about 20 more minutes.
I added a lot of cheese on top and cooked it about 20 more.
It was simply delicious!
It filled the pan all the way to the top (though didn’t boil over). So even a small serving is very filling. I feel like I could feed an entire football team! But I also read in the comments that it freezes well.
Will definitely be making this again and for sure when I need to feed a large group. It would provide a very inexpensive meal for a large group.
My husband loved it too!
Absolutely recommend!
Great idea using a rotisserie chicken. YUM!!!! Thanks for your comment!