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This Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole is one of those old-fashioned dinners I never get tired of. Tender chicken bakes right along with creamy rice, cheddar cheese, cream of chicken soup, and savory onion seasoning, all in one pan. There is no need to cook the chicken or rice first, which makes this such an easy dinner when you want something warm, filling, and family-friendly.
Table of Contents
- A Recipe Straight from My Heart 💕
- Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole Ingredients
- Ingredient Additions and Substitutions
- How to Make Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Tips for the Perfect Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Chicken Casserole Recipes
- Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole Recipe
- What to Serve with this Casserole
A Recipe Straight from My Heart 💕
Today, I’m sharing one of my all-time favorite comfort food recipes: Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole. Whenever I make this Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole, I think of my Grandma Edwards. She used to make it every time we visited, and it was pure magic. Sitting around her kitchen table with my family, sharing laughter, and enjoying her cooking are memories I’ll treasure forever.
I think that’s part of why I still love this casserole so much. It’s simple, comforting, and made with ingredients I usually have on hand. Even better, the chicken and uncooked rice go straight into the baking dish, so there aren’t a bunch of pots and pans to wash afterward.
Over the years, I’ve also learned that a few little details really matter with this recipe. The chicken needs to be fairly thin, the rice needs plenty of liquid, and it needs the full baking time. Get those things right and you end up with tender chicken, creamy rice, and plenty of melted cheddar in every serving. It’s pure comfort in every bite, I know you are going to love it!
🩷 Echo
Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole Ingredients
- Chicken breasts – Use boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are no more than about 1 inch thick so they cook through in the same amount of time as the rice.
- Rice – Regular uncooked long-grain white rice works best. I like using Jasmine rice because of the flavor and it’s usually what I have on hand. Don’t use Minute Rice because it cooks much too quickly for this casserole.
- Cheddar cheese – I like a good medium or sharp cheddar for plenty of cheesy flavor. Divide it so some cooks with the rice and the rest melts over the top.
- Cream of chicken soup – This gives the rice its creamy texture without having to make a separate sauce. You can also use one can of cream of chicken and one can of cream of mushroom soup. I have also swapped out one of the cans of cream of chicken for a can of Campbell’s cheese soup and it’s delicious!
- Chicken broth – I like to heat up the chicken broth until it’s super hot, almost boiling before putting it over the casserole. I usually heat it in the microwave for a few minutes in a glass liquid measuring cup but you can also heat it over the stove.
- Onion soup mix – A packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix seasons the chicken and rice without needing a long list of seasonings.
- Salt and pepper – These add a little extra seasoning, but keep in mind that the soup, broth, and onion soup mix already contain salt.
Ingredient Additions and Substitutions
This recipe is pretty forgiving when it comes to changing up the flavor, but I wouldn’t mess too much with the rice-to-liquid ratio.
- Chicken thighs – Boneless, skinless thighs can be used, but thicker thighs may need additional baking time. Always check that the chicken is completely cooked before serving.
- Cream soup – Cream of mushroom, cream of celery, or a can of cheddar cheese soup can replace one or both cans of cream of chicken soup.
- Homemade soup – If you don’t want to use canned soup, try our Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup Substitute or Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe!
- Cheese – Cheddar is my favorite, but Colby Jack, Monterey Jack, or a cheddar blend will work too.
- Vegetables – Peas, carrots, corn, broccoli, or mushrooms are all good additions. If using mushrooms or another vegetable that gives off a lot of liquid, I like to sauté it first.
- Crunchy topping – One reader suggested toasted almonds over the rice, which I think would be SO good. You could also add a Ritz cracker crumble topping like our Poppy Seed Chicken casserole recipe.
How to Make Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Start with the uncooked rice, spreading it evenly across the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish (use cooking spray). Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and add 1 cup of the shredded cheese.
- Place chicken breasts evenly over cheese. Daub rounded teaspoons of cream of chicken soup over the chicken breasts and rice.
- Pour hot chicken broth evenly over the dish, making sure the rice gets fully saturated. Sprinkle onion soup mix evenly across the top.
- Bake, tightly covered with foil, at 375°F for about 1 hour, or until the rice is tender and the chicken reaches 165°F. Remove the foil, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and bake uncovered for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
Tips for the Perfect Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Don’t use thick chicken breasts. This is probably my biggest tip. If your chicken breasts are thicker than 1 inch, slice them horizontally, cut into smaller dices, or pound them thinner. We’ve had readers run into undercooked chicken when using very thick pieces.
- Make sure the rice gets wet. When you pour the water or broth into the pan, check for any dry patches of rice. Every grain needs access to that liquid in order to cook properly.
- Don’t use instant rice. Regular long-grain rice needs the full baking time. Minute Rice doesn’t and can become mushy.
- Give it more time if it needs it. Ovens, baking dishes, chicken thickness, and even brands of rice can affect cooking time. Check for tender rice and a chicken temperature of 165°F rather than relying only on the clock.
- Shred the chicken for kids. After baking, I sometimes shred the chicken right into the rice. It spreads the chicken throughout the casserole and makes it really easy for little kids to eat.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The chicken goes into the casserole raw and cooks right along with the rice. Just make sure the chicken breasts aren’t too thick and check that they reach 165°F before serving.
No. Use uncooked long-grain white rice. It absorbs the broth, soup, and all those good flavors as the casserole bakes.
Usually the rice either didn’t get enough liquid, some of it stayed above the liquid, or it simply needs more time. Stir in a little more hot chicken broth, cover the pan with foil, and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, checking until the rice is tender.
Yes, but watch the cooking time. Boneless thighs can be thicker and may take longer than chicken breasts. Check the thickest part with a thermometer and don’t serve them until they reach 165°F.
I don’t recommend cooked chicken for this particular version. The uncooked rice still needs close to an hour in the oven, which can dry out chicken that is already cooked.
More Chicken Casserole Recipes
There is a reason recipes like this Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole get passed around for generations. It isn’t fancy, and that’s exactly what I love about it. If you make it, I’d love to hear how it turns out! Leave a rating and comment below, especially if you try one of your own additions or substitutions. Be sure to take a pic and tag us on Instagram at @favoritefamilyrecipes 📸
Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Video
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 6 pieces no thicker than ¾ to 1 inch
- 2 cups uncooked long-grain white rice, such as Jasmine (not Minute Rice)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 (10.5 oz) cans cream of chicken soup, undiluted
- 3 cups chicken broth, heated until very hot, you can use low-sodium if you want to cut back on the saltiness
- 1 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 9×13 pan with cooking spray. Layer rice, 1 cup shredded cheese, salt, and pepper in pan.
- If your chicken breasts are thicker than 1", cut them in half lengthwise or pound them flat with a mallet so they cook thoroughly and evenly. Place chicken breasts on top. Daub rounded teaspoons of cream of chicken soup over the chicken breasts and rice.
- Slowly pour the hot chicken broth evenly over the casserole, making sure to pour around the edges and corners so all of the rice is moistened. Sprinkle the onion soup mix evenly over the top.
- Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake for about 60 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165°F. If the rice is still a little firm, cover and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes.
- Remove the foil and sprinkle the remaining ½ cup cheddar cheese over the top. Return to the oven uncovered for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Let the casserole rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Use chicken breasts no thicker than ¾ to 1 inch so they cook through in the same amount of time as the rice.
- Use hot chicken broth and keep the casserole tightly covered while baking. The trapped steam helps the rice cook evenly.
- Make sure the broth reaches all the rice, especially around the edges and corners of the pan.
- Let the casserole rest for 5 to 10 minutes after baking so the rice can absorb any remaining liquid.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What to Serve with this Casserole
I prefer to serve this Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole with cooked vegetables on the side in the winter months, and in the summer months, I serve it with a large garden salad. Try some of these delicious recipes that go perfectly with this casserole:
If I were to cut this recipe in half, would the cooking time still be 1 hour? Thank you
The cooking time would still be close to an hour for the rice to fully cook. I would check it after 45-50 minutes and see if the rice is done.
This is in the oven right now and it smells amazing! I used frozen diced chicken breasts (that I mostly thawed), and I only had one can of cream of mushroom and a can french onion, so we’re going to use those. I mixed it all together in the pan (not on purpose initially, then I had to even it out) and we’ll see how it goes, but I’m very optimistic. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Right, so I have to be honest here and state that this is not the sort of meal I’d normally be making for myself since I don’t do rice so much nowadays. However, as I needed a special diet in preparation for a procedure I found this one via Google. Made using cream of mushroom soup, its actually pretty good. Now I’m wondering if there’s a way to adjust it to use vegetable rice
easy and delicious meal that everyone loves
Made this, and absolutely love love love it, made again tonight, I like to use a mixture of brown and white rices, parboiling the brown for about ten minutes before assembling the rest of the casserole 🤤
I just made a comment while this was in the oven, and when it was done after cooking another thirty minutes it was just about perfect….just a very few somewhat crunchy grains of rice. We all thought it was quite good, and I was pleased that the chicken wasn’t dried out….it was moist and husband said it was just how he liked it. I’ll make it again, and I’ll bake it for one and a half hours and either add a little more water in the beginning, or add a small amount halfway through cooking like I did tonight. A great recipe…glad I tried it!!
This was delicious and easy to make! I used chicken broth instead of water and added a little more cheese then recommended. I will definitely be making this again! Thank you for the recipe!
How many lbs. of chicken breasts would you use? The chicken breasts I buy are huge, often weighing 12 oz. or more, and six of them would be a LOT of chicken.
I’m not sure exactly how many pounds we use, but maybe try three of your chicken breasts cut in half?
Can I use chicken thighs instead of breast?
Yes!
If I added 2 more cups of rice how much longer should I leave in oven
I’m not sure since I haven’t tried it that way before. Make sure you add extra liquid as well!
I want to cook this today but don’t have any Lipton onion soup mix! Do you have suggestions for a substitute? Or can I just leave it out?
The onion soup mix flavors a lot of the dish so I would substitute some spices like onion powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and celery seed if you have it!
I know this comment was made a long time ago, but dried minced onion and beef Bullion cubes with a touch of paprika is a great substitute for the onion soup.
Heather, it may have been from a long time ago, but I am just now seeing it and scanning comments for a soup substitute. Thank you!!! Your answer was in great timing for me. Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, Holiday Season!
Hello, you can also use ranch seasoning or even Italian seasoning. I didn’t have have the onion seasoning on hand, and used hidden valley ranch for the seasoning.
I use Italian seasoning instead of soup mix!
Thanks for the recipe! My kids loved. I did not have any cream of chicken or mushroom soup, so I substituted sour cream and added a bit more chicken stock. Also used chicken tenderloins instead of breasts. Also added ranch mix. Very easy and made enough to fill up my teenage boys! Thanks again!
David
My family of 5 has been tired of my cooking during this quarantine. I wanted to make a casserole and my family loved this! I’m thrilled when they eat something and all agree it’s a make again dish. I think next time I’ll add broccoli florets to it. (I love casseroles with a green vegetable so I don’t have to make another pot dirty) Thanks for the recipe!
This has become a staple in our home. I’ve made a few small tweaks and the family loves it! After the layer of rice, cheese and salt and pepper, I go ahead and slowly pour 1 cup of the water mostly around the edges (seems to help keep the rice more moist at the end) and sprinkle about 1/3 of the onion soup mix. After adding the chicken breasts, I add a bit more salt and pepper to the top of them. I also mix in different cheeses with the cheddar depending on what I have on hand. Part of my regular rotation now. I usually make 2 pans so there are leftovers. 😀 Thank you!!
Going to try it this afternoon for dinner. Sounds easy and it is delicious. My grandmother used to make it.
I am cooking several casserole types of main dishes for my daughter in law and son in law. They have two small boys (the oldest is about to be 4) and my beautiful grand babies can eat like men! Crazy. I am very excited to make your grandmother’s recipe! I will have to modify one thing but when I get cream of chicken soup, I’m going to make it for me and my partner. The kids need a little help and this sounds like the perfect recipe. I am going to make a couple of portions so when they get home from work, all either of them has to do is pull one of the portioned meals out of the freezer, heat it and eat it!!
What would you recommend for the reheat, microwave or oven? If oven, should they add a little chicken broth or cream of soup to ensure it doesn’t dry out??
I will return after I have made it and rate it. I LOVE people who share family recipes! Thank you so much!!
One year for Thanksgiving, I located recipes people made between the dates of 1850-1899 for everything I made using. Very very difficult and a little stressful based on the fact that instead of a true measurement, their measuring system was a little different than modern techniques. The also used what was available to them, be it cost prohibitive items like refined sugar and white flour. They used molasses or brown sugar instead of the high priced refined sugar. They would use Rye flour, “Indian (corn) meal” with only a small amount of wheat flour for white flour or wheat flour. The fact that mildew rust on wheat flour caused most 19 Century Americans to all but abandon the wheat flour crop.
I am SOOO SORRY!! I have not idea how this became a history lecture of 19th Century recipes! Thank you again!!!
Penny
I LOVE hearing the history of anything to do with food. This is such a wonderful comment! We love getting personal stories and history stories like this, so thank you. That is so neat that you pulled off a Thanksgiving dinner from the 1800s! That is impressive!
To answer your question– you can totally microwave or use the oven to re-heat. I would do as you suggested and add a little chicken broth so the rice doesn’t dry out too much.
If you like family recipes you are totally in the right place 😀 I hope you have been able to browse around to find even more of our family’s favorites! We have over 1,000 of them on here with more being added each week. We hope you will keep coming back for more!
I made this tonight, as I didn’t have the energy to cook from scratch. Easy to put together and similar to a recipe that I used to use.
I used 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, didn’t add any extra salt, and I used jasmine rice (what I had on hand). I used 4 medium chicken breasts; 2 cut in to bite size and mixed into the casserole, and cut the other two in half and laid the pieces on top, and then added a bit of cheese all over.
I baked it at 375 degrees instead, for about an hour. When done, removed the big chicken pieces and gave it a stir to mix in the last bit of liquid. Turned out great.:)
Oh, I forgot to add that I mixed the soup, water, and dry mix together first before pouring over rice and cheese in the dish, and gave it a quick stir to ensure no dry spots of rice.
I am making this for Bunco tomorrow and the first recipe I found added French onions on top so that’s what I’m doing
The only things I did different was substitute salt for a pinch of kosher salt. I used one can of cream of chicken soup and a can of chicken and mushroom soup. And, while it cooked for the first hour, I would every so often stir the rice and liquids, and turned over the chicken so that everything would cook evenly. After an hour, everything was pretty much cooked through, but went ahead and stirred in the 1/2 cup water and let it cook for 5 more minutes. Came out great! Not too salty and rice fully cooked (Uncle Ben’s white rice). Next time I will probably add veggies! Great recipe!
Thanks so much for the nice comment! So glad you liked it!
Has anyone tried this in the crockpot? Wondering if that’s a possibility….
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!
I liked your idea of just mixing it all in a bowl and pouring it into the pan. I have it in the oven baking right now. Can’t wait for it to be done. Thank you for your comments.
I used minute rice and it turned out just fine for those who don’t have regular rice. The dish was really good.
Thank you! I was wondering as I only have minute rice!!
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 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 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.