This chicken and rice casserole is serious comfort food! My whole family loves how flavorful it is, and I love that it’s super simple to throw together for busy nights!
I have this weird new food obsession.
Rice.
Seriously. Rice.
It seems so random. I mean, I’ve always liked rice just fine, it’s just not something that I ever really craved or cooked, unless it was my Bacon Fried Rice. <— Can never get enough of that one!
Lately, though, I’m obsessed.
I think it has something to do with white rice made in my Instant Pot. It’s the most perfect rice I’ve ever had. Shall I share my recipe sometime?
Anyway, my family is getting sick of plain white rice, so I thought I’d continue my obsession and create something with a little more excitement and flavor.
Enter the casserole – my favorite way to serve dinner. 😉
I’m from the Midwest after all. Casseroles are a requirement around here.
We kept this chicken rice casserole super simple with just 5 ingredients and loads of flavor thanks to the packet of onion soup mix.
Table of Contents
Chicken Rice Casserole Ingredient Notes:
Chicken Tenderloins – We use strips of chicken tenderloins in this recipe, but you can also use chicken breasts that you’ve cut into strips yourself.
Rice – You’ll need long grain white rice. Do not use instant rice. We haven’t tested this recipe with brown rice.
Cream of Chicken Soup – This is going to add lots of creamy chicken flavor to the casserole. If you don’t like the canned stuff, try out my homemade cream of chicken substitute recipe!
Onion Soup Mix – A packet of onion soup mix is just what we need to add that French onion soup flavor to this chicken and rice casserole!
Cheese – I love a cheesy chicken and rice casserole so I top it with plenty of shredded Gruyere cheese! And of course you can add or use any other shredded cheeses you prefer to this recipe.
Seasonings – The onion soup mix adds loads of flavor to this dish, but you can top your chicken with some paprika and garlic powder, if you feel the urge.
What Readers are Saying!
“Just made this recipe, exactly to directions, turned out great, rice is nicely done and sauce is delicious. I did brown for about 5 minutes under the broiler for a little color. Chicken was nice, not dry. Very easy for a weeknight meal…” – Denise
How to Make Chicken & Rice Casserole:
Mix: First up you’ll need to prepare the rice and soup mixture. While your oven pre-heats go ahead and add the uncooked white rice to a mixing bowl and then pour in the water, dry soup mix, and cream of chicken soup. Stir to combine.
Assemble: When the creamy rice mixture is ready you can pour it into a prepared 9×13 baking dish. Smooth it out evenly in the dish and then you can start adding in the chicken tenderloins. Just place them over the top of the rice mixture and try to keep them from overlapping.
Sometimes we sprinkle the chicken with extra seasoning and sometimes we just let the onion soup mix do the work. You can feel free to get creative or keep it simple.
Bake: Now you can go ahead and cover the dish with foil and let it bake for an hour.
We’re going to turn this into a cheesy chicken casserole by topping it off with a bunch of shredded Gruyere cheese. Once you’ve topped the casserole with the cheese cover it with foil again and return to the oven for another 15 minutes or until the rice is tender and the cheese has melted.
Helpful TipS!
- My biggest tip to ensure that the recipe is cooked properly is to be sure that the foil is on TIGHT. You need the steam to stay inside the pan to cook that rice properly.
- Don’t be afraid to let it cook a bit longer if it’s not quite done. The chicken is cooking with the rice, so I know a lot of people are worried it’s going to dry out after being in the oven for so long. But, it’s cooking in that steam and liquid and it really doesn’t dry out. It comes out nice and tender, just the way we like it.
- This recipe used to call for milk in place of water. It worked well for me and for many other readers, but plenty of people were having a hard time getting the rice to cook through. We’ve swapped the milk for water and think that is a bit more fool proof.
FAQs:
Absolutely! Mozzarella, provolone, Havarti, or Monterey jack would all work well in this chicken and rice casserole.
You’ll want to use thawed or fresh chicken in this recipe.
Yes, this casserole stores well in both the refrigerator and the freezer. It should last up to 4 days in the fridge and you can re-heat it in the oven or microwave. It should last a few months in the freezer if sealed tightly.
MORE CASSEROLE RECIPES!
- Million Dollar Mac & Cheese Casserole
- Keto Meatball Casserole
- Broccoli & Cheese Casserole (Air Fryer)
- Crockpot Hashbrown Casserole
- Amish Breakfast Casserole
French Onion Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked long grain white rice
- 2 cups water
- 20 ounces cream of chicken soup
- 1 packet Onion Soup mix
- 1 pound chicken tenderloins
- 1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
- 1 teaspoon parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick spray.
- Add the rice, water, cream of chicken soup, and soup mix to a bowl and stir well to combine.
- Pour rice mixture into the baking dish and place chicken tenderloins over the top.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake for 60 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking.
- Remove the foil and top with the grated cheese. Cover and return to oven for 15 minutes or until rice is tender.
- Sprinkle with parsley just before serving.
Tammy says
Curious… what if you added some caramelized onions to the casserole?
Karly says
Sounds tasty!
Rene Fourie says
I made this last night, I am glad I followed some others’ here’s advice here, used more onion soup mix. I didn’t have the can of soup so used a can of coconut milk with chicken stock which was wonderful. I didn’t need the additional 15 minutes, chicken was tender, rice absolutely perfect. Next time we’ll use chopped peppers and onions and carrots, and beef. The base recipe is perfect., the amounts of liquid we will not change. We did use a glass casserole dish with a glass lid which subbed the need for foil nicely.
Jessica says
Just curious if this could also be made in a crock-pot? I unfortunately don’t have an oven, so I was just curious.
Karly says
I haven’t tried this one in the crockpot, but I do think it would need some adjustments to time and maybe the amount of liquid.
Rhonda says
If I use chicken thighs in this recipe should I cut them into pieces and what size pieces? Thanks!
Karly says
Hi Rhonda! I think boneless thighs would work just fine as they are. You could cut them into strips if you wanted, but they should cook through either way.
Rhonda says
Thanks for the commenting back. I was thinking that too. I love your recipes!
Karly says
Thank you! 🙂
Shikira Walton says
This is one of my son’s favorite meals. I have made it many times and followed the recipe exactly. My rice and chicken have always cooked perfectly. Thanks for this delicious recipe.
Karly says
Thanks, Shikira!
Anonymous says
Chicken was definitely not cooked not even remotely after the alloted time
Karly says
Hi there! Did you use a different cut of chicken or adjust other ingredients or temperature? I can’t image chicken tenders wouldn’t be fully cooked in 75 minutes in a covered dish. Seems like something else must be going on there.
Rachel Medina says
I just made this for my grandchildren it came out great. I added two and half cups of milk mixed in the chicken tenders with the rice. The chicken and rice did cook.
Will make it again, it is delicious.
Devan D says
Turned out great! Not as much onion flavor as I was expecting but added a little extra salt and its delicious! Maybe next time I’ll add 2 onion soup packs. No idea why so many people have issues with the rice cooking properly. I was leary after reading comments, but I followed the very simple instructions exactly and it turned out great. Maybe yall have garbage ovens or just can’t cook? Lol