Best Chicken and Rice Casserole: the easy and quick casserole recipe you’ll love

The best chicken and rice casserole is easier than you think. 4 ingredients and 5 minutes of prep time are all you need to make this satisfying and healthy chicken dinner tonight. You’ll be amazed by how easy it is to prepare this oven-baked rice and chicken casserole. Simply fill a baking dish with lean chicken breasts, add long-grain rice, cream of mushroom soup, and onion soup seasoning. Bake until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through and you have a one-dish dinner ready!

How To Make Chicken and Rice casserole

The steps to prepare this dish are so simple. It takes just five minutes of prep time and about an hour and 15 minutes in the oven to make this easy dinner.

To start, prepare a baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray. This helps prevent sticking. Add chicken breasts to the prepared dish, then cover them with 1 cup of long-grain white rice. Add a packaged of onion soup seasoning, a can of cream of mushroom soup and some water. Place the dish in the oven and come back about an hour and 15 minutes later to a delicious-smelling and tasting dinner.

Do I cook Rice before adding it to the Casserole?

No, it’s not necessary to cook the rice first. In fact, that would yield very mushy rice. The rice cooks right along with the chicken in the oven. It soaks up all the delicious flavors from the onion soup seasoning and the cream of mushroom soup. The result is perfectly tender white rice packed with flavor.

Do you cook Chicken before putting it in a Casserole?

The chicken will also cook with the rice in the oven, so there’s no need to pre-cook the chicken breasts. Instead, they turn juicy and tender in the cooking liquid, soaking up all of that delicious flavor.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Place the chicken breasts in the prepared pan and season with salt and pepper on all sides.
3. Pour the uncooked rice over the chicken. Sprinkle with the onion soup mix.
4. In a bowl or large glass measuring cup, combine mushroom soup and 1 1/2 cups of water. Pour this soup mixture over the chicken.
5. Cover and bake 1 hour 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Serve warm.

Notes

– Other kinds of rice may have different cooking times, so it’s best to stick with long-grain white rice for this recipe.

– You can substitute the package of onion soup mix with a homemade seasoning if you prefer.

– Condensed cream of mushroom soup provides the best flavor, especially because you will thin it out with water.

– If your casserole isn’t finished after 1 hour and 15 minutes, keep cooking until the grains of rice are fully cooked, which may take another 10 minutes depending on your oven.