This post may contain affiliate links. Read disclosure policy
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.
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.
Michelle says
I’m always looking for new chicken ideas and this looks delicious! Plus I am sure I have some onion soup mix that needs to get used up. Can’t wait to try this! Pinned! 🙂
Deborah Tucker says
can you make this dish with ranch??
Karly says
I’m sure that would be great!
Karly says
I’m sure you could!
Alexandra says
Having trouble with having the rice cook thoroughly 🙁 I followed the directions and added more cook time but the rice isn’t getting all that tender! HELP! 🙁
Karly says
I’m sorry you had troubles with this one. Did your rice end up getting tender for you?
Quarteisha says
The rice wasn’t ready, but overall a good meal. Next time I will cook rice separately.
Christine says
i am making this now. An hour is NOT enough to cook rice and the chicken is pretty much done. glad I am making this for me and my husband and not company. my question did you try this before adding it to your cookbook
Karly says
This is supposed to cook for 75 minutes, not an hour. The foil needs to be tightly sealed and the rice and chicken will both cook beautifully.
jayniebabette says
Could you make this in a slow cooker and finish it off in the oven at the cheese stage?
Angela says
I’m making it in the slow cooker now. I will make minute rice when I get home from work then put it all in a baking dish and top with the cheese.
Delbra says
Hi Tanya,
The recipe does not state to season the chicken and perhaps that’s why it was bland tasting. I made the dish and used dark meat, thighs. Also you only needed to use one package.
Tanya says
I made this tonight for dinner!! My family LOVES rice and chicken, however, it turned out quite bland. Not sure if I did something wrong? Anyone else hve this issue? I made it with 1 packet onion soup but there were 2 in the box. Should I have used both? It needed some seasonings or something?! Thoughts??
Karly says
Hi Tanya! Sorry this wasn’t a hit for you. We just use the 1 packet of onion soup mix and find that it flavors everything perfectly. You could season the chicken separately if you think it needs it next time, just be careful of adding more salt as the onion soup mix is already pretty high in sodium.
Kristin says
Looks and smells fantastic! Problem for me was cooking at an hour wasn’t long enough with using a gas oven. Can’t wait to dig in in another 20 minutes or so!
Karly says
This recipe is supposed to cook for 75 minutes. 🙂
Heidi says
If I use your cream of chicken soup recipe. I have to make two batches correct? Do I still add the 2 cups of milk to the rice mixture as well?
kathi @ Laughing Spatula says
My family would flip over this and so incredibly easy! Can never have too many chicken breast recipe in my arsenal!
Karly says
Hope you give it a try!
Delbra says
I made this dish a few days ago which came out good. However when you are cooking for just two people the dish is too much. I will have discard the rice because it’s enough to feed 4 to 6 people. We really enjoyed the mesl.
Beverlee says
I just cooked this and here’s my review…
First of all, I thought 2 cups of milk was to much so I didn’t use it all.. Mistake. While it came out fully cooked, tge rice was a little dry. I’ll follow the directions next time.
Secondly, i feel like this cook time was a little too long for white meat. White fully cooked, it too was dry.. But then again, maybe it was dry because I didn’t put enough milk?
I seasoned my meat before adding it to the dish.
Overall, this is a solid recipe and I’ll try it again and next tune I’ll follow the directions!.. Except I’ll sub white meat for dark. That’s my husband’s preference and he immediately complained about it.
Karly says
I didn’t find the chicken to be dry, but I think that was because it was also soaking in some of the milk/soup mixture with the rice. Reducing the milk probably made it more dry. 🙂
Beverlee says
Yea, I think so. Im used to using Jasmine rice which requires less liquid ? but nevertheless, I’ll try it again the right way.
Tracy says
I just put this in oven now. I made it according to recipe but added fresh mushrooms. I can’t wait to try it! ?
Tracy says
Wanted to follow up after we had this. It was perfectly done and not dry at all. We loved it but next time I will cut recipe in half as we only ate 1/4 of it. I also made sang peas. Two thumbs up!
Karly says
Hope you loved it!
Kathy says
My daughter made this, and the chicken was very dry and the rice had little moisture left in it. IMO, 75 minutes is way too long to cook chicken! She didn’t even put it back in for the last 15 minutes because she could see the chicken was already done and the rice was drying up.
Delbra says
Hi
I used chicken thighs which were moist. I cooked dish 60 mins. First 45 mins. Rice was crunchy. I added cheese and put back in oven for 15 more mins. Really good.