Cracked Out Chicken and Rice Bake – chicken, cheddar, bacon, Ranch and rice – quick and easy weeknight casserole! Use rotisserie chicken and this comes together in 5 minutes! SO good! We make this at least once a week!!
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Pin This RecipeI’ve been on a rice casserole kick lately. We’ve made several versions of it and loved them all. I was looking through my recipes and realized that I didn’t have a “Cracked Out” Chicken and Rice Bake version. OMG! I had to remedy that situation ASAP!
This was SO good. I mean, seriously delicious! It might be my favorite Chicken and Rice Bake on the blog. We ate this for dinner and had leftovers for the next day for lunch. It was great both times. Use some rotisserie chicken (my weeknight secret weapon), and this casserole is ready for the oven in 5 minutes. Serve this with some quick green beans and you have an easy weeknight meal in under 30 minutes!
*I used instant white rice in this dish. You can certainly use brown rice. Make sure to follow the preparation directions on the package of brown rice. Brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice.*
Cracked Out Chicken and Rice Bake
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups instant white rice
- 2 cups cooked chopped chicken
- 1 (10.5-oz) can Unsalted Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1 (8-oz) container sour cream
- ½ (1-oz) package ranch dressing mix
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup cooked chopped bacon
- ½ cup chicken broth or water
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add instant rice, cover and turn off heat. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, until all water is absorbed.
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, chicken soup, sour cream, Ranch dressing mix, cheddar cheese, bacon, chicken broth and cooked rice. Spread into prepared pan.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Notes:
- Can 4 cups of any type of cooked rice in place of the minute rice and water.
- I used half a rotisserie chicken for the cooked chicken in this casserole.
- ½ of a packet of ranch dressing mix is 1½ Tablespoons.
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-ranch-dressing-mix/
- I suggest using Unsalted Cream of Chicken Soup in this dish to control the sodium.
- You can buy it by the case at Amazon: https://amzn.to/49n4uZE
- Need Gluten-free Cream of Chicken Soup? You can buy it here: https://amzn.to/3MtqQ1s
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-cream-of-chicken-soup/
- Can make the casserole in advance and refrigerate or freeze for later.
- To bake after freezing, thaw completely and bake as directed above.
Steph
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Can you add frozen mixed vegetables to this recipe and cook the same?
Did anyone else have to bake it longer than instructed? I’m at 40 mins at 350 right now, and it is not quite done yet.
How could it not be done? You are simply heating it up. Everything in the dish is already cooked. You just need to cook it until it is hot. Maybe check your oven? The heating element might be off.
My husband is addicted to this recipe! He likes a blend of brown and wild rice & likes double amount of rice. He requests this quite often. We like french fried onions over top 😋
I left the bacon out and sauteed 1 cup chopped carrots and 1 cup sauteed celery in olive oil and added it to the rice mix. Tasted delicious!!
If you wanted to make this without chicken (because we’re grilling chicken on the side) how does this change the recipe/cooking time?
I made this for dinner, tonight. It was super easy and delicious! Should I have covered the dish while heating it in the oven?
I don’t cover it
what sides would you recommend with this
Can you double the recipe if you use bigger casserole dish ?
Absolutely!
I added baby bella mushrooms and broccoli florets, as well as chopped onion. Came out absolutely awesome. Thank you!
I'm attempting to make this into a crock pot recipe by using raw chicken and regular uncooked rice. Starting at 4 hours on high and giving it a whirl. Going to add the cheese and bacon towards the last 30 of cook time. I've incorporated extra water/stock for the rice to cook with the chicken in the crock pot all together. This looks great and tasty, but I'd rather not precook everything and then still heat up the oven, so I really hope this works out. Will let you know.
How did it turn out?
I made this with long grain rice but used spicy ranch dressing mix. I also added some cumin, chili powder, chili seeds, pepper, onion salt and just to make it spicy enough for my husband 1/4 cup hot pepper sauce. It was delicious. I will definitely be making this one again.