Cracked Out Chicken and Rice Casserole – SO easy! Chicken, cheddar, bacon, ranch, rice, cream of chicken soup, and milk. Simply mix everything together, cover, and bake. Ready in about 30 minutes! Everyone LOVES this super easy weeknight dinner recipe!! #chicken #casserole #glutenfree #easydinner
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Pin This RecipeThis is no ordinary Chicken and Rice casserole. This is “Cracked Out” Chicken and Rice – chicken and rice loaded with cheddar, Ranch, and bacon. YUM! This takes ordinary chicken and rice from good to great!
We absolutely loved this dish. How could we not? It is so delicious and super simple to make. I used my weeknight dinner secret weapon – rotisserie chicken – at it came together in minutes. Simply mix together chicken, rice, cheddar, cheese, cooked bacon, ranch dressing mix, cream of chicken soup, and milk. Feel free to throw some broccoli in the mix too! Pour the chicken and rice mixture into a baking dish and that is it. It takes my oven longer to preheat than to make this casserole.
Here is a tip to make sure the rice cooks thoroughly and doesn’t burn on the bottom – stir this about halfway through the cooking time. Turns out perfect every time!
This casserole has become a staple at our house. You just can’t beat a quick and easy weeknight meal. We served this cheesy chicken & rice with some butter peas and garlic toast. Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great this yummy casserole:
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Cracked Out Chicken and Rice Casserole
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked chopped chicken
- ¼ cup chopped cooked bacon
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- 1 (1-oz) packet dry Original Ranch dressing mix
- ¾ cup long grain rice (not instant)
- 1 (10.75-oz) can cream of chicken soup
- 1 cup milk
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Lightly spray a 9×9-inch pan with cooking spray.
- Combine all ingredients and pour into prepared pan.
- Cover dish with foil. Bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring midway through cooking time.
Notes:
Steph
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I enjoyed this recipe very much. I cooked it 40 minutes with tightly wrapped foil and it was perfecto! I used half the packet of ranch and 1/2 &1/2 because that is what I had on hand.
What if I didn't know the chicken had to be cooked and I did it raw will it still work?
My dtr-in-law made it and it was marvelous. But I'm on a special pre-diabetic diet so, if I can't count the carbs and calories then I can't eat it. And that would just be criminal. Lol
So, do you have any nutritional info on this recipe?
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I made this tonight. I cooked per directions for 40 min. Took it out and stirred and tasted, rice was still not all the way cooked. I added a little chicken broth, turned the oven up to 400, recovered and cooked an additional 15 min. Turned out delicious! By the way I did stir at the half way point also.
I've used this recipe at least 4 times now. Great with beans and frozen vegetables thrown in
The flavor is amazing but my rice came out so hard. Is 1 cup of milk enough to cook 3/4 cup of rice?
So I want to try this and from what I see its very good… My only question is how many people does it feed for?
It will feed about 4 – just depending on what you serve with it and how hungry people are.
My rice was under cooked 🙁
Very good! It will be making a comeback at my house soon.
I made this and it was amazing! I followed the instructions to the mark and at 40 minutes, my rice was still hard as rocks… it took nearly an hour and 1/2 to cook the rice (I had to continuously add more water/milk), and it was still a little 'al dente' but we were so hungry at that point, we didn't care. I was picking rice out of my teeth the rest of the night. I think I only had an 8×8 metal pan… I think next time, I'll at least par-boil the rice. The flavor was delicious!!
I wonder if those who are not getting good results with the baked version are not tightly covering their baking dish? If not, the moisture needed for the rice is going to evaporate and not cook.
Mine turned out perfectly.
We made this (My 3 yr old did most of the work! He loved it!) and added broccoli to it. My only issue was that it is rather salty. Any idea how to cut down on the salt? It's really yummy and we would make it more if we can figure out how to solve that little problem 🙂
I made it with pre-cooked instant rice, otherwise followed recipe, and it turned out good.
Hey Susan, I was planning on cooking this with already cooked rice. Did you still use 1 c. of milk?
Just got done making this with minute rice and cooked it for 40 minutes. Checked it at 20 and 30 minutes, but 40 was perfect! Yum!
My rice was a tad crunchy. I would suggest adding more liquid. Still yummy though! 🙂
I made this for dinner last night. It was a delicious HIT with my family! I used MINUTE rice & it turned out great. 1/2 of a cooked Rotisserie Chicken from Costco (white & dark meat) is the perfect amount of chicken. I did add another 1/2 c. of cheddar cheese (1 1/2 c. total). All other ingredients remained the same. Yummy! ***Highly Recommend***
Hey jamee, I was planning on cooking this with already cooked rice. Did you still use 1 c. of milk even though you used minute rice?
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Emily – I use either Mahatma or Publix long grain white rice. I have never had an issue with the rice not cooking. I make this and a version of this dish all the time.
Marissa – you would need to cut the cooking time way down. I would check it at about 15 minutes and then every 5 minutes until done.
Would you still use 1 c. of milk?
What would happen if you did use Minute Rice? I have a ton of it but no regular rice.
Wow! This looks great! I love chicken and rice but you really did it with this recipe. I can't resist the bacon, ranch and cheddar. Definitely going into my weeknight rotation!
Love me some crack ANYTHING! Can't wait to try it Steph!
Thank you Stephanie, will try this soon.
I was hurting for dinner stuff too, going to make this tonight!
Your recipes are always the best! Definitely will give this a try. My favorite of yours is the chicken dish with the orange marmalade.
This recipe looks perfect for dinner tonight! I am curious about something – I notice in a lot of your dinner plate pictures, lima beans seem to be your vegetable choice. Are lima beans a southern "staple"? I've never eaten lima beans unless they were mixed up with other vegetables. How do you cook them so they taste good? 🙂
It’s been along time since you asked this question, so I’m not sure if you’ll see this reply. Lima beans, or as we sometimes call them, butter beans, are my favorite vegetable. I cook mine in water with a couple of chicken bouillon cubes added. You can also add a little bacon grease which makes them really good. I buy mine frozen and just simmer them until they’re done. They should be soft. Hope this helps.
I need this, like I need it right now! I would totally eat all of this haha, I know this recipe is fabulous! Love it!
justanotherperson – it is cooked chicken. I updated the recipe. Thanks!
Can't wait to try it out…I've made several of your recipes and they have all been wonderful! thanks for the great post
Yumm!! Looks great! 🙂 Definitely something we would enjoy – saving this one.
Wonder if brown rice would work in this recipe?
is that raw or cooked chicken
Recipe says cooked chicken.
Campero – no, do not cook the rice first.
Do you cook the rice first?