Monterey Chicken Rice-a-Roni Casserole – GREAT weeknight chicken casserole. Super easy to make and tastes amazing!! Can make ahead and freeze for a quick meal later! Chicken Rice-A-Roni, cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, spinach, garlic, Monterey Jack cheese, and french fried onions. Everyone cleaned their plate and went back for seconds!
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Pin This RecipeEasy Chicken & Rice Casserole
This Monterey Chicken Rice-A-Roni has quickly become a favorite at our house. It is super easy to make and tastes great! Chicken, spinach, Monterey Jack cheese, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, rice-a-roni, garlic, and french fried onions. One bite and you will be blown away! I don’t even like spinach and I ate two big helpings of this casserole. It is absolutely delicious! You must give this a try ASAP!
How to Make Monterey Chicken Rice-A-Roni Casserole
This casserole is super easy to make with only a few simple ingredients. Start with preparing a box of Chicken Rice-a-Roni according to the package directions. Combine the cooked rice with sour cream and cream of chicken soup. Stir in frozen spinach, Monterey Jack cheese, garlic, french fried onions, and chopped chicken. Spread the mixture into a baking dish. Top with more french fried onions and bake.
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Chicken Rice-a-Roni: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-chicken-rice-roni/
- I used rotisserie chicken for the cooked chicken in this casserole.
- Here is our recipe for Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken: https://www.plainchicken.com/slow-cooker-rotisserie-chicken/
- Make sure to get as much of the water out of the frozen spinach as possible. I drain it in a colander and then squeeze it with a towel or paper towels until it is almost dry.
- Can Chicken Rice-a-Roni Casserole be made in advance? Yes! You can assemble the casserole ahead of time and refrigerate it overnight. You may need to add a few minutes to the cooking time if baking the casserole straight from the refrigerator.
- Can Chicken Rice-a-Roni Casserole be frozen? Yes! Assemble the casserole and cover the dish with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Place the dish in the freezer and freeze. The casserole will keep up to 3 months in the freezer.
- To bake the casserole after freezing, thaw completely and bake as directed.
What to Serve with Chicken Casserole
We ate this casserole for dinner and had the leftovers for lunch during the week. The leftovers were just as good, if not better reheated! We usually serve this with some green beans or broccoli. This is also great with a salad and a roll. Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this easy casserole:
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Monterey Chicken Rice-a-Roni Casserole
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 1 box chicken flavor Rice-A-Roni
- 1 (10.5-oz) can Unsalted Cream of Chicken Soup
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 (10-oz) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups cooked chopped chicken
- 1½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 (6-oz) can French fried onions, divided
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Prepare Rice-A-Roni according to package directions. Add soup, sour cream, spinach, garlic, chicken, cheese, and half of the fried onions. Stir to combine.
- Spread rice mixture into prepared pan. Top rice with the remaining fried onions.
- Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
Notes:
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Chicken Rice-a-Roni: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-chicken-rice-roni/
- I used rotisserie chicken for the cooked chicken in this casserole.
- Here is our recipe for Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken: https://www.plainchicken.com/slow-cooker-rotisserie-chicken/
- Make sure to get as much of the water out of the frozen spinach as possible. I drain it in a colander and then squeeze it with a towel or paper towels until it is almost dry.
- 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 Chicken Rice-a-Roni Casserole be made in advance? Yes! You can assemble the casserole ahead of time and refrigerate it overnight. You may need to add a few minutes to the cooking time if baking the casserole straight from the refrigerator.
- Can Chicken Rice-a-Roni Casserole be frozen? Yes! Assemble the casserole and cover the dish with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Place the dish in the freezer and freeze. The casserole will keep up to 3 months in the freezer.
- To bake the casserole after freezing, thaw completely and bake as directed.
Steph
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Just made this and the family loved it!!! So good!
This dish does have quite a bit of sodium with the rice a roni and cream of chicken, but it sure was delicious. I used fresh spinach and used a bit of garlic powder instead of fresh garlic (because I usually saute fresh garlic and this recipe didn’t call for that). Overall very satisfied. Thanks so much!
You can make our homemade cream of chicken soup and homemade rice-a-roni to control the salt.
I made this tonight, I did not change a single thing. It was amazing!
What size Rice-a-Roni did you use , regular or family size?
regular
This may be a dumb question but do you cook the rice a tonight first?
Yes – read step 2
Steph – this recipe look yummy & would like any suggestions you have to top it off with something other than the canned onion rings. Many thanks & keep posting these wonderful recipes!