Old School Chicken and Rice Casserole – seriously THE BEST!!! Everyone cleaned their plate and went back for seconds – even our picky eaters!!! Chicken, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, cream of celery, onion powder, garlic powder, water, milk, instant rice and parmesan cheese. This has quickly become a family favorite! We make it at least once a month. SO good!!
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Pin This RecipeThis Old School Chicken and Rice Casserole is seriously delicious! We absolutely LOVED this casserole. We ate it for lunch and leftover for a couple of days afterward. SO good! This casserole is super easy to make. It was ready to go in the oven in minutes. This makes a TON. Next time I might split it between two pans and freeze one for later.
I used a whole rotisserie chicken in this casserole. If you don’t have a rotisserie chicken, you will need about 4 cups of cooked chicken for the casserole. This recipe uses three cans of Cream of Whatever soup. I always buy the 98% fat-free or Healthy Choice to cut down on fat and sodium. Our favorite part of the casserole was all the yummy parmesan cheese on top! YUM! This was a huge hit in our house. Chicken Legs has already requested this again for dinner. I can’t wait!
Old School Chicken and Rice Casserole
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 1 rotisserie chicken (4 cups cooked chopped chicken)
- 1 (10.5-oz) can Unsalted Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1 (10.5-oz) can cream of celery soup
- 1 (10.5-oz) can Unsalted Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups instant rice, uncooked
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, fresh or green can
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Lightly spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Remove skin from rotisserie chicken and discard. Remove chicken meat from bones and chop.
- In a large bowl, combine, chopped chicken, cream of chicken soup, cream of celery soup, cream of mushroom soup, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, water, milk and instant rice. Pour into prepared pan. Top with grated parmesan cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 40 to 50 minutes.
Notes:
- Can use reduced-fat or healthy choice soup.
- I suggest using Unsalted Cream of Chicken & Mushroom Soups in this dish to control the sodium.
- You can buy it by the case at Amazon:
- Cream of Chjcken: https://amzn.to/49n4uZE
- Cream of Mushroom: https://amzn.to/3SkpNVv
- Need Gluten-free soup? You can buy it here:
- Cream of Chicken: https://amzn.to/3MtqQ1s
- Cream of Mushroom: https://amzn.to/45WqyXY
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-cream-of-chicken-soup/
- Substitute mushroom bouillon to make cream of mushroom soup.
- You can buy it by the case at Amazon:
- Can use low-fat or fat-free milk.
Steph
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I didn’t have minute rice so I cooked once cup of rice like I typically do, which becomes 2 cups cooked…. Then I used Pacific Foods organic cream of chicken and cream of cauliflower and 1.5 cups of organic skim milk (since I typically use whole milk I figured skim would be equal to the water and milk combo). I decreased by half a cup due to my already cooked rice as well as just two cans of soup. Everything else was the same.
It is a KEEPER!!! Best ever and with my family with finicky eaters it was an absolute hit! Left overs were even better.
Made again with 4 – 12.5 cans of chicken breast and boom! Dinner in no time. Love the cooked rice addition so will continue that way.
Thanks for the recipe and I hope my tweak helps those without minute rice. 😋
Soooo….you basically did your own thing and didn’t follow the recipe at all. Thank you for being so helpful 🙄
Lol, that what I was thinking!
Thank you!!!! I didn’t have minute rice either and I was struggling to figure out my liquid ratios. Appreciate you 🙂
Bravo!!! I made this last night for my family and there were not too many words spoken because they were all busy eating. My husband said it was the best chicken and rice he has had and appreciated all of the flavors the dish has. So many chicken and rice dishes can be bland and this is definitely not one of those!! I also loved the fact that I was able to put this together when I got home from work and that it was a quick meal. I baked it in two 8X8 dishes so we can freeze one and have it later this month!
In using the creamed soups, do I dilute them first or just add out of the can?
just out of the can
Can I substitute noodles for rice? All the flavors sound delicious
What do you do if you can only find cream of cans in 10.5 ounce and not the 10.75 ounce listed on the recipe?
use it – they changed the size of the can recently – it is no big deal
I would like to try but I’m picky and so are my kids. Could I make it with 3 cans of the cream of chicken? Don’t like mushrooms or celery much. Would that change it too much?
You can use any flavor of condensed cream of soup that you prefer.
Made this several times for my daughter and grandchildren
They loved it
Everyone always has seconds
and daughter takes a bowl of it to work for
lunch the next day
We love this recipe in my house! We used brown instant rice and I through a bag of broccoli in the mix and half a bag of peas, also added breadcrumbs to the top and a bit more seasonings to taste! Delicious! We have made it exactly the way its written as well and that too is delicious!
And SO SO EASY. That’s my favorite part! Thank you!
Add a can of Rotel tomatoes and chilies. It gives it a bit of a bite. Love this recipe this way.
For those wondering about substituting the instant rice with regular rice, I made this last night using 2 cups of uncooked Carolina jasmine rice and it worked out beautifully. No other substitutions or adjustments, except for breadcrumbs sprinkled on top.
I used leftover turkey and add peas. Was amazing. Will definitely make again.
This is so delicious, picked up rotisserie chicken on the way home from church and had a yummy no fuss lunch! Love your recipes, thanks for sharing them!
SO glad you enjoyed it!
What I love most about this recipe, is that it’s basic. Being basic allows people to build on it, how they like. Some nights when I’m especially lazy, we have this as written and other nights I add or change ingredients. Family loves it however I make and are always throwing out suggestions for next time. Thank you for a great simple meal that can easily be dressed up.
SO glad you enjoyed it! We keep all of the recipes pretty basic just for this reason. I like to let people add what they enjoy to each recipe.
Can you freeze it before cooking? Looking for some easy meals to get started for school.
Brooke,
I cooked, cooled and then froze. Zapped in microwave, then added cheese on top and broiled till melted (2-3 min). Yum!!
Can you cook this in a crockpot? If so how long?
I’ve never made this in the slow cooker so I am not sure what the cooking time would be.
Making this tonight. Started before I read the recipe! Lol I had 3 boiled cooked chicken breasts and I made the instant rice in a large skillet. Chopped the breasts while the rice cooked. Added 2 cans cream of chicken soup 1 cup milk and 1/2 # of velvets cheese., few pats of butter and 1/2 cup of water. I just put it in the oven for 30 minutes.
So good! Used brown rice (precooked), no water, and added peas. Big hit with the fam.
I made your version of chicken & rice it is in the oven as I’m writing this. It is spring in NE pA & my chives are up so I’m going to top the dish with chives. I’m using raw chicken thighs. It looks like a very good recipe
Made as written and it was fantastic, which is saying something because I am a very fussy eater, worse than a two-year-old. 🙂
Now that I have tried it as above I might make a few adjustments, I will probably add chicken broth instead of water, skip the celery soup as I am not a big fan, though it does go well with this dish, and add some salt and pepper.
I am not sure why people change recipes then complain they didn’t care for it, how can they tell if they don’t try the original dish first?
I make a similar dish using whole prices of chicken but I think I would like this better and the addition of a packet of dry onion soup mix
I was going to come on here to say I added a packet of onion soup mix and it was really delicious!
Can I prepare it and cook the next day?
I haven’t tried making it advance, so I can not say. If you try it, let us know how it turns out.
How saucy does this turn out after baking? We do like stuff like this extra creamy. Was thinking of adding 1/2 cup more milk or chicken stock. Has anyone tried this? Thanks!