The Best Chicken Rice Casserole

"This recipe is based on the Cook's Illustrated recipe from their Cover and Bake cookbook. As with all their recipes it is the best. But mine is better :) Like all casseroles this one freezes well once prepared to just before you put it in the oven."
 
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photo by ryancrites13 photo by ryancrites13
photo by ryancrites13
photo by Sarah M. photo by Sarah M.
photo by Sarah M. photo by Sarah M.
Ready In:
1hr
Ingredients:
19
Serves:
6-8
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ingredients

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directions

  • Melt butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat and cook onions, celery and carrots until soft but not brown. Add garlic, seasoned salt, pepper and chile powders and cook until very fragrant. Add flour and mix well. Cook until starting to color.
  • Whisk milk and stock into vegetable flour mixture. Turn heat to medium high and continue to whisk as mixture comes to a simmer. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add rice to sauce and lower heat to medium low. Cook until the rice absorbs most of the liquid and is tender, stirring occasionally. Will take about 20 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add raw chicken to the rice and sauce mixture. Cut green beans into 1 inch lengths and stir into the mixture as well. Cook approximately 4 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink on the outside. Stir in cheese.
  • Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 inch casserole, or two 8x8 inch casseroles.
  • Combine bread crumbs, cheese and garlic powder and sprinkle evenly over top of the casserole. Place in hot oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until topping is browned and casserole is bubbling.
  • You really should cool for 10 minutes before cutting. You could garnish with parsley and lemon wedges. Or not :).

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Reviews

  1. Still facing leftover turkey? The answer. I just substitued cooked turkey for the raw chicken. Because I had cooked rice, I cut the milk to a cup and the broth to a 14 ounce (one can - normally I make my own but we had a little straining disorder . . . ) This was grrrrreat. Some unusual things but everything was perfect. Rather than the seasoning salt and cayenne, I substituted Tony Chachere's seasoning. Gotta be better than equal, for true. Yes, I am 1/8 Cajun and was raised about 60 percent culturally Cajun. It's my maternal line back to my great-grandmother, and they were all Cajun/Acadian/French before that except for the Melansons, who have a bit of Scotch thrown in. The people, not the whisky. I always use the liquids from - for example, the green beans, in the sauce. Some mushrooms - even canned - horrors! Well, that wouldn't be a bad addition. I used sharp cheddar cheese. I had some fresh parsley and green onions, which I added. I press my garlic and let it sit for at least 15 minutes before I add it to a dish. I even screwed up the flour - I forgot it and put it in quickly after all the other stuff was in there except the green beans. But I got the lumps out and no one was the wiser. This is truly fabulous.
     
  2. This was really good, thanks for sharing. It was a cross between chicken soup & chicken pot pie. I added peas instead of green beans and next time may add corn as well. I used one can of cream of chicken soup and 2% milk instead of whole. I think this would be just as good without the cheese, maybe with just a little bit on the top with the breadcrumbs. Really great, my husband loved it. Definitely a filling meal.
     
  3. This was so good I will.make it again I used peas instead of green beans but that's because that was what I had in the freezer. This is a comforting food. My family wanted seconds you won't go wrong with this recipe.
     
  4. This is a great recipe which is flexible. We love veggies here so I trippled the veggies & just compensated by making extra sauce. I also used brown rice & substituted Ancient Grains Croutons which I crushed for the bread crumbs so my dish also was gluten free. This seasoning combo is fantastic. I split the recipe into 2 8 x 8 dishes & froze the 2nd one which we had for dinner tonight. My husband & I both loved it! Just a heads up however; if you use brown rice you will have to cook it in the fluids longer before putting in your casserole dish than the 20 min given in the recipe. We learned this the hard way on the 1st one. It was still delicious the rice just could of been slightly more tender. The 2nd one I froze from the same batch was slightly more tender I assume since it had been sitting in the sauce cooling before I put it in the freezer. I will cook my brown rice in the sauce mix next time for probably 30 minutes before putting in my baking dishes to insure that our rice is fully cooked. I would say the sauce and the vegetable blend here is flexible enough that you could change the seasoning to have many casseroles with different flavor themes you and your family enjoy. Just be a little creative!
     
  5. forgot to rate this OMG recipe. My sons new to die for. I dont add the green beans,don't have fresh. The crumb topping YUMMM Great for breakfast,lunch dinner or straifgt from frig. Thanks for posting. Love Cooks Illustrated
     
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Tweaks

  1. Broccoli instead of beans. Stuffing instead of bread crumbs and cooked leftover chicken instead of uncooked.
     
  2. green peas to replace green beans
     
  3. This was really good, thanks for sharing. It was a cross between chicken soup & chicken pot pie. I added peas instead of green beans and next time may add corn as well. I used one can of cream of chicken soup and 2% milk instead of whole. I think this would be just as good without the cheese, maybe with just a little bit on the top with the breadcrumbs. Really great, my husband loved it. Definitely a filling meal.
     

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