Chicken Rice Casserole

Submitted by Marie

"A great use for leftover chicken or turkey. Uses no Cream of Whatever soup. A creamy wonderful one dish meal of chicken, rice 'n peas, topped off with a mixture of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese and baked until golden brown."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups diced cooked chicken
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 3⁄4 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1 tablespoon dry breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

directions

1. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisk in flour and thyme and cook for 1 minute.
2. Gradually stir in broth and milk, stirring until thick and smooth.
3. Stir in chicken and add salt and pepper; set aside.
4. Grease a 1 1/2 quart shallow baking dish.
5. Spread rice in prepared baking dish, sprinkle with the peas and then pour creamed chicken mixture over.
6. Dot with remaining tablespoon of butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese which you mix together.
7. Bake at 400° until hot and bubbly, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Reviews

[syntheticchemist]

I hate it when people make substitutions and then say the recipe was horrible. <br/>I made this exactly like the recipe said and it was awesome! My wife likes comfort food and this was incredible as she scarfed it up. I loved it as well. The sauce thickened nicely and the thyme added a bit of flavor to it without overpowering the chicken. Peas added some color and texture to the dish. YUM! <br/><br/>BTW, I'm a trained chef(1980) and a syntheticchemist and this is a simple standard recipe that stands the test of time. <br/><br/>additions. <br/>A little more parm cheese but watch the saltiness of the dish.<br/>A few more bread crumbs but don't dry out the top too much.<br/>Baked for 20 minutes, should bake at 400 for 25 minutes.<br/>O yea, use frozen peas and carrots next time.

 

[mhcomp]

I made this recipe with a few modifications and all I can say is WOW!<br/><br/>I made more roux than called for and wound up using 1 cup of broth and 1 cup on milk. I used only Old Bay as a seasoning along with salt & pepper. I poured 1/2 cup broth on the rice before adding the chicken mixture and used Panko breadcrumbs on top along with fair amount of finely grated Parmesan cheese.<br/><br/>The dish turned out to be one of the finest tasting recipes of all time!<br/><br/>BTW, I am a male,75 and really enjoy cooking & eating.

 

[jesikae]

On flavor, this got 5 stars. Loved it. Substituted poultry seasoning for thyme but kept everything else the same. Cooking it gets 4 - The rice on the bottom of the casserole dried out and got crunchy which received complaints... next time, I would make more sauce and mix said sauce into the rice to keep it moist.

 

[Mom2CuteBoys]

Tasty dish that the whole family enjoyed. I put some of the sauce under the rice and that helped keep everything moist. I also sautéed some onions to go in with the chicken. YUM!

 

[Olive]

This is a very good casserole! One that I will be making again and again. I followed the recipe as written. But I think next time I make it, I will add a bit of chopped onion and garlic for a little more flavor, plus a little more bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese on the top. Those are just our personal tastes. The recipe is good the way it is written. Thanks for sharing this delish casserole.