-3 to 4 pieces of uncooked bone-in chicken breasts seasoned with salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, paprika to taste OR cooked rotisserie chicken cut into bite-size pieces

-2 cups long grain rice, uncooked

-2 cups water

-1 can each/ cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup

-1 envelope of onion soup mix

– a finely chopped onion

 – ½ c chopped up, al dente broccoli (optional)

-¼ c finely chopped pepper (yellow or orange) just for color (optional)

-1-2 melted TBS butter 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray
  2. Mix all ingredients, except chicken, in a bowl and pour into pan.
  3. Place the fresh chicken pieces on top of the rice and pour melted butter over the chicken and rice.
  4. Cover tightly with foil and check after 1 hour and 15 min, or so. Take off foil and increase oven temp to 400. Cook until the liquid is absorbed and chicken is brown and cooked to 165 degrees inside. If you like it even crispier, put it under the broiler for a few minutes. 

If using rotisserie chicken, let the rice cook for about 45 minutes or so. When most of the liquid is absorbed, add the rotisserie pieces on top or stir them into the casserole before serving. If you put the chicken in before baking, it may get too dry. Use your discretion. 

You can also assemble this meal up to 4 hours ahead. That’s a plus! Keep it in the fridge before you plan to put it in the oven. 

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My husband is not a meat and potato dinner person. I am, especially in the winter since we don’t grill often. I love make-ahead dinners on a cold winter night. When the sun starts to fade, that is the time I usually have to think about cooking dinner. When it’s a crock pot or casserole night, I can sit back down and read another chapter of my book! Plus the clean-up is minimal.

I usually don’t make casseroles, especially made with canned soup, but looking back, I suppose I was in a comfort food mood and feeling too lazy to make anything else. 

This recipe is easy. There are many chicken and rice casserole recipes out there and I combined a few to make this one. A lot are made with chicken thighs but even though that cut is cheaper, we’re not fans. 

If you’re looking for a new dinner recipe, and you have no energy from the cold, dreary days of winter where I live in Ohio, try it! It’s warm and cozy! Enjoy!

Since it gets dark so early, that makes the final dish hard to photograph. That is why the picture above is one of the prep work instead of it plated. Thanks for understanding that I’m not a professional blogger or a food photographer..lol