Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Satisfying chicken and rice casserole is made from scratch with vegetables and mushrooms. It makes a creamy and delicious comfort dinner.
We had quite a bit of snow this past few days. Schools were closed and kids were home. Even my husband was home due to the bad weather.
When the weather goes bad, and eating out is not an option, I need to come-up with something to feed hungry people in my family. They could easily fix their own ham and cheese sandwich, but returning home with frozen body after playing hard in the snow outside, I feel like I better feed them something more soothing and satisfying. What a thoughtful mother and wife I am? Ha ha ha!
So I made this Chicken and Rice Casserole for lunch. With pieces of boned chicken thighs and drumsticks, mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery, chicken stock, cream and a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or dried), I was able to make a satisfying one dish meal in a skillet.
Kids loved it, hubby loved it, and I did too.
I have to admit that I sometimes make casseroles with one of those canned soup just because I was too lazy to make from scratch. However making a delicious casserole from scratch is not overly complicated or time consuming. The flavor of this casserole is outstanding; creamy and savory. It can be easily adapted with whatever vegetables you have in your fridge.
I bet casserole is most mom’s favorite dish to cook. Because you don’t need to worry about any side dishes to go with and the clean up is a breeze afterward. How sweet?
How to make Chicken and Rice Casserole
Soak the white rice in water for 20 minutes and drain well.
Meanwhile season your chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika.
Boned chicken thighs and drumsticks is better option than breasts. Breasts can dry up easily after a long cooking in the oven.
Brown the chicken in olive oil, about 4-5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
While you are browning the chicken, chop up the holy trinity of vegetables; onion, celery, and carrot. Mince a couple cloves of garlic, and slice mushrooms, too. Set them aside.
In a same skillet where you browned the chicken, saute mushrooms for 1 minute, add white wine or chicken stock and have it evaporated. Transfer the mushrooms to another plate.
Add butter…
and saute the vegetables and garlic for 3-4 minutes.
Add the rice and saute another 2 minutes.
Return the mushroom to the skillet and pour the chicken stock. Remove the skillet from the heat
Well, right at this moment the phone rang, and I went to answer…
When I returned to my skillet a few minutes later… Well, the rice had soaked up the stock as you can see. But that’s okay. Add the cream,
and the fresh thyme. You can certainly use dried thyme as well.
Return your chicken pieces to top on the mixture. Cover with foil tightly and bake in the preheated 375 degree F oven for 45 minutes.
When done, look how creamy the short grain rice looks! The texture is almost like risotto; very creamy and tender, yet chewy.
A satisfying meal made with love.., they better appreciate the cook who made the perfect dish for them.
It seems like this winter is lasting longer than I hoped for. Can’t wait for a beautiful spring.
Chicken and Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cup short grain white rice
- 4 bone-in chicken thigh
- 4 drumsticks
- salt and pepper , to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 8 oz pkg button or cremini mushroom
- 1/4 cup white wine , or chicken stock
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-1/4 cup chicken stock
- 1/4 cup heavy or light cream
- 4-5 fresh thyme sprigs , or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
- Rinse the rice in water several times and soak in water for 20 minutes, drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Season the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Heat olive oil in a skillet over med-low heat, brown the chicken until golden on both sides, about 5-6 minutes on each side. Transfer to another plate and set aside. If there is too much grease in a skillet wipe out with a paper towel.
- In a same skillet saute the mushrooms for 1 minute and splash with wine (or stock) and let it reduced. Transfer the mushroom to another plate as well.
- Melt the butter in the skillet and saute the onion, carrot, celery and garlic for 3-4 minutes until slightly soften.
- Add the rice and saute 2 more minutes. Pour the chicken stock and cream, add the thyme and stir. Return the chicken pieces to top and cover the skillet with foil tightly. (if your skillet is nor oven proof, transfer the rice mixture to a casserole pan and top with chicken)
- Bake the casserole for 45 minutes, and serve hot.
I really enjoy this recipe and have made it a number of times. The secret ingredient is fresh thyme, in my opinion. I’d like to make it again today but don’t have any cream. Do you think that yogurt would be okay with it?
Hi Renée
I agree, using fresh thyme really makes a difference. And I think using yogurt in place of cream could work well too! While I haven’t tried it that way yet, it sounds delicious to me. If you decide to try it with yogurt, let me know how it turns out!
Hi Holly,
My husband and I enjoyed this dish. The two of us almost finished the whole pot. I will be trying this with fish fillet next. Thanks.
That is great! Let me know how you like with fish in the recipe. Thanks!
Your Chicken Rice Casserole looks amazing! I love casseroles with rice 🙂
My mouth was watering as I read through this recipe….I immediately pulled some chicken out of the freezer and made this for dinner. Simple ingredients, very rich-tasting and polished result.
For the record, I visited your site originally for the Korean recipes but I enjoy the other types of recipes you post too. We are all allowed to explore in our kitchens! I can’t believe the condescending comment that other visitor made.
Thank you, Tarmar, for your support. You are right. We enjoy ourselves exploring diversity of food in our own kitchen. That’s how we learn and expand our horizon.
As always pretty, pretty photos. If you are not already tempted by the recipe, the photos
will tip you over!
This looks delicious!
Holly it’s a true comfort food cook for only both of us. Have tried several dishes with rice but not a casserole dish would surely give a try and lovely clicks.
Wow, this looks amazing!!! Going to make this at the wkend!
Holly,
This look amazing! I love everything you do on this blog. I hope you’ll continue to share your lovely stories and your passion for cooking with us!
It’s finally getting warmer this week(40 degrees feels warm now. Ha!). Perhaps Spring is just around the corner!
Thanks Jiji. I appreciate your support. I can’t wait for the spring either. This winter has been very long.
Thanks Holly, this has given me some inspiration for dinner this week. So cold, so much snow here… I will be making this tomorrow. I love all of your recipes… Korean and otherwise! Thanks for everything,
Irene
Thanks for your support, Irene. Hope you like this recipe. It is just perfect for the snowy days
Thank you Holly for another wonderful recipe. Will definitely try over this weekend.
Caroline
Hi!
Look hon, it’s nice, homey kind of dinner. I have all kinds of similar recipes. When I subscribed to “Beyond Kimchee”, I was really looking forward to Korean or Korean-American fare. I don’t have those kinds of recipes. Please get back to basics. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jeanne
Jeanne
Thanks for you comment and the suggestion. However, I want to clarify you that 90% of the recipes in my blog is Korean dishes and Korean inspired fusion dishes. I do, sometimes, include other cuisines and desserts from different countries BECAUSE I love foods in general regardless of their origin.
I consider your comment was quite rude and irritating for me to take. This is my personal blog and I don’t take orders from you what recipes I should stick with or not. Basically, I don’t customize my blog to fit your needs. Hope you understand.
Sincerely,
Holly
Um, wow, way to be a horrible person.
Hello! I’m Korean-American and have been married for almost 1 year. I just discovered your blog and I love it! My husband moved to the US from Korea just a few years ago, so learning how to cook has been a bit rough, but your blog makes it so much better! I just made this dish AND the Cola-Braised Chicken recipe tonight!
I wanted to comment on Jeanne’s comment because she was so utterly rude! You have many more people who appreciate you and all that you do, and YOU ROCK!
^^
Signed,
Julie from Cali / Cook in Training
Wow, what an incredibly rude comment and rude person! Beyond kimchee is a great blog the way it is because of the variety of recipes that Holly works hard to put on here and cook for her family. If you don’t like the recipes, then hop on – this blog is not tailored to your specific requirements.
Holly, keep up the good work, your blog is one of the best out there with easy and delicious to follow recipes, great photos and the best part are the stories that you share with us!
What a nice, tasty dish! We’ve got freezing rain here today, so this would be perfect! Good stuff — thanks.
Oh, and since my oven is not working right now, could it be made completely on the stovetop in a skillet with a tight-fitting lid?
Yes. If you have the heavy dutch oven pot, that would be very ideal.
As always, a wonderful recipe with beautiful pictures!! This is something I’d make for my husband and myself (it’s just the two of us), and would make for leftovers the next day for lunch. Do you think it could be made with brown rice (maybe brown basmati rice)? I’m not supposed to eat white rice anymore. Maybe a bit more cooking time/liquid? The shrooms you used in the pictures are crimini mushrooms, yes? I like those best!
Hi Rebecca
You can use brown rice. I would soak in water longer, cook with a little more chicken stock, and increase the cooking time. Yes, I used crimini mushrooms. I found they are more flavorful than the white button mushrooms.