Chicken and Rice Casserole

Making freezer meals for postpartum has forced me to get a little out of my comfort zone. Sure, I can make the standby lasagna and different pastas but who wants to eat that every day? Plus, I’m sure when people bring meals at least one of them will be another lasagna too. Being italian, I’m a little bit of a pasta snob so we’ll see how it goes. I’m also trying to use up some of the whole chickens that we have in the freezer too. We are on our second batch of meat birds and we need to clear out the old stock! Our freezers are already packed full so it’s a juggling act of trying to use up frozen foods to make space and trying to use up some of our jars before canning season too. This chicken and rice casserole recipe is a great way to do both!

No “Cream of” Soup!

The best thing about this recipe is that there is no cream of crap soup in it! I know there are organic versions of the soup but I just didn’t want to use it for this recipe. To be honest, we even had some in the cupboard but I just wanted it to be different. There are tons of recipes out there that tell you how to use that type of soup. Heck, I think even Campbell’s shares that recipe too. To me, this is a more authentic version of cooking from scratch. I suppose it would be the same to use one of those pantry copycat type recipes to make your own cream of whatever soup but I haven’t done that yet. It’s on my list, we just aren’t there!

Ingredients

• 5 cups cooked rice (I use my Ninja!)
• 3 cups cooked chicken (shredded or cubed)
• 2 cups frozen vegetables
• Sauce Ingredients
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 ½ cups milk (or cream)
• ¾ cup flour
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp paprika
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp better than bouillon base

Chicken and Rice Casserole Directions

• Mix the rice, chicken, and vegetables in a large bowl. 
• Pour into a greased 9×13 pan.
• Make the sauce.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, flour, onion powder, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder.
• In a 5-quart saucepan, cook butter, garlic and onion together until onion is soft.
• Add chicken broth and chicken base to the saucepan, whisk to combine and bring to a boil.
• One the mixture is boiling, add the milk mixture and cook over medium-high heat until thickened (1-2 minutes).
• Pour sauce over the chicken/vegetable/rice mixture. 
• Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.

To Freeze

Follow all of the steps except baking. When you are ready to serve it, first thaw overnight in the refrigerator. (If you use a freezer bag you will dump the contents into a greased casserole dish.) Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.

I froze mine in these disposable aluminum pans. Not the most non-toxic thing in the world but they were definitely the most handy and perfect size for our little family.

Tips & Tricks

First, you don’t have to use frozen vegetables. You could use fresh but you would need to make sure they are at least partially cooked. The other good way to do this is to use canned vegetables. Canned corn, carrots, green beans, broccoli etc. would all be great additions. I was trying to balance using up frozen ingredients so I used a frozen vegetable blend that I had on hand from Azure. It’s finally almost gone so I can move exclusively to our canned items. Right now, freezer space is way more precious to us. 

Second, cooking a whole chicken is the best way to get broth but you can use frozen or canned broth as well. I initially had a jar of it on hand but after looking at how much I had after cooking the whole chicken we had more than plenty to just use fresh broth. This is the best for your gut too because it’s got all those good nutrients in it from the chicken and the bones. Don’t forget to save your carcass and make more broth out of it! 

Third, the ninja or instant pot can be REALLY handy for this recipe. It honestly could make or break how easy it is for you. For this recipe, I use mine to cook both the chicken and the rice. I’ve tried stovetop rice many times but I’ve never been able to cook it just right. The Ninja Foodie gets it just right every time. This is not a paid advertisement either! We got the Ninja as a wedding present and it has been one of the most useful tools in our kitchen! It’s definitely the most used tool we have, that’s for sure!

In Conclusion: Chicken and Rice Casserole

This chicken and rice casserole is just one of the many items we made for the freezer to have in our postpartum time. Wanting to have 30 meals on hand and being someone who cooks from scratch is definitely a challenge. Add to the fact that I am about 6 months pregnant and things get really interesting! One meal at a time though and we will just keep taking small steps to get there. I intend on putting together a full list of the meals that we are putting up so I will definitely update this post when we have that list completed. 

Did you make meals for postpartum? If so, when did you start making them? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Chicken and Rice Casserole

A quick easy and totally from scratch dinner.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Ingredients

  

• 5 cups cooked rice
• 3 cups cooked chicken
• 2 cups frozen vegetables can use fresh or canned too

Sauce

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 1/2 cups milk or cream
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tbsp chicken bouillon

Instructions

 

• Mix the rice, chicken, and vegetables in a large bowl.
• Pour into a greased 9×13 pan.

Make the Sauce

• In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, flour, onion powder, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder.
• In a 5-quart saucepan, cook butter, garlic and onion together until onion is soft.
• Add chicken broth and chicken base to the saucepan, whisk to combine and bring to a boil.
• Once the mixture is boiling, add the milk mixture and cook over medium-high heat until thickened (1-2 minutes).
• Pour sauce over the chicken/vegetable/rice mixture.
• Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.

Notes

You can use fresh or canned veggies if you want.

 

If you prefer, you can also mix everything together so that the sauce is more thoroughly mixed into the other ingredients. 

Will make one 9×13 pan or two smaller casserole dishes.

To Freeze:

Follow all of the steps except baking. When you are ready to serve it, first thaw overnight in the refrigerator. (If you use a freezer bag you will dump the contents into a greased casserole dish.) Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.

Keyword casserole, Chicken, rice