Chicken and Rice Casserole with Cream of Mushroom Soup

Chicken and Rice Casserole with Cream of Mushroom Soup is the dinner I make when I want one dish the whole table will eat without anyone picking at it, usually on a night when I’m too tired to stand over the stove. Everything goes into a single baking dish raw, the rice included, so there’s no second pan to scrub.

The trick that makes it work is the foil: press it tight to the rim so the trapped steam cooks the rice right in the sauce while the thighs turn tender on top. Six thighs and a cup and a half of rice stretch into six servings, and it’s built on pantry staples you probably already keep.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It’s a true dump-and-bake: the rice, soup, milk, and cheese get stirred together and baked with the thighs on top, so the whole job is one bowl and one dish.
• Whole chicken thighs stay tender through the long covered bake, where leaner breast tends to dry out.
• Six thighs and a cup and a half of rice feed six people, so it’s a practical way to turn one pack of thighs into dinner with leftovers.
• The base is pantry-driven, since cream of mushroom soup, milk, rice, and cheddar are things you likely have on hand, so it rarely means a special trip to the store.
• It reheats well the next day once the rice has finished setting, making it a sensible choice to cook ahead for the week.

Ingredients You’ll Need

A couple of these ingredients are worth a note before you start; the printable card below has the full list with quantities.

• Long-grain white rice: use it uncooked and stick with long-grain white. It’s the variety timed to cook through in the covered bake, while instant rice turns to mush and brown or wild rice needs more liquid and a longer time in the oven.
• Cream of mushroom soup: the condensed soup is the sauce base, so it goes in straight from the can with no added water. It carries the savory, creamy body that coats the rice.
• Milk: this thins the condensed soup to the consistency the rice can absorb as it bakes. Whole or 2% both work.
• Shredded cheddar: half gets stirred through the rice and half goes on top for the last ten minutes, so you get cheese worked through the dish and a melted layer over it.
• Chicken thighs: bone-in or boneless both work here. Thighs hold up to the long bake and stay juicy where the breast would dry out, and they’re an economical cut for feeding a crowd.
• Salt and pepper: season the thighs before they go on top so the chicken itself has flavor, not only the sauce around it.

How to Make Chicken and Rice Casserole

Scroll down for the full recipe card containing a full printable recipe and measurements in both US customary and metric units.

Mix the rice and sauce

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). In a large bowl, stir together the two cans of cream of mushroom soup, the milk, uncooked rice, and half the shredded cheddar until well combined.

The rice goes in dry, since it cooks in the sauce as the casserole bakes.

Assemble and cover

Grease your baking dish, pour in the rice mixture, and spread it into an even layer. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and nestle them on top. Cover the dish tightly with foil and press it flat against the rim.

That seal is the step people rush, and it’s the main reason a casserole comes out with crunchy rice, because the steam has to stay trapped to cook the grains through.

Bake, then add the cheese

Bake covered for 1½ hours. Remove the foil, add the remaining cheddar, and bake uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the cheese melts and bubbles.

Check the thickest thigh with a thermometer, since chicken is done at 165°F (74°C), and color is not a reliable indicator.

Rest and serve

Let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before serving. The rice keeps absorbing liquid off the heat, so those few minutes are what turn a slightly loose casserole into one that holds together on the spoon.

Scatter chopped parsley over the top and bring it to the table.

Recipe Notes and Expert Tips

• Keep the soup and milk amounts as written. They’re measured to give the rice just enough liquid to cook through, so scaling them back is a common cause of firm, dry grains.
• Don’t lift the foil partway through to check on it. Every peek lets out the steam that cooks the rice, so leave the dish sealed for the full covered bake.
• Go easy on any extra vegetables. Watery veg let off moisture as they bake and can leave the sauce loose, so a modest handful is safer than a big pile.
• Nestle the thighs so they sit on top of the rice rather than buried in it. They take on a little color that way, and the rice underneath stays in contact with the sauce it needs to cook.

Recipe Variations

• Cream of chicken soup stands in for the mushroom without changing the method, and it works because the two condensed soups have the same consistency, so only the flavor shifts, toward something milder and more chicken-forward.
• If you’d rather use chicken breast, it works, though breast is leaner and dries faster than thighs over a bake this long, so cut thick pieces down so they cook through evenly. I haven’t tested breast in this exact dish, so treat the timing as a guide and go by the thermometer.
• A small handful of cooked, well-drained broccoli or peas stirred through the rice adds some green, and it works because a light hand doesn’t add enough moisture to loosen the sauce; keep the amount modest so it stays that way.

How to Store Leftovers

Get leftovers into the fridge within 2 hours of the casserole coming out of the oven, and don’t leave it sitting on the counter to cool all the way down first.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, and reheat to 165°F (74°C) before serving.

Reheat individual portions in the microwave with a splash of milk to loosen the rice, or warm the whole dish, covered, in a moderate oven.

To freeze it, cool it down, wrap it well, and keep it for 2 to 3 months. Thaw it overnight in the fridge before reheating, and stir in a little milk as you warm it through, since the rice firms up in the freezer.

Making it ahead is a different job from storing leftovers, so treat the two separately. You can assemble the casserole up to the point of baking, cover it, and refrigerate it for up to a day; add a few minutes to the covered bake since it goes into the oven cold.

What to Serve With Chicken and Rice Casserole

This casserole is rich and creamy on its own, so the sides that suit it best are the ones that cut against it. A pile of crispy air fryer broccoli brings some green and a crisp edge to play off the soft rice, and it’s in and out of the air fryer while the casserole rests.

On a night when you want to round the meal out further, warm garlic bread is good for mopping up the sauce. A simple green salad with a sharp vinaigrette does the same job if you’d rather keep things light.

FAQs

More Chicken Casseroles to Try

If this one becomes a regular, here are the chicken casseroles I’d point you to next.

• Chicken and Broccoli Casserole with Rice and Cheddar is the closest cousin to this one, with broccoli built into the bake so the vegetable and the starch are handled in a single dish.
• Chicken and Dumpling Casserole is a softer, more stew-like option, with spoonfuls of dumpling dough baked over the top.
• Chicken Pot Pie Casserole takes the chicken-and-vegetable filling in a pastry direction, with puff pastry baked through the filling instead of a single top crust.
• Cheesy Chicken Casserole With Egg Noodles and Cheddar is a quicker option for a busy evening, using cooked chicken and noodles with a short bake to melt the cheese.