Easy Baked Chicken & Rice Casserole

Easy Baked Chicken & Rice Casserole

Growing up in the deep south, food was always a way that my mom and gran showed others they were loved. This dish is one of my childhood comfort foods. It’s warm and soft to eat; and it reminds me of the dish my gran used to spend all day making. Thankfully, this version doesn’t take that long or that much effort!

Easy Baked Chicken & Rice Casserole

This recipe takes about ten (10) minutes to prep and is ready to serve in about an hour. Depending on the size of your family, you might need to adjust the portions. This version feeds four.

Seasonings:

Salt and Black Pepper as desired
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (4 ounces each)
1 small red onion, diced
1 cup long-grain rice, rinsed and drained (white or brown)
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Grease a 9×13 casserole baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil or mist with a non stick spray. If you are using a pan to brown the chicken that is also oven proof, you can use same pan and not a baking dish.
• Heat a large frying pan (a cast iron skillet or a dutch oven are perfect for this recipe) over medium heat.
• Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to heated pan.
• Gently place the chicken breasts in the olive oil and season with salt and black pepper.
• Cook the chicken breasts until they are golden brown on each side. They will need about three to four minutes on each side depending on the size of the breasts. Once browned, remove from heat.
• Add onion and rice to the prepared baking dish and season with salt and black pepper.
• Pour the chicken broth over the rice and onion mixture.
• Place the browned breasts on top of the rice mixture.
• Cover baking dish with lid or foil and bake for 40 minutes.
• Remove lid or foil and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the rice is cooked completely.
• Allow the dish to rest for five (5) minutes before removing chicken and stirring rice and onions.
• Serve rice and onions in a bowl and top with the chicken.

Tip for Maximum Flavor:

To bring out the flavor of the rice, cook the red onion and the rice in a dry skillet until the rice is browned and the onions are soft. Then add the rice and onion mixture to the baking pan.

Another flavor boost is the deglaze the frying pan or skillet that the chicken was cooked in by adding about half a cup of chicken broth or water to the pan and scrape up any brown bits left on the bottom of skillet. When finished, transfer the liquid from the skillet to the casserole dish with the rest of the chicken broth.

I love how easy this recipe is to make and that it can be changed each time by adding other vegetables. For my crew, a bowl of this baked chicken and rice is our meal. But you could serve it with a salad or other side vegetables.

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