Chicken & Rice Casserole
So incredibly delicious. Amazing leftovers the next day too. You can make ahead of time, even freeze, and then bake whenever.
So incredibly delicious. Amazing leftovers the next day too. You can make ahead of time, even freeze, and then bake whenever.
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 cup sour cream
- 6 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1 tsp currie powder
- 2 6 oz box uncle ben's original long grain & wild rice
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- 2 1/4 cup chicken broth reserved from cooked chicken
- 2 1/4 cup water
- 1 can condensed mushroom soup i prefer campbell's
- Carbohydrate 38.2413215029695 g
- Cholesterol 118.701875007109 mg
- Fat 10.6021687905645 g
- Fiber 1.22278070548773 g
- Protein 46.9871441343078 g
- Saturated Fat 4.55662525136162 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (533g)
- Sodium 1552.43503125973 mg
- Sugar 37.0185407974818 g
- Trans Fat 2.32211153848984 g
- Calories 445 calories
Step-by-step
- Chop up the onion and celery and add them to a large stock pot.
- Rinse the chicken breasts and add them into the pot.
- Fill the pot with enough water to cover the chicken and vegatables.
- Add the currie powder and bring to a boil.
- Cook the chicken for 20 minutes and remove from heat.
- Drain the broth from the chicken and vegetables in a separate pot or bowl and set aside.
- Let the chicken cool and shred the chicken into bite size pieces.
- While the chicken is cooling - prepare the two boxes of rice according to the directions on the box (doubling the ingredients of course).
- Instead of using just water, use 2 1/4 water and 2 1/4 of the reserved chicken broth to cook the rice.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Once the rice is cooked and the chicken is shredded into pieces, add the chicken, veggies, rice, one cup of sour cream and one can of the mushroom soup into the stock pot.
- Mix together until blended.
- Pour the mixture into a 9x13 inch pan and bake uncovered for one hour.
- Once the mixture is poured into the 9x13 pan, this is the point where you can cover it and save it for a later time or freeze it for another day.
- Sometimes I make two full batches and put one full batch into two 8x8 pans and give them as a dinner for family or friends with the instruction to just bake at 350 for one hour.
The Mechanics of Poaching Poultry
Curry powder and aromatics infuse the poaching liquid while boneless, skinless chicken breasts cook for 20 minutes in a covered stockpot. Retaining this specific broth provides the necessary starch and fat to hydrate the long-grain and wild rice blend without diluting the flavor profile. Poaching keeps the lean meat moist before shredding, ensuring the protein absorbs the surrounding moisture during the final bake rather than drying out in the oven. Test doneness by piercing the thickest part of the breast; the juices must run completely clear rather than pink.
Assembly and Thermal Retention
Blending condensed mushroom soup and sour cream creates a thermal blanket that protects the rice grains from scorching during the 60 minutes spent uncovered at 350 degrees Fahrenheit in a 9x13 inch pan. The dairy fats melt into the starch matrix, yielding a cohesive texture across all eight servings. Unbaked casseroles transition directly to the freezer for future meals, requiring no adjustment to the initial baking temperature or duration when transferred straight from cold storage to the heated oven.
