Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Holly P. — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:58:33 +0000

This recipe was given to me by my wonderful Mother-in-law, Linda and it’s a keeper. This casserole layers rice, chicken, white sauce, broccoli (optional for those non-veggie eaters), and lots of cheese. Yum!

Recipe: Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

2 cups cooked White rice
4 cooked chicken breasts (shredded) or 12.5 oz. canned chicken (water drained and shredded)
1 package of frozen broccoli
2-4 cups Mozzarella cheese (shredded)

White sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
1.5 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon milk
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
1 squeeze of lemon juice
Dash of Pepper
Dash of Curry powder

Instructions

Grease your casserole dish (I use a rectangular 13×9)
Boil your chicken breasts for 1 to 1.5 hours or use canned chicken
While the rice is cooking (I like to cook mine in a rice cooker) I start making the white sauce.
Melt butter in a saucepan on Medium heat, then stir in flour, stir in cream of chicken soup, milk, lemon juice, pepper and curry powder. Once combined taste a little to judge if you want to add in more lemon juice, or curry powder. Then add in mozzarella cheese, stirring until the cheese has melted. Turn on low.
Cook broccoli (if using)
Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Once the chicken, rice, broccoli and sauce are done, then start assembling your casserole by spooning the rice into the bottom of the greased 13×9 dish. Two cups of cooked rice should cover the entire bottom of the dish about an inch deep all the way around. Then place your shredded chicken on top of the rice, covering the rice. Then add the broccoli (if using) and cover with white sauce. You’ll want to spread the white sauce around with a spoon, so it’s covering the chicken and broccoli. Lastly, spread the mozzarella over the top of the entire casserole.
Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.

Quick Notes

My husband does not like broccoli, so sometimes I’ll use 2 smaller baking dishes and make one with broccoli and one without. Or you could use a smaller, deeper dish and add another round of layers.