Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole
Let me introduce you to your new favorite comfort food dish – this addictive creamy and cheesy chicken and corn casserole.
There are many things to love about this casserole (and casseroles in general, let’s be honest). They’re quick and easy to make, filling, budget-friendly, freeze well, and feed the whole family in one go. This cheesy chicken and corn casserole is one of my favorites and ticks all these boxes as well. In fact, this casserole might even be too easy to make, as there’s minimal prep required. How good does that sound?
Creamy and stuffed with sweet corn, chicken, and cheese, this casserole is total comfort food and a great dish to make for a weeknight dinner. Now, many chicken and corn casseroles use cream cheese instead of cream of chicken soup, but I personally think the canned soup makes the dish more flavorful. Speaking of flavorful… scroll down to the Recipe Notes section to see how you can spice up this corn casserole too.
Recipe Ingredients
- Cream of chicken soup
- Can of whole kernel corn
- Box of yellow rice (we just love Zatarains but you can use any type of yellow rice you have. Mahatma saffron rice is very good in this, too).
- Margarine
- Cheddar cheese
- Chicken (you can leave the chicken out if you want but I like to have chicken in this so I can call it a meal and be done with it).
Dump your corn, margarine, and cream of chicken soup into a mixing bowl.
Pour cheese over the top of it.
Add hot rice, which has been cooking according to box directions. This will melt your butter and such. Add your chicken pieces. This can be canned chicken, leftover chicken, boiled, or shredded chicken – whatever cranks your tractor.
Stir that all up and place this in a casserole dish.
Then cover the top with 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 for about half an hour, or until nice and bubbly! Sprinkle with some and you’re set.
This casserole is comfort food like no other!
Storage
- Store your casserole leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
- You can also store leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months. When it’s time to eat, thaw the leftovers in the fridge and then simply reheat in the microwave.
Recipe Notes
- If you want to add a little spice, add some jalapenos, chili powder, or a can of diced green chiles to your casserole.
- For that extra crunch, you can add vegetables too. I recommend finely chopped red pepper and green onion. Add either, or both, to the batter before you top with cheese. Otherwise, add some green vegetables, like (thawed) frozen peas, cooked broccoli florets, or green beans.
- You can also substitute chicken for crumbly crispy bacon pieces. Or use both to jazz up your chicken casserole.
- You can use any kind of chicken in this casserole, including leftover chicken, canned chicken, boiled and pulled chicken breast or , and shredded rotisserie chicken. Whatever’s the most convenient option for you.
- If you’d prefer to use fresh corn, you will need about 8 ears of corn. Alternatively, if you use frozen corn, make sure you thaw the corn beforehand.
- Another option is to top your chicken casserole with Ritz crackers, saltines, or even Corn Flakes cereal crumbs. Cheesy, creamy, and crunchy – yum!
- You can also substitute for or Monterey jack .
Recipe FAQs
Can I make this casserole ahead of time?
Yes, you can make this chicken and corn casserole recipe up to two days before and place the covered baking dish in the fridge. Then let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before following the baking instructions above.
Is this casserole gluten-free?
Yes, this chicken and corn casserole is gluten-free as it’s a rice-based casserole. Just make sure you double-check the can of cream of chicken soup you use to ensure it doesn’t have any small gluten additions.
Do I bake my casserole uncovered?
In this instance, I recommend baking this casserole uncovered, so the cheese melts nicely on top.
What do I serve with chicken and corn casserole?
Now, this chicken casserole is definitely a main dish in itself. But you can also serve it with your favorite Southern side dishes, like cornbread, fresh green beans, , or three-bean salad. Another option is pairing your casserole with a simple salad like my tomato, cucumber, and onion salad.
Check out these other easy casseroles:
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow rice
- 1 stick butter
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1-2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 1 can whole kernel corn drained
- 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Cook rice according to package directions.1 box yellow rice
- Add rice and all other ingredients, except for 1/2 cup of cheese, into a mixing bowl and stir until well combined.1 stick butter, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1-2 cups shredded cooked chicken, 1 can whole kernel corn, 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, 1 box yellow rice
- Spoon into a casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese.1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly.
Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
~Abraham Lincoln
Christy, just bought some yellow rice packs (never used them before) and knew i’d seen them here. but reading the commentary before the recipe is cracking me up. i’m laughing out loud over the half-crushed Goldfish and orange Tic Tacs. indeed, only the orange ones! thanks for all the laughs! now, if i only had a few cans of “cream of”, i’d be good to go! lol
I recently found your site through Mommy’s Kitchen and love it! I just started browsing though for a quick and easy dish and found this and it’s cooking as I type. Sounds delicious! Thanks so much!
We just had this for dinner! It was really good, my fiance said “Mmmm!” when he took a bite. It is definitely on my “repeat” list. I had to change this a bit based on what was available- used 1 1/2 boxes of the Cheddar Broccoli Zatarain’s rice mix, ham instead of chicken, only added a little bit of margarine, and I used a good 2 cups of cheese. For the cream soup, I used an awesome mix (you blend potato flakes, dried milk powder, cornstarch, bouillon granules and some spices together in the blender then use a few tablespoons mixed with water instead of a can of soup) because it’s cheaper. The casserole turned out quite well, but next time I think I’m going to use one of those pouches of yellow saffron rice or plain rice because the flavor of the rice mix I used was definitely dominant. I’ll add some broccoli too. Think I’ll make a double batch and freeze one. Yum yum!
Christy, never mind my previous comment 🙂 It occurred to me to check the Zatarain’s website, and… ta da! In case anyone is wondering, a box of the Yellow Rice mix weighs 8 ounces. Since my boxes of rice mix weigh 5.7, I’ll probably just cook both of them, divy it up, and put the rest in the freezer for later 🙂 Can’t wait to try this yummy looking casserole! I don’t see how it couldn’t be delicious!
Christy, I know you probably won’t see this before I make the recipe, but how many ounces is the box of rice mix? We went grocery shopping tonight and got the ingredients. There were a whole bunch of Zatarain’s rice mixes to pick from, but no yellow rice! My fiance ended up picking a box of Zatarain’s Cheddar Broccoli rice. It is 5.7 ounces and the box says it serves 2.5. I noticed that in the picture of your ingredients, the yellow rice serves 4 (it says that on the front of the box way down in the corner). The weight of the box is covered by the stick of margarine! I wonder if the Yellow Rice is bigger then the one we bought? We got two boxes just in case, but I want to make this right because there’s a sizable difference between 4 servings and 2.5. Don’t want my casserole to have too much rice 🙂
Absolutely wonderful!!! Everyone at the party rant and raved about it!!! Thanks ever so much for sharing this recipe!!!
I tried this casserole for the first time about a month ago, since then I have made it 2 or 3 more times. I love love love it! It’s so easy and soooooooo tasty. And it reheats so well. I’m trying to force my twin sister who lives 8 hours away that she needs to make it asap. I’m pretty new to southern plate, but I just love it and I love you stories, keep em comin!
Thanks, Kate