Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole
Chicken and wild rice casserole is part of my series on Bags to Dishes meals. For Bags to Dishes meals, all ingredients are shelf-stable so that is an even bigger plus. Assemble the ingredients for a few months’ worth of these casseroles if you have a hankering, and know that the bag will be ready to grab whenever you need it. My family gobbles this one up and everyone wants seconds so if we’re all here, I usually make double.
Be sure to read the original post to find out how you can convert your own meals into shelf-stable ones in order to have your family’s favorite recipes available with the grab of a bag and never have to worry about what’s for supper again! Also, check out my other Bags to Dishes meals by clicking here.
Now, let’s talk about this chicken and wild rice casserole! It only takes 5 ingredients to make this simple yet delicious weeknight meal. With chicken, rice, cream of mushroom soup, green beans, and almonds, this casserole is creamy and hearty comfort food at its best. I also have a slow cooker version of this dish, if that’s more your style.
Here is what our bag meal looks like when we grab it.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken
- Long grain and wild rice blend (Watch for a sale on this and then stock up!)
- Cream of mushroom soup (A recipe for my homemade version can be found here)
- Cut green beans
- Sliced almonds
How To Make Chicken And Wild Rice Casserole
Cook the rice according to package directions.
Drain chicken and cans. Stir everything together.
Spoon it into a pie plate or casserole dish.
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly.
Now that you’ve worked up all that exhaustion, sit down and eat.
Make sure you assemble a few extra meals of this chicken and wild rice recipe when you go to make your Bags to Dishes meals! It is just that good.
You can leave the chicken pieces out and serve this as a side dish as well or use two bag meals of this and add some warm rolls for a larger family meal.
Here are all my other Bags To Dishes recipes.
Storage
- Store chicken casserole leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days and reheat in the microwave.
- You can also store casserole leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months. Simply thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the microwave.
Recipe Notes
- You can leave the almonds out if you want or you can substitute them for water chestnuts if you like. You could also substitute french fried onions for these, that would be good, too!
- While you easily adapt this casserole and use your favorite rice or rice blend (which might be white rice or brown rice), I recommend using wild rice for its distinct nutty flavor.
- If you’re not serving this chicken wild rice casserole as a shelf-stable meal, feel free to add more vegetables. Increase the mushroom flavor with sliced mushrooms or you could even add a can of sliced carrots. Another option is frozen vegetables, like a cup of peas and carrots.
- When it comes to the , feel free to substitute the cream of mushroom soup for either cream of celery soup or cream of chicken soup.
- You could also add a cup of shredded cheese (or a mixture of cheddar and ) on top of your chicken casserole if you prefer your casseroles to be both creamy and cheesy.
- Another option, if this isn’t a shelf-stable meal, is to substitute the can of for your favorite, whether that’s chopped or , or shredded . You’ll just have to the before adding it to the .
Recipe FAQs
Can I make this casserole in advance?
Yes, you can prepare the chicken casserole up to 24 hours ahead of time. Simply cover with foil and refrigerate until it’s time to bake. Just remember that a refrigerated casserole might take longer to cook through. Another option is to bake the casserole, store the dish covered in the fridge, and then simply reheat quickly in the microwave or oven.
What do you serve with this casserole?
I recommend serving this casserole with some roasted vegetables or a fresh salad. Another option is to do a side of zucchini and squash.
You may also enjoy these other chicken and rice recipes:
Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Rice Casserole
Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken & Rice
Chicken Teriyaki with Brown Rice Fresh & Fast
Simply Delicious Chicken & Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 box long grain and wild rice mix I use Uncle Ben's, which is currently 6oz
- 1 can chicken 10 or 12 ounces, whichever you find first
- 1 can cut green beans mine is 15 ounces
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup 10-ounce, fat-free is fine
- 1 teaspoon onion powder optional
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
Instructions
Assemble all canned goods in a large zipper seal bag along with a printed copy of these instructions. If using onion powder, measure it out into a zipper seal bag and include that with canned goods.
To make casserole
- Drain the chicken and beans. Cook the rice according to the package directions in a pot big enough to mix the casserole (no sense in dirtying up more dishes).1 can chicken, 1 can cut green beans, 1 box long grain and wild rice mix
- Once the rice is cooked, stir in all other ingredients until well combined. Spoon into a pie plate or casserole dish.1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly. Serve warm.
Nutrition
“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”
~Wayne Dyer
Has anyone ever substituted green peas for green beans? If so, how was it?
Wondering if I could premake this (I have boneless skinless chicken breast) and freeze for a family whose mom is having surgery?? Making easy freezer meals
I think it would work beautifully. Thank you for being such a kind person!
Thank you! Thank you! It’s a cold day here in NC, and this is the perfect hot comfort food. Absolutely delicious. All your hard work to keep providing us with such great recipes is really appreciated.
I love all of your recipes, and enjoy looking around your website for new ideas. Problem is there are so many banner ads and videos that my computer always freezes up, and I never get to continue looking for new recipes to try.
🙁
It seems like they’ve discontinued the Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice boxes (Safeway isn’t carrying it anymore at least). Any recommendations for a replacement? I always keep the ingredients on hand for this recipe when I need a quick and easy dinner, but I haven’t had much success finding a good alternative.
First, let me say thank you for this recipe and all of your others. I made this last night and it was fantastic! I love the traditional chicken and rice made with cream soups and fresh chicken, but it takes over an hour to cook and I just don’t have time during the week. This was just as good and so much faster. I skipped the almonds and cooked chicken ahead and froze it, not a fan of canned because of the texture but I think it would be okay in a creamy casserole like this.
Has anyone tried freezing the assembled casserole? There are only 2 of us so this would work well split into 2 meals.
Second, I love your “down-to-earth” way of cooking, thinking, and writing. I am pretty skilled when it comes to country cooking (no gourmet here) so I don’t really need the step-by-step pictures but I LOVE seeing the finished product.
Also, I wanted to add that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your cookbook. Normally when I pick up a cookbook, I may see several recipes that look good but I’ll probably never try because they’re too complicated, call for specialty items, take too long, etc. There are usually only a couple things I ever actually try. That’s not the case with your book! I saw so many recipes I plan to try that look delicious. And I’m very visual when it comes to food. So I love that almost every recipe has a photo. Thanks for all you do!
How much cooked chicken did you use? I wanted to also use cooked chicken breasts but didn’t know how many breasts it would take.
You can use anywhere from 1-2. 1 would be the equivalent to the can.
When I first saw these recipes I thought these are the greatest “emergency” recipes ever. I immediately planned to fix some up for hurricane season in case we get hit. If we don’t, we can still have them any time we want. I reread the recipes in preparation for gathering the ingredients and suddenly realized there is a problem. They all call for baking in an oven. As we all know from experience, the first thing that goes in a hurricane is the power. Next is often the water supply. That makes baking anything impossible. Any ideas on how long you would cook these meals on an outdoor charcoal grill? Would you need to change anything?
Love your recipes. You show just how wonderful southern cooking can be.
You know, I’m not a griller myself. I have means of cooking indoors, albeit slowly, and I do have a Big Green Egg that I use in emergencies. When our power was out after the tornadoes, I cooked on it just like an oven by setting my dishes on a stone, covering them with foil, and keeping it shut while watching the temperature. They have a thermometer just like an oven does so it was easy to gauge it that way. I’m not sure if your grill has a similar thermometer but I’m sure you could get one and then that makes it much easier. If you set it on a stone (like a baking stone) and cover it, the effect would be much more like an oven, but it would likely cook a little faster.