Cheesy Chicken And Rice (Crock Pot Version)

This crockpot cheesy chicken and rice recipe is one of the most popular recipes of all time on Southern Plate and with good reason. The combination of the flavorful Zatarain rice, cream of chicken soup, and gooey cheese make for a delicious (and easy) weeknight supper.

cheesy chicken and rice crock pot

You talk, I listen. Well, I listen whenever I can, of course! Folks have been asking for more slow cooker recipes for a multitude of reasons. Who doesn’t like to come home and have supper all cooked and waiting for them? I know I sure do! This is a recipe I modified for the slow cooker and some of you will be happy to know I also removed the entire stick of margarine it called for. 

This easy cheesy chicken and rice recipe in the crockpot uses simple ingredients like cheese, cream of chicken, yellow rice, and sweet corn that pack a punch when combined. It’s also so easy to make, as your slow cooker does most of the work for you (don’t we just love that?). But if you want to speed things up, check out the oven casserole version of this crockpot recipe.

Speaking of the slow cooker, here are some recipes to try in your crockpot this week: crockpot lasagna, chicken fajitas in the crockpotcrockpot cashew chicken, and crockpot chili.

Alright, let’s get cooking!

Recipe Ingredients

  • Yellow rice
  • Cream of chicken soup (homemade cream of chicken soup recipe here)
  • Whole kernel corn
  • Onion
  • Boneless skinless chicken breast
  • Shredded cheddar cheese

Chicken breast and onion in slow cooker.

Place your chicken breasts in the bottom of your slow cooker (spray with cooking spray first if needed).

Chop up the onion and toss on the top.

Add cream of chicken soup to slow cooker.

Spoon or glob your cream soup over that.

cook cheesy chicken and rice for 7 -8 hours

Now cover this and cook it according to the following:

Low: 7-8 hours

High: 3-4 hours.

This is great to put on in the morning on the weekends if you cook it on high and then have a nice meal at lunchtime.

Add corn to the slow cooker.

When it is done cooking, drain your corn and toss that in.

Add cheese to slow cooker.

Add your cheddar cheese.

add rice to the cheesy chicken and rice

And last but not least, add in your COOKED rice.

You’ll need to cook your rice before this step. What I like to do is cook my rice the night before and just stick it in the fridge. Then you can dump it in and stir it up and give it a minute or two to get heated. You can also cook your rice as soon as you get home, though. It’s still an easy and delicious supper!

spoonful of cheesy chicken and rice

Stir all of that up and give it a few minutes to get all heated and warm (this won’t take long).

This stuff is to die for. Prepare for a happy landing in your stomach!

Storage

Store your slow cooker cheesy chicken and rice leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days or the freezer for up to three months. When it’s time, reheat in the microwave.

Recipe Notes

  • You can use chicken thighs instead of chicken breast.
  • You could also add a selection of frozen vegetables to the slow cooker when you add the onion, like carrot, frozen broccoli florets, and peas.
  • Another option is to use cream of mushroom soup or celery instead of this creamy chicken version. For even more mushroom flavor, add some sliced mushrooms to the slow cooker.
  • I love Zatarain’s yellow rice, one of my favorite meal helpers. But you can use any rice you like, such as long-grain or brown rice.
  • If you want to use the lower fat cream soup that’s fine in this too. A lot of folks have been making my Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice with cream of chicken soup because they don’t care for the cream of mushroom soup and that is great, too! Make it your own and tweak these recipes however they work best for your family.

Recipe FAQs

What do you serve with cheesy chicken and rice?

I recommend serving this slow cooker chicken and rice recipe with a side salad or vegetables. Try fresh green beans, zucchini and squash, or low-carb broccoli cauliflower salad

Here are more of my favorite chicken dinner recipes:

Instant Pot Butter Chicken Recipe

North Alabama Style Pulled Chicken BBQ

How To Make Chicken Fajitas

Dutch Oven Smokehouse Chicken

Chicken Kabobs Recipe In The Oven

Broccoli Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

finished crock pot cheesy chicken and rice

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken and Rice

Cheesy chicken and rice in the crockpot is the dish even picky eaters LOVE! In fact, this recipe has been shared and pinned over 50 BILLION TIMES!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken breasts boneless skinless
  • 1 onion large, chopped (I use Vidalia)
  • 8 ounce Zatarain's Yellow Rice Mix 1 box, cooked according to directions
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese
  • 1 - 10.5 ounce cream of chicken soup regular or fat-free
  • 1 -15 ounce whole kernel corn drained

Instructions

  • Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the crockpot. Scatter chopped onion over top. Spoon cream soup over top of that. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
    4 chicken breasts, 1 onion, 1 - 10.5 ounce cream of chicken soup
  • A few minutes before serving, add the cooked rice, corn, and shredded cheese to the crockpot. Stir to combine. Serve hot.
    8 ounce Zatarain's Yellow Rice Mix, 1 cup cheddar cheese, 1 -15 ounce whole kernel corn

Video

Notes

Note about chopping the chicken: A lot of folks have asked if or when they need to chop the chicken so the dish appears as it does in the photo. The great thing about this recipe is that by the time you add the rice, the chicken is so tender from being slow-cooked that stirring in the rice will cause it to break up and become shredded chicken as pictured. Hope you enjoy it!
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

 

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It’s already tomorrow in Australia.”

~Charles Schultz. Submitted by Amy

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1,339 Comments

  1. I am cooking for a friend that requires a low sodium diet. Could you please advise sodium content per serving.

    1. Hi Priscilla,
      The software couldn’t find a match for Zatarain’s Yellow Rice Mix so what I can tell you is that if you divide this into 6 servings, then there will be approximately 675mg sodium per serving plus whatever is in the yellow rice mix that you use. To decrease the sodium you can use no sodium added cream of chicken soup or a low sodium cream of mushroom soup as well. Hope that helps.

  2. I have been trying recipes like this for many years and this is my last search. This was the Best One by far. My family loved it. It came out perfectly creamy not like the others. I didn’t use to corn, I have very picky kids. Also we love rice and for now on Yellow rice is the only rice we will be eating. Thanks so much.

    1. I’m so glad to hear this!! Thank you Rae. I’m thrilled you enjoyed it and honored that it was part of your research. I totally get the picky kids thing! Ours have mostly grown out of that after a LONG road (they are 15 and 20) so there is hope!

  3. I just made this for the first time. I used two standard boxes of Rice-a-Roni ( instead ofyellow rice) and added a standard can of diced tomatoes w/ chilis. My family loved it.

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