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EASY Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake is a simple, deliciously homey dinner that is perfect for freezing and sharing!
Cheesy chicken and rice bake is a favorite casserole dish! We typically pair it with salad with Creamy Pesto Dressing, Parmesan Baked Asparagus, or Parmesan Crusted Zucchini Spears. Although it is filling on its own too!
Chicken Rice Bake
We love chicken. We love rice. We love broccoli. And we love casseroles. With that in mind – we love today’s chicken rice bake recipe!
Today’s recipe for Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake is filled with so much flavor and is very simple to make. I’m not going to lie – not all my kids love broccoli so a few were picking it out. Fortunately, the dish was so flavorful that most of them didn’t even realize it was in there (win)!!
If you (or your kiddos) absolutely cannot stand broccoli, you can easily omit it without losing any of the big flavor in this dish. But like I said, it tastes SO good, you hardly even notice the broccoli is there! We hope you love this baked chicken and rice casserole. This is another dinner recipe to add to the rotation. It is hearty, simple and delicious.
How to make Chicken broccoli Rice Bake
This is probably one of the more simple casserole recipes, to be honest. There’s very minimal prep work before you spoon everything into the pan and stick it in the oven.
COOK. Cook chicken and broccoli in a large skillet.
COMBINE. Once chicken is no longer pink, add broth and bring to a boil. Add remaining ingredients (besides shredded cheese) and mix.
BAKE. Spoon into greased 8×8 glass pan, top with shredded cheese, and bake for 22-26 minutes at 350°.
Enjoy! So easy and so delicious!!
Variations + SToring Info
This recipe is easy to change up based on the rice, cheese and veggies you want to add. Here are some variations:
- Omit broccoli
- Use brown or multi-grain rice
- We used Italian 5 cheese, but easily change it up with cheddar or mozzarella
- Change up the veggies with carrots, zucchini, or squash
This can be made up to 24 hours in advanced. Just cover and store in the fridge until ready to bake. You may need to add an additional few minutes, and we recommend storing without the cheese and adding it right before baking.
STORE leftovers for 3-4 days in the fridge then reheat in the microwave.
This is a great meal to make a double batch for the freezer! To FREEZE you will follow instructions #2-3 and then put it all in a freezer safe, airtight container after it has cooled completely. It will freeze for up to 3 months. Before reheating, let it thaw in the fridge for 24 hours and then add the cheese on top and bake in the oven for 22-26 minutes. You may need to add an additional few minutes.
This casserole makes a perfect freezer meal to give to new moms or families struggling with health as an easy meal they can pull out and bake when needed.
For more favorite chicken Casserole recipes:
- Cheesy Chicken Alfredo Casserole
- Chicken Broccoli Casserole
- Cheesy Chicken Rice
- Chicken and Green Bean Casserole
Chicken Rice Bake
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 cups small broccoli florets
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 1/4 cups instant white rice uncooked
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- garlic salt (with parsley flakes) to taste
- pepper
- 1 cup italian 5 cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Heat oil in large skillet and cook chicken and broccoli. Cook until chicken is no longer pink.
- Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Add rice, cream cheese, milk, Italian seasoning, garlic salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Spoon into greased 8×8 baking dish.
- Top with shredded cheese. Cover and bake for 22-26 minutes. ENJOY!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Kraft Foods.
Would this work with jasmine rice? If so, would I need to change anything? Thanks! Looks very delicious!! 🙂
Yes you could. Just make sure to use INSTANT Jasmine rice for this recipe. If using regular jasmine rice, you’ll want to pre-cook it first and then just add to the mixture right before putting in the casserole dish.
Dumb question but if I use brown rice, should it be cooked first?
This recipe calls for minute rice, so it absorbs the broth before baking in the oven. If using brown minute rice, you could add it uncooked but it would need to simmer longer than white minute rice. If not using minute rice, then I’d suggest cooking the brown rice beforehand and you may need to adjust the broth amount a bit too since the rice will already be cooked.
Delicious!!! I will be making this again
Glad to hear! Thank you for trying it!
i needed a quick but hot meal using left over thanksgiving turkey and this did the job! I used 1 lb of already cooked turkey, frozen broccoli and it was delicious. I did use the whole can of broth and cheddar cheese because it’s all I had, but it worked out great! I’ll definitely make it again with the cheese in this recipe!
Glad you found this recipe 🙂 Thank you for trying it & for letting me know what you thought!
this recipe is personally one of my favorites! so easy and so tasty!
one of the best recipes. It has everything we like chicken,rice and broccoli. I love thIs combination and It all goes into one dish. Its ready in no time!
I love the addition of the cream cheese in this recipe. So warm and creamy!
I have been missing out!! This recipe is so good!! My whole family loved it! It’s cheesy & it’s a great way to get my kids to eat broccoli!
Delicious! I will make it next time the kids and grandkids come over. I didn’t have any Italian cheese. I used cheddar, so I also used Penzey’s “Sunny Paris” seasoning instead of Italian seasonig. I also topped it with buttered crumbs because I didn’t read carefully and I had melted the cheddar into the mixture. Next time I’ll also add more broccoli. Thanks for a delicious meal!
You are so welcome!! Thank you for sharing & your changes sound great!!
This was great!! My husband is not a veggie lover, -and he had seconds of this! Even My 3 yr old and 11 yr old boys loved it! I did sub brown rice for the white because that’s what I had on hand, and I used a packet of zesty Italian dressing mix instead of the other seasonings (not really on purpose- I had a screaming infant in my arms and didn’t read closely- I often make a pot pie that uses chicken broth, cream cheese and Italian dressing, so it just made sense!) and it was DELICIOUS!! I’ll be making it this way again next time. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for letting me know!! Love the substitutes!! SO glad you liked it!
Wow! It looks so delicious and yummy. I will try in my kitchen.
It is!! Let me know what you think!! Thanks for stopping by!!