CREAMY CHICKEN & RICE CASSEROLE

It can be hard to put our love for the humble casserole into words because there’s just so much to love about them, but if we had to pick one single reason, it would certainly be their ability to bring you a complete and comforting meal in one dish. There’s a casserole out there for every occasion, but this is one that works for just about any of them. It’s creamy, it’s cheesy, and it’s a classic – Chicken Rice Casserole.

It’s classic enough that we’re sure you’ve made it before, but this version makes it worth trying again, we promise. There’s no precooking of the rice or chicken required. It’s just a matter of stirring your ingredients up and getting them in the oven. (Just make sure that the aluminum foil covers the baking dish tightly so that everything gets cooked through.) This uses regular rice and not the ‘minute’ variety, so the grains come out tender but hold their shape. The sauce relies on condensed cream of celery soup, but you could swap that out for cream of chicken or cream of mushroom if that’s what you had on hand. Happy eating!

Please continue to Next Page (>) for the full list of ingredients and complete cooking instructions.



Ingredients

1 box Chicken-flavor Rice-A-Roni (6 Ounce Box)
1 can Cream Of Mushroom Soup (10 Ounce Can)
1 container Sour Cream (8 Ounce Size)
1 whole Rotisserie Chicken
1 container French-fried Onions (6 Ounce Can)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare Rice-A-Roni according to package directions. While that is cooking, shred/cut up the chicken (I always use a rotisserie chicken, but you could use leftover chicken or some cooked and shredded breasts, whatever), removing meat from bones.
When Rice-A-Roni is done, add the can of soup and the sour cream, and stir to combine. Add the chicken and mix together. Spread mixture into a sprayed baking dish (9-by-13-inch pan), but you can use what you like for how thick you want it to be) and bake, uncovered, at 350 F for 40 minutes.
Remove from oven, cover with the french-friend onions and bake for 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and try not to eat the whole thing.
Source: Allrecipes.com