This is a dump-and-bake Chicken Rice Casserole with broccoli that’s made from scratch. It’s creamy, cheesy, comforting and tastes like a risotto but so much easier to make! It’s the ultimate emergency meal – completely effortless but doesn’t sacrifice flavour for convenience.
NO CANNED SOUP!!!
How to make Chicken Rice Casserole – my Emergency way!
This is a dump-and-bake rice casserole that’s made from scratch.
And anyone who knows anything about cooking will (rightfully!) raise their eyebrows when they see how this emergency version of Chicken Rice Casserole is made:
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Dump UNCOOKED RICE in pan
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Sprinkle with flour and seasonings
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Mix with liquids (broth and milk)
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Top with RAW chicken and RAW broccoli
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Bake
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Stir in cheese, melt cheese, serve.
And this is what comes out: a CREAMY Chicken Rice Casserole with PERFECTLY COOKED rice with JUICY SEASONED pieces of chicken! 🙌🏻
What this Chicken Rice Casserole tastes like
It truly tastes like everybody’s favourite risotto – except you haven’t been slaving over a hot stove for 20 minutes. The rice is coated with a creamy cheesy sauce that’s made with milk and flavoured with chicken broth/stock plus stock powder.
It’s nice and creamy rather than stodgy like many rice casseroles are, and comes out of the oven with a bubbly golden cheesy top.
Most of the chicken has some browning on it, and the chicken stays juicy and isn’t overcooked.
The broccoli is on the soft side, but most definitely not cooked into mushy oblivion. You could steam it separately and stir it through at the end, but I chose convenience for a relatively small compromise!
What you need
Here’s what you need to make this Emergency Chicken Rice Casserole:
The key ingredient here that makes a real difference to the tastiness of this recipe is stock powder, also known as bouillon powder. I use this in lieu of salt in this recipe because it’s salt with flavour.
Use chicken or vegetable stock powder – my favourite is Vegeta which is a vegetable one, pictured below. Crumbled bouillon cube will work just great too – it’s the same thing, in cube form!
We need this extra flavour boost to compensate for skipping the usual flavour base step of sautéing onion and garlic in butter and searing the chicken until golden brown like I do with my stovetop Chicken Rice Casserole!
Other uses for Vegeta?
I’m a huge fan of Vegeta, it’s my secret ingredient for great soup broths, such as for from-scratch Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. It’s also my trick to make a really great QUICK clear soup broth for Chicken Rice Soup and faster Chicken Noodle Soup, and a really terrific creamy sauce for Chicken Pot Pie.
NO CANNED SOUP!
I would’ve loved to call it the WORLD’s easiest – but I know for a fact it is not!
The world’s easiest chicken rice casserole is made with just chicken, rice and canned soup that is dumped in a pan and baked, and you will never see that recipe on my site.
I do not judge (you’re talking to she whose parents would crack an egg over rice, add a drizzle of soy and call that dinner!) but using canned soup to make shortcut casseroles just isn’t the way I cook. 😇
But I do truly believe this to be the easiest Chicken Rice Casserole that’s made from scratch because we by-pass the usual roux making process whereby melted butter is mixed with flour and used to thicken milk to make a creamy sauce for loads of things from Mac and Cheese, the Béchamel Sauce for Lasagna to Chicken Pot Pie.
And I promise you – it is 100% delicious. Not “hmm, it’s pretty good”. It’s SERIOUSLY delicious. Creamy, cheesy, comforting, can’t-stop-eating-it-good!!! – Nagi x
PS This is the rice version of the Ultra Lazy Chicken Broccoli PASTA Bake and the baked version of this 30 minute stovetop Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole, both of which are reader favourites!
Watch how to make it
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Emergency Chicken Rice Casserole
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 500g (1 lb) chicken thighs or tenders (tenderloin) , cut into 1.5cm / 2/3" pieces (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp vegetable or chicken stock powder (granulated bouillon) (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Rice:
- 2 1/2 cups (625 ml) chicken broth/stock , low sodium
- 2 1/2 cups (625 ml) milk , any fat %
- 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice , uncooked (Note 3)
- 1/4 cup (35g) flour , plain / all purpose
- 1 tsp vegetable or chicken stock powder (granulated bouillon) (Note 2)
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 tbsp (30g) unsalted butter
- 2 broccoli heads (large!), cut into florets (Note 4)
- 2 cups (200g) shredded cheese
Garnish:
- 2 green onions , finely sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F (180°C/350°F fan/convection).
- Mix Chicken Ingredients.
- Heat chicken broth and milk until hot using any method (stove, microwave). Can combine together in saucepan. (Note 5)
- Spread rice in 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13" ceramic or glass baking dish. (Note 6)
- Sprinkle with flour, stock powder and garlic.
- Add the hot chicken broth, stir until flour dissolved (some small lumps ok).
- Add milk, swish rice to spread out evenly.
- Spread broccoli on top, then chicken, then plonk butter on (anywhere).
- Bake uncovered for 40 minutes. (Might get some browned skin on surface, that's ok)
- CHECK rice before stirring - should be JUST cooked (Note 7).
- Add half the cheese, stir through, being sure to get rice in the corners and edges of pan. Should be creamy and quite loose (see video).
- Top with cheese, return to oven for 5 minutes until just melted.
- Sprinkle with green onion, if using, then serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
This is why I never drive with the windows down – he’d lose his head with a passing car!!!😲😲😲
I haven tried this recipe, but my favorite thing about it is that, through the comments, I got to learn about tasty cheese. When Nagi kept replying to questioners that she used “tasty cheese” in the casserole, I was a little confused: ‘that’s not very specific,’ I though, haha! But apparently tasty cheese is a very popular type of aged cheddar in Australia and New Zealand. We don’t have anything called tasty cheese here in the U.S., but the internet tells me that a cheddar aged about 12 months, mild with a slight bite to the flavor, would be the equivalent thing to use here. How interesting!
Our son was supposed to have a football game so dinner plan was the concession stand, unfortunately the incoming weather canceled the game. I scrambled for an easy but filling dinner, and happened to have all the ingredients on hand. Everyone loved it! There was plenty for 2nd helpings (family of 5, 3 are teens) as well as a couple packed lunches for school tomorrow. Cheese was cheddar & havarti mixed together. Would definitely make again. Thank you Nagi!
Ready to try. Lov me some Dozer
Hi Nagi, I stumbled upon your recipe when looking for a chicken rice meal for my little grandsons. I take dinner to their house every Tuesday afternoon and need it almost cooked and then heated in their oven prior to serving. They don’t use a microwave so I’m hoping I can cook this almost to end but leave last step for heating in their oven tonight. I will let you know!!! If you have any ideas for One pot recipes that will be enjoyed by very young kids (4 & 6 yo) and cooked &?then heated up I’d be very keen to have them. Well done with your site. I found it interesting and can feel your love!
So yummy! And easy! Planning on making it again this week. It makes a ton so I’m going to half it for our small family of 3. Still will get lunch for the grown ups the next day 👍🏻
This was amazingly delicious! My teenager cooked it and the whole family loved it. We used a bag of mixed frozen vege instead of just broccoli. It will become a regular meal for sure.
I am wondering if this is very freezable after cooking. It makes a lot of yumminess for a household of only 2!
what kind of cheese did you use?
Hi Chrissie, I used tasty, but any will work here like cheddar or even mozzarella. N x
Hi Nagi, the family love this meal. Last time I made it, I didn’t have enough broccoli so I made it with 2 heaped cups of broccoli and 3 cups of cubed butternut pumpkin. I got a big thumbs up from everyone. Thanks for the inspiration.
I had to make several substitutions and this still turned out beautifully! Diluted cream for the milk, had only cooked turkey instead of raw chicken, artichokes instead of broccoli… cooked exactly per recipe except tucked the cooked turkey lower into the layering. Delicious! Even the turkey was moist. Haven’t missed yet with any of your recipes. Thanks!
Hi Nagi
Would this recipe work with risoni?
Thanks
Did you try making it with Rossini? I’d love to know how you went.
Obviously I meant risoni 😂