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Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

I had chicken left over from a roast chicken I’d made and a big bowl of rice left over from a separate meal and no idea how to use them up. I am forever trying to find new uses for cooked chicken meat since I cook a whole chicken once a week or so. (Whole chickens are so much cheaper than buying parts.)

I consulted my good friend, The Google, and found this Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a chicken and rice casserole with OUT some variation of Cream of Chemical Soup in a Can?)

Anyway, this recipe looked like it would hit the spot, but I didn’t have everything it called for, so I tried to wing it with what I had. This is so super simple, you won’t believe it. And my family LOVED it.

cheesy chicken and rice casserole ingredients

I basically combined cooked chicken, rice, black beans, sour cream, salsa and shredded cheddar (saving out some shredded cheese for the topping) and spread it into a casserole dish.

cheesy chicken and rice casserole filling

Then I sprinkled the remaining cheese on top and popped it in the oven! (Told you it was easy.)

cheesy chicken and rice casserole oven-ready

I cooked it till it was bubbly and heated through (maybe 20 minutes?) and that’s it!

With a side salad, we had a simple and delicious meal in about 30 minutes.

Here is my version. My measurements are, um, pretty approximate. I’ve made it several times, and I just use what I have on hand. It turns out great every time.

¡Buen provecho!

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Recipe Type: Main Dishes
Author: Jo-Lynne Shane
Ingredients
  • 2 cups leftover cut-up chicken
  • 2 cups cooked brown rice
  • 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 8 oz sour cream
  • 1/2 cup salsa
  • 1 cup shredded cheese (I used a combination of cheddar that I shredded myself and a Mexican cheese blend that I had in the fridge)
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Combine all the ingredients (saving out some shredded cheese for the topping) and spread it into a casserole dish.
  2. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and pop it in the oven!
  3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
  4. Serve with a side salad for a complete meal.

Join The Conversation

35 Responses

  1. Love simple, yummy meals. Thanks! It’s tricky to freeze rice. It might do O.K. mixed with the salsa and sour cream, but typically you end up with a gummy mess when you freeze it.

  2. Yum! We also use chicken a lot, when we smoke them, so I am always on the hunt for new recipes. There’s a really yummy recipe on Pinterest for broccoli chicken casserole that does not use cream of can soup! I made it for my family last week and it was a huge hit!

    1. Wow. I looked at pinterest and there were lots of broccoli chicken casseroles. Could you send the recipe or at least more info on it? Without the “cream of can” soup soounds interesting!

  3. This looks delish! My family eats a lot of chicken, too, so we’ll have to try this one out. As a busy single mom/full time student, anything that saves me time in the kitchen is appreciated… now we’ll just have to see if the currently picky two year old will eat it:)

  4. I am always looking for something without chream of chemical soup!! You are so interested in nutrition I am going to give you an abbreviated story about my 7 year old son. He has an inherited condition of Tourettes syndrome. He had severe eye blinking and a kind of spastic upperbody/neck roll. We took him to the doctor who was ready to put him on blood pressure medication or anti-psychotic meds. I quickly left that office with NO prescription. I couldn’t imagine giving my sweet otherwise healthy boy those pills! I got to researching anything I could find. Long story short they have found a lack of magnesium in diets associated with tourettes, ADD, ADHD, and even Autism. Our farming techniques in the last 20-30 years have made magnesium almost non existent in our soils and foods. Thus the prevalence in these conditions they theorize. My son now takes a very carefully dosed amount of supplements from Bontech,inc. He has absolutely no symptoms of tourettes now. If he eats MSG a small tick may appear like clearing his throat too much, so we watch his nutrition closely. Anyway…now you know my reason for appreciating a great recipe without the canned soup!! Thanks! Tami

  5. Hi , This looks so delish , want to make this tonight. I was looking for canned black beans, but do you know of any that do not have BPA and are easy to find?

  6. Made this for supper tonight and it was delicious! Adding it to my recipe file so I can make it again. Thanks for sharing your creativity in the kitchen!

  7. I tried this recipe today and we really enjoyed it. We are empty nesters and it was such a hit with my husband he had seconds! I am going to link this recipe to my blog if you don’t mind too much as this is seriously delicious, easy super fast!

  8. Just wondering what brand/kind of rice you use. The pictures of your rice always looks so good. Whenever I buy it it comes out dry and hard vs when I make white rice it comes out fine. I want to switch over to brown rice, just looking for a good option.

  9. Wow! I’m still eating this meal as I’m typing. This is amazing! Thanks for posting this great combination. I like that you can taste the sour cream in each bite and the consistency of the ingredients makes it a great dip for future uses. 🙂 I’m glad my wife found your site.
    Thanks again!
    Tanner

  10. I know this is a little later than when you first posted, but I wanted to let you know that I tried this recipe last night, and it was a hit! My family decided when it first came out of the oven, that it looked like it should be in a tortilla so they all had it as a wrap, but I ate it just as it was. They told me that it was a keeper! Thanks for sharing.

  11. I have done the same, looked for a recipe that doesn’t call for a “cream of something” soup can. We aren’t gluten free at our house, but we live in Thailand and it is sometimes hard to find those soups and when I do use them it doesn’t really feel like I cooked. I am not fond of recipes that call for a can of this and a can of that. I think you wind up adding a lot of extra and unhealthy ingreadients to your food when you do. It looks good, I think I will try it.

  12. We rarely have leftover chicken from a roast chicken. But I’ve got leftover turkey from this weekend’s Thanksgiving dinner I’m going to make this with!

  13. Is this casserole gluten free? My neighbor recently had surgery and I’d like to bring them dinner. His wife is on gluten-free diet – something I’m not familiar with all!

  14. My family absolutely loves this recipe, and for an added bonus, it’s extremely cheap to make. Thanks for sharing!

  15. Looks yummy! I have some left over pork shoulder and refried black beans from the game last night. Think I might incorporate those into this recipe. Thank you for the inspiration!

    Hope this day finds you feeling better already!

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