Chicken Rice Casserole
A humble three-soup casserole of tender shredded chicken and long grain rice, baked low and slow until creamy and deeply comforting.
- 3-4 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1 1/4 cups traditional uncooked white long grain rice
- 1 can Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 1 can Campbell's Cream of Celery Soup
- 1 cup chicken broth or water
- Paprika for topping
- Grab a large bowl and whisk together the uncooked rice, all three cans of soup, and the chicken broth or water until fully blended into a smooth, pourable mixture. If you'd rather save a dish, you can skip the bowl entirely and whisk everything directly in the casserole dish — either way, make sure there are no dry pockets of soup left unmixed.
- Pour the rice and soup mixture into a 9x13-inch casserole dish, spreading it into an even layer so the rice cooks uniformly across the pan. The mixture will look thin and soupy at this stage, which is exactly what you want — the raw rice needs that liquid to fully hydrate as it bakes.
- Scatter the cooked shredded chicken evenly over the top of the rice and soup mixture, without stirring it in. Keeping the chicken on top protects it from overcooking and drying out while the rice underneath does all the work.
- Dust the top lightly and evenly with paprika. This is purely for color and a faint smoky note on the surface — a light, even sprinkle is all you need.
- Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil, pressing it snugly against the rim so no steam can escape. That tight seal is essential here since the trapped steam is what actually cooks the raw rice through.
- Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, resisting the urge to peek or stir. By the end, the rice should be tender and the sauce thickened and bubbling gently around the edges.
- Remove the casserole from the oven but keep it covered, and let it rest undisturbed for 15 to 20 minutes. This resting time lets the sauce finish thickening and the rice fully absorb any remaining liquid — once it's rested, peel back the foil and serve.
Chef's Note: This is the kind of old-fashioned "dump and bake" casserole that built its reputation on convenience without sacrificing comfort — three canned cream soups do the work of a made-from-scratch sauce, coating the rice as it slowly bakes into a tender, creamy base for the shredded chicken. The tight foil seal is the real technique here: it traps enough steam inside the dish to fully cook the raw rice without ever needing to stir or check on it.
Swap the chicken broth for plain water if you want a milder, less savory background flavor, or use broth for a richer finish — either works well. The resting time after baking matters more than it looks like it should, so hold off on removing the foil early; leftovers reheat beautifully and make an easy next-day lunch, exactly as promised.
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