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This One Pot Chicken and Rice Casserole Recipe is a simple go-to chicken dinner that’s full of flavor and only uses one pan. My family loves the flavor and I love that it only takes 45 minutes to prepare!
If you’re hungry for chicken, try some of our other favorite chicken and rice casseroles for dinner, like Easy Chicken and Rice Bake and Arroz con Pollo.
Table of Contents
Skillet Chicken and Rice Casserole
Chicken and Rice Casserole is just one of those easy, comforting meals that I love to make all year long. It has a great combination of flavors with lots of garlic infused.
This meal is simple with very little prep time. It’s not super complicated and uses basic ingredients that you can find just about anywhere.
If you like saving time in the kitchen (and who doesn’t?), this One Pot Chicken and Rice Casserole is going to quickly become a favorite. Be sure to try our other One Pot Meals, like my One Pot Mexican Chicken and Rice recipe, Easy One Pot Ham Fried Rice and One Pot Chicken Alfredo.
Ingredients Needed for Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Chicken breast – I use tenderloins or thin cutlets. You can also use larger pieces and just cut them up. Chicken thighs are an option, but you’ll need a longer cooking time so it’s possible that you could overcook the rice. I’d recommend cutting thighs into smaller, more bite-sized pieces.
- Rice – You need long grain white rice, or Jasmine rice. I have not tested this with brown rice, but if you want to use it, the time will need to be increased and could end up drying out the chicken.
- Chicken broth – for cooking the rice and adding flavor.
- Onion – diced finely.
- Garlic – I used 4 minced cloves and also added garlic powder.
- Seasonings – Salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder and red pepper flakes. These can easily be adjusted based on your tastes or what you have on hand.
How to Make One Pot Chicken and Rice
- Heat a large skillet and cook the onion until translucent, then add and cook the garlic. I use olive oil, but you could use butter instead, or a little of both.
- Add the uncooked rice to the skillet and toast it for a couple of minutes. Season the chicken and then nestle it into the rice. Pour some chicken broth all around (but not over) the chicken.
- Bring the broth to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat for about 20 minutes. Don’t touch it! The rice needs steam to cook so leave that lid on.
- Remove the lid and stir the rice mixture. Pour in the rest of the chicken broth, and sprinkle on some more seasonings. Replace the lid and cook for another 15 minutes or until the liquid is fully absorbed and the rice is nice and tender.
- Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh minced parsley if desired.
FAQs
No. The rice is added to the pan or pot uncooked (raw) and will cook in the steam from the chicken broth. This is why it’s so important to resist opening the lid to peek – you don’t want to risk the steam escaping.
To get good flavor from anything you’re cooking, proper seasoning is so important. I added 4 cloves of garlic to this skillet meal to make it taste amazing. I also added paprika, onion powder, and red pepper flakes.
As long as you heat the chicken to a safe temperature (it should be 165 degrees), it’s totally fine to cook them together. In this chicken and rice recipe, we’re bringing everything to a boil, which will kill any potentially harmful bacteria.
Serving Suggestions
Because this dish can be a little bland in the color department, I recommend serving with a green vegetable of some sort.
Serve with some fresh Roasted Broccolini, Garlic Green Beans or Easy Oven Roasted Asparagus, or a crisp Caesar Salad.
Variations
You can also throw in a big cupful of parmesan cheese right at the end of cooking, and it adds such a nice salty, nutty bite. Even a little cheddar cheese would be delicious.
If you want to add some veggies, broccoli or mushrooms are great options for cooking in the pan with the chicken and rice. Or, throw in some cooked peas and carrots (frozen and heated) at the end.
For freshness, add some herbs like parsley or thyme.
What to Do With Leftovers
Keep leftover chicken and rice in an airtight container in the fridge. It will last 3-4 days if properly stored. Freezing is not particularly recommended, but it can be done. You can reheat in the microwave; just add a little water to help rehydrate the rice.
Expert Tips
- I use thin-cut chicken breasts in this recipe or you could use chicken tenderloins. I prefer not to use large chicken breasts because I worry that they will not cook through. If that is all you have in the freezer, just cut them into 2-3 strips or you could cut them in half to make them thinner.
- While I love cooking with all types of rice, I really only recommend long grain white rice for this recipe. Any substitutions will affect cook time and you may end up with dry chicken or mushy rice, so stick to long grain for this recipe.
- My best tip for cooking flavorful rice is to lightly toast the rice before adding any liquid for another layer of flavor.
More One Pot Meals
- One Pan Creamy Tortellini and Smoked Sausage
- Sheet Pan Lemon Dill Salmon with Roasted Tomatoes
- One Pan Cheesy Beef & Tomato Pasta Skillet
- One Pot Pizza Pasta
- One Pan Taco Macaroni and Cheese
Skillet Garlic Chicken and Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken tenderloins or thin chicken breasts
- 1 ½ cups long grain white rice
- 4 cups chicken broth or stock divided
- 1 medium onion diced fine, about 1 cup
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder divided
- 2 teaspoons salt divided
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet (one with a lid) over medium heat. Add onion to the pan and season with ½ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, about 5-6 minutes or until translucent.
- Add the minced garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the rice and saute for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, or until lightly browned and toasted.
- Meanwhile, combine 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, paprika, onion powder, and pepper. Season chicken on both sides, and set aside.
- Nestle the chicken into the rice and add 3 cups of the chicken broth, careful not to pour over the chicken. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Cook undisturbed for 20 minutes. Resist the temptation to lift the lid as it will release steam which is necessary for cooking the rice.
- Remove lid and give it a good stir. Pour in the remaining cup of chicken broth, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and red pepper flakes if using. Cover and cook another 10-15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. If rice is not done, continue to add small amounts of chicken broth until tender.
- Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh minced parsley if desired.
Very Good and Easy to make!!
I seasoned until my heart told me to stop lol. I also used veg broth (all I had in stock), adobo seasoning and a little turmeric.
That is the best way to season!
This was so easy and delicious! I added some broccoli, too, just to include some veggies 🙂
Nice! Thanks for stopping by KK.
I love the recipe, it’s very flavorful! However, I keep running into a problem. Despite using long grain white rice like you specify, the rice still comes out sticky and mushy. Is there a way to remedy this?
You could try rinsing the rice first, using a metal sieve. This will remove some of the starch that could make it a little sticky.
Where are measurements?
In recipe card at end of post.
I was looking for something easy for dinner tonight after thawing out some chicken breast. I’m pleased to find something that uses ingredients I have on hand, but I plan to add mixed frozen veggies at the end. If I had spinach, I would add that as well. The recipe itself doesn’t mention using ‘thin chicken breasts’ but after reading the tips, I’ll be butterflying mine and pounding them for extra tenderness. I do this often with great results. I believe the recipe could be more consistently enjoyed with this method written into the recipe. As always, I will spice it to our taste as most recipes aren’t vibrant enough for us. As squeeze of lemon goes a long way to brighten a lot of recipes. I appreciate having this method to follow as a baseline so I know it wont fail!
Hi Bonnie, Thank you for your compliments and appreciate your friendly critique. I love your suggestions and I will definitely add that into the tips for the recipe. I agree about the seasoning of some dishes, I always recommend seasoning “to taste” and adding flavors you love.
The ingredients call for 1 tsp of salt divided but the instructions show 2 tsp. of salt.
Add onion to the pan and season with ½ teaspoon salt.
Meanwhile, combine 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, paprika, onion powder, and pepper.
Pour in the remaining cup of chicken broth, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and red pepper flakes if using.
Which is the correct amount?
It should be 2 teaspoons in the instructions. However, the amount of salt can be subjective to individual tastes. Thanks for catching the mistake…the humans behind the site make little mistakes sometimes but appreciate when we get the chance to fix them. Have a great day!
We loved your recipe. I made it for my boyfriend and we both loved it. The chicken was tender, as well as the rice. There was alot of flavor. So Kudos to you and thank you. We haven’t been disappointed yet with any of your recipes.
You are so welcome Deborah! Thank you for the awesome feedback.
way too salty
This was a good dish. Not amazing.
It had flavor. But not flavor popping.
If you are looking for a dish that caters to young children and/or elderly people. Then this is the dish. I would equal it to cafeteria food. Unfortunately this wasn’t a hit for my husband and I. My toddler however loves it.
Great recipe and I love the one skillet method of cooking. Thanks
You are so welcome Maria! Thanks for stopping by.
This a great recipe! Full of flavor! My boyfriend who is a picky eater really enjoys it! One of my go to recipes
Nice! Awesome feedback Monica! Thanks for stopping by.
I made this last night and doubled the resumes. I realized after I started the directions that though the system will double the ingredients for you it doesn’t correct the information in the posted directions. I quickly adjusted the information in the directions. I used low-sodium chicken stock and didn’t use all the chicken stock because it would have been too soft for my liking. I used about 7 cups instead of 8. Even though I used low-sodium, it was almost too salty but it was ok to eat. My picky eater liked it so that’s a win in my book.
Nice! Thank you for your feedback Tee.