Why Ben’s Original Ready Rice?
I adapted the recipe Chicken Spectacular to come up with One Pot Rice & Chicken Casserole. Chicken Spectacular has certain basic ingredients. Ben’s Wild Rice, Cream of Celery, French Cut Green Beans, Water Chestnuts, & Pimientos. There were a few ingredients I just don’t ever have on hand, so swapped them out for what I had. The original recipes use boxed versions of Ben’s Original Wild Rice. I instead had Ben’s Ready Rice Risotto on hand, so that is what I used and then I used a bag of frozen veggies instead of the canned veggies. Part of why they use a ready to make rice in this recipe, is that it has built in flavor and we are less apt to mess it up, and you can make it faster, thus the dish faster. The Ben’s Ready Rice only takes 90 seconds per bag in the microwave!
Do I need to use Cheese Risotto Rice?
That’s the Ben’s Ready Rice I had, so that is what I used, but there are a ton of great flavors to choose from. Long Grain & Wild Rice would be the traditional version. You could also use Roasted Chicken, Rice Pilaf and Creamy Four Cheese. Frankly leftover white rice or other similar versions of Boxed rice will work too. Be brave and try what you have!
Will this have enough flavor?
You may have noticed that I didn’t add any extra salt. Since nearly every ingredient in One Pot Rice & Chicken Casserole has salt in it, I saw no reason to add additional salt. Because you get great flavor from the Ben’s Rice, a lot of extra flavor isn’t needed, but if you really want to add a few spices, feel free. It won’t hurt anything.
What can I bake this in?
This is an original one pot dish. As long as you have a large pan that you can use on your stovetop and your oven you can use it for both. I recently received a beautiful 7 quart enameled cast iron dutch oven dish for Christmas. It’s a Cuisinart and it worked perfect for this recipe. There are many brands available, even at regular big box stores. If you just can’t swing one, you can use a large sauté/sauce pan for the stove and transfer the dish to a casserole dish and then add the spices and cheese to bake.
Another one of our great Chicken and Rice Recipes! Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Rice
One Pot Rice & Chicken Casserole
Equipment
- 1 Enameled Dutch Oven Pot (I used a 7 quart) can also use a frying pan and then transfer to a casserole dish
- 1 Ninja Food Chopper
Ingredients
- Pam
- 3 tbsp Butter
- 1 Yellow Onion, diced I used my ninja chopper to dice them.
- 3 Cans (12.5 oz) Canned Chicken Can also use other precooked chicken
- 3 Packages (8.8 oz) Ben's Ready Rice Risotto Can also use other versions or leftover rice.
- 1 10 oz steamable bag of frozen veggies I used one with green beans, peas, carrots & corn.
- 1 can (10.5 oz) Cream of Celery
- 1 Cup Sour Cream
- 1 Cup Mayo
- Pepper & Paprika
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
- Spray enameled Dutch Oven Pot with Pam on the sides (butter will cover the bottom.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Place butter and diced onion into pot and stir in to start cooking the onion down.
- Add the drained canned chicken and continue to stir.
- Begin to cook the rice in the microwave per instructions. If you are using a boxed version, you should cook that before you begin the rest of the recipe so it will be timed right. Leftover rice can be used as well.
- Microwave the steamable veggies for just a couple of minutes to thaw them, they don't need to be completely cooked.
- Add the rice to chicken & onions and continue to stir. Then add the veggies.
- Next add the Cream of Celery, Mayo and Sour Cream and blend well. If the dish seems a bit dry you can add an additional can of Cream of Celery, I didn't have this issue however.
- Once it's mixed well, even it out on the top, sprinkle pepper and paprika on top.
- Cover with a layer of shredded cheese.
- Sprinkle sporadically shredded parmesan cheese.
- Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling.
