Baked Chicken with Rice Casserole (Old Church Cookbook recipe!)
This Baked Chicken with Rice Casserole recipe came from an old church cookbook of my grandmother’s. It’s so simple & delicious – I think you’ll like it as much as we do! Just add a veggie & you have a whole meal!
Recently my Aunt Debbie gave me a whole stack of church cookbooks that belonged to my grandmother. I can not tell you how much I’ve enjoyed thumbing through them all, looking at the recipes. There are several that belonged to my grandma – and several more that belonged to people I remember from childhood. These books are probably one of my favorite possessions. So many great recipes inside that bring back all sorts of memories too. I just love how my MawMaw’s writing is all in them!
The other day, I was thumbing thru that red one you see in the picture looking for something easy (and new) to make for dinner that night.
I came across a Baked Chicken with Rice Casserole from Mrs. Maxine Langley that intrigued me because it called for a can of chicken gumbo soup. I don’t know why that intrigued me so much but it did. I didn’t even realize that Campbell’s made a chicken gumbo condensed soup – but they sure enough do. I found it right there with the cream of mushroom soup & all.
The recipe called for 2 whole small chickens, cut up – but the grocery store’s whole chickens were not on sale… and well, I go for what’s on sale. 😉 They had boneless skinless chicken thighs on sale for super cheap though, so I swapped out the whole chickens for equal poundage of the chicken thighs (which equals out to 4-6 pounds of chicken thighs).
This recipe is definitely a keeper! We all loved the flavors of both the chicken & the rice – all 3 of my kids gobbled it up. I just heated up some green beans & dinner was done. It was so easy to put together – but obviously the simpleness of a recipe doesn’t even matter if it doesn’t taste good. But this one – oh, this one is GOOD! The leftovers (if there are any) are really good too.
If you make it, I hope you share your results with me! Post it in the comments or better yet – upload a picture on Instagram and tag me in it!
Baked Chicken with Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked white rice
- 1 pack onion soup mix
- 4-6 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs or use a equal weigh of other chicken cuts
- 1 can chicken gumbo soup undiluted
- 3 cups water
- pepper to taste
- butter
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
- Spread rice evenly in the bottom of a well greased 13x9x2' baking pan or casserole dish. Sprinkle with 1/4 of the onion soup mix packet. Place chicken on rice, sprinkle with remaining onion soup mix & pepper. Combine the gumbo soup with 3 cups of water & pour evenly over the chicken & rice. Dot with a few butter slices. Cover with foil & bake for 2 hours.
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I have a number of church/community cookbooks and love them. The Ramen salad especially, and I think all books from 1999 on have it. It’s a great window on real-people cooking.
However, I would say recipes from church cookbooks are just the second best. First best recipe is the dressing loaf. I’m on my second batch now. Yum.
This is so good! The only things I did different was I used Jasmine rice and put smoked paprika on top. I also used just two pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs. It turned out perfect! Make this!
I made this tonight. Our local store doesn’t have the chicken gumbo soup, but I found it in Winco.
It was a big hit. I used chicken thighs with bones, but the chicken came off bones easy after cooked.
This recipe is a keeper.
Sounds good out my eyes focused on you Friendship Pyrex!!! Jelly!
Made this last night, leftovers for lunch today. Was easy to make and tasted delicious . Have made it with cream of chicken soup before, but the Gumbo gave it a different flavor.
we dont have gumbo soup here inUK so whats the best to use instead ,we do have Cambells condensed tho tyvm
You can use campbells chicken and rice soup – cream of mushroom works well too!
Your post helped me a lot. Thanks!!!
Very tasty. Campbell’s also makes a chicken and sausage gumbo soup in the larger can. I will try it with some next time I make this recipe. I’ll adjust the liquid amount accordingly. Thanks for being you. I think you are a very special woman.Â
Is this as good using skinless boneless breasts?
yes, it is!
I made the following changes to the recipe. Not sure  they were a good choice. I added a bag of shredded cheese to the rice along with frozen baby broccoli florets. I used cream of chicken instead of chicken gumbo. Mine came out super oily very salty but not favor full at all. I’ve never had luck with chicken and rice casseroles. I did add about 1/2 cup more water since I used a different soup.Â
Is it really 2 hours? And the chicken doesn’t dry out? Going to make this tonight and just saw the cooking time.Â
Will try your chicken gumbo but I will have to substitute something for gumbo!!
I am fixing just half recipe. It’s just I and my better half.
Last time I made something like this years ago the rice didn’t soften why? I am going to try this again but using your recipe. Can you please let me know! ThanksÂ
This is a great casserole/comfort food recipe that makes good use of staples I typically have in my pantry and freezer. I followed the recipe as written, but I did use chicken stock instead of water, I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and a dash of smoked paprika and I let it sit under the broiler for a few minutes after I removed the foil, which browned the chicken a bit more and created a nice char. Great flavor and chicken is fall off the bones tender. Thank you!