Want healthy meals your kids will love?

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole

21 Comments

This Chicken Wild Rice Casserole is creamy, full of flavor and packed with veggies! This dinner makes it so easy to feed the whole family in one dish.  

chicken and wild rice casserole in a glass baking dish with a scoop removed

Healthy Chicken Wild Rice Casserole

One of my favorite meals growing up was chicken and wild rice, I just couldn’t get enough! The rice was served with a creamy sauce and the chicken was always baked perfectly.  So of course I couldn’t resist making a casserole with those same great flavors.  This Chicken Wild Rice Casserole is packed with veggies and is an easy dinner recipe you’ll want to hold on to for years.

Why We Love Casserole Dishes

Casserole dishes are a favorite of mine for a few reasons! First, they are (usually) easy to make.  Just dump everything into one pan and it all cooks together!  Second, they usually have every part of your meal in the dish! They have your protein, grain and veggies wrapped up into one amazing pan! Third, they tend to be very freezer friendly.  Sometimes I’ll make a double batch and just freeze the other pan to eat later.  Fourth, very little clean up! I have my cutting board, knife and a saucepan!  I cleaned those while my casserole finished baking. I love when a meal is easy to clean up!  Check out our 15 Favorite Kid Friendly Casseroles!

What Is The Most Common Size of a Casserole Dish?

A 9×13 inch rectangular dish is the most common size called for in casserole recipes.  It can usually feed 6-8 people.  It holds between 12 and 14 cups of food.  If you want to halve a casserole recipe that calls for a 9×13 inch pan, you can use an 8×8 inch pan because it holds between 6-8 cups of food. It probably won’t take as long to cook, so shave about 10 minutes off the cook time.  It’s pretty hard to mess up most casserole recipes, so it should turn out just fine.

How to Make Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

I love this recipe because you cook the rice in the oven with all the veggies! No need to bust out your rice cooker and dirty another dish.  You’ll add your chicken broth to the casserole dish with all your veggies! Then you’ll cover it tightly in foil so that it will steam and cook the rice.  When that’s almost done in the oven, you’ll cut up your chicken, and make a quick sauce.  This sauce will mix with the chicken broth and make the whole dish creamy! If you want to top your Chicken Wild Rice Casserole with a breaded topping, you’ll add that after you stir in the sauce and chicken!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
3.4 from 355 votes

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole is packed with savory veggies, a creamy sauce and lots of flavor!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 45 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8
Calories: 424kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 inch casserole dish with cooking spray.
  • Heat a saute pan over medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add diced onions, carrots, and celery to the pan and saute for 4-5 minutes or until the veggies begin to soften. Add mushrooms and garlic and saute for another few minutes. Add veggies to the prepared casserole dish.
  • Add the wild rice and chicken broth. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  • When the rice is almost done cooking, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan.  Add flour, salt and poultry seasoning; let cook for 1 minute. Add the milk and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; cook and stir until thickened.  Remove from heat.
  • Melt the other 4 tablespoons of butter and toss with the bread cubes.
  • When the rice is done cooking, remove pan from the oven. Add the chopped chicken and sauce; stir to combine.  Add the bread cubes to the top and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.
  • Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Return pan to the oven (uncovered) and bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve warm and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 424kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 79mg | Sodium: 1071mg | Potassium: 630mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 7064IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 267mg | Iron: 2mg
Keyword : Chicken Wild Rice Casserole

www.superhealthykids.com

 

Natalie Monson

I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.

Learn More about Natalie

Leave a Comment:
Did you make this recipe? Leave a review!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




21 Comments

Does your chicken need to already be cooked? Also your cook time is way off if the first part of the dish takes 1 hr 15min!

We usually make 12 or 16 servings out of a 13 by 9 pan. That way the calories are in range for us and we can have a side with it. Also to the person concerned about the fat use less butter then.

I made this last night. I like several things about it. The wild rice has a nice chewy texture, the veggies are part of the dish instead of needing a separate side, there aren’t any condensed soups in the recipe and it makes a lot so there are leftovers. My family liked it. It was a little bland but that is probably my fault for not adding enough seasoning. I put a good quality seasoning salt on top when I ate the leftovers tonight and that was a good addition. Also, I only used half the amount of butter it called for. I would make this again.

Hi Sarah! I haven’t tried omitting the cheese in this recipe, but subbing in nutritional yeast might add back some of that “cheesy” flavor without the dairy.

Yes! Since brown rice takes a bit longer to cook, I would use cooked or par-cooked brown rice and adjust the liquid accordingly. 🙂 Good luck!