Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole
Have y’all ever tried to make a casserole look pretty? Unlike with me, the answer is probably “no”. Well folks, since starting Southern Plate, I have tried on more than one occasion to bring out the super model in a pile of pasta and cheese and I’m here to tell ya it just ain’t happenin! Although casseroles like this one taste divine, appearance leaves something to be desired. Maybe that’s why we like to cover them all up in a layer of cheesy goodness. You kinda want to stare down at it, cock your head a bit and give a little smile of condolence like you would a child’s failed science project “Well….it smells good.”
It does get a little frustrating for me though, because I really love casseroles. They are easy, quick, filing, feed the whole family, freeze well, and budget friendly – whats not to love? For all of these reasons, I want to bring them to you, too, but then we come into the fact that this is a food blog, full of food pics….and our poor little casseroles end up being the red headed step child among all the other little chittlin’s.
I’m counting on you to love this one anyway. Look past its physical appearance and see the wonderful casserole within. Its a good little casserole, I swear.
You’ll need: cream of chicken soup, 1 can of whole kernel corn, 1 box yellow rice (we just love Zatarains but you can use any type yellow rice you have, Mahatma saffron rice is very good in this, too), margarine, and cheddar cheese. Oh and chicken. You can leave the chicken out if you want but I like to have chicken in this so I can call it a meal and be done with it. 
Here I go again. You only saw one stick of butter in the ingredients and now you are seeing two. Well before you go and get your eyes checked, its me. Its all me.
You see, I have quantity issues. My motto is “Why feed five when you can feed fifty?”. I NEVER make just one of a meal if it freezes well. It just makes no sense to me to go to all of that trouble for one when you can get two out of the same effort and make life easy another day.
So in this tutorial, I am making two of these. One will be placed in a zipper freezer bag and frozen to be a quick and easy supper on another day. Like one of those days where you end up spending three hours in a doctor’s office waiting room because your three year old has an unusual rash all over her legs and tummy and you fear the plague has descended so they “work you in” at the office, which we all know darn well means they let you come sit up there while the receptionists watch you from behind the glass and take notes for some psychology experiment so they can see how long it takes a mom and a child two hours past her naptime and one hour past lunch to crack…
But OHHH you FOILED their evil plot!! You found a whole sandwich baggie of only partially crushed goldfish crackers and a BRAND NEW box of tic tacs (the orange ones!) in your purse. So you sit there, watching your child run back and forth in the lobby so she can make the automatic doors open and shut for the gazillionth time as you cast triumphant stares to the ladies behind the glass and pop a fresh tic tac with a grand and sweeping gesture into your mouth each time one of them turns your way, and what do you do after another half an hour waiting followed by a grand total of two minutes with the actual doctor (yes, two, I swear, I counted them. “Let’s see here…oh, oh thats hives. Yes, I’ll send the nurse back with a prescription, thank you” (honestly, she said half of that while she was actually exiting the room…). What do you when you finally leave there and find yourself back home with Princess Crankipants who is now jacked up on the four dum dum lollipops and half the box of tic tacs? You open the freezer and pop this baby in the oven. Then…you sit and think happy thoughts of me.
So make two of these, seriously.
By the way, it was an allergic reaction to lavender scented dryer sheets and that rash was just hives. She’s fine but you never know…
Dump your corn, margarine, and cream of chicken soup into a bowl.
Pour cheese over the top of it.
Add hot rice which has been cooked according to box directions. This will melt your butter and such. Add your chicken. This can be canned chicken, leftover chicken, boiled and shredded chicken, whatever cranks your tractor.
Stir that all up and place in a casserole dish.
Then cover the top with 1/2 Cup of cheese.
God love it, poor casserole. Ugly as the day is long but it sure is good!
This casserole is comfort food like no other!
Bake, uncovered, at 350 for about half an hour, or until nice and bubbly!
Ingredients Instructions
Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
~Abraham Lincoln
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Nov 21 2008. Filed under Freezes Well, Main Course, Misc, Quick&Easy.
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oooh.. cheeeeeeeeese…. buuuutterrrrrr… Muust haaave…
That sounds yummy. I’ll have to try it for sure.
Sounds good! Even way north of the Mason Dixon line here in Minneapolis! Would leftover turkey work? Good idea to make 2 batches-I freeze my hot dishes (yankee for casserole) in gladware for lunches. Awesome site!
OH MY GRAVY…….another casserole I can add to my roster. I swear to creation, you come up with some of the BEST recipes. Between the Country Casserole and Taco Soup, I have had five of my friends ask me for the recipes. THEY LOVED THEM. Now if there was only a way to to the turkey day dinner without pulling your hair out.
Ooooh…. I make this same casserole with broccoli instead of corn!
It looks so delicious! I agree, casseroles are terrible at being photogenic, but they’re great at tasting good and being comforting!
Whatever cranks your tractor! That had me cracking up and I’ll for sure be using that one.
Oh dear ugly casserole…you will be mine.
the casserole sounds great! but the story about being in the doctor’s office was as good as the casserole recipe. I’ve had my laugh for the morning!!!
I’m a huge fan of casseroles and I know the dilemma of trying to make them look good in pictures. It’s tough to do. But casseroles are oh so good. This one sounds fantastic! And not a bad picture either.
This sounds really yummy. I’ll try it when my kids and their spouses come home for Christmas. Maybe I’ll try it on the hubs first.
chicken, cheese, corn, butter, rice… what could be better? Sounds very good! Thanks Christy!
The casserole doesn’t look ugly to me. That picture is making me hungry. I’m just wondering what would happen if I omitted the stick of margarine.
This looks great Christy. Looks like a comfort food to me!
By the way, I just want you to know, my book club is having a “congealed” salad party for our December meeting.
We love you and your Mama, and are calling it a “congealed” salad party instead of a Jell-O salad party as we westerners are inclined to do.
Me again… I do notice that you say “casserole”. In February, my book club is having a “hot dish” party in honor of our mid-west friends, who use that phrase and not casserole.
I just love the regional habits and customs. That’s why it’s fun for me to read blogs.
Love yours!
Eek! hives! I hated hives! Poor kiddo!
And speaking of “regional habbits and customs” (thanks, Debbie), In our new little town, I anticipated attending a pot-luck (I’m from the Southwest) and to my horror it was called a “Carrion” dinner! A what?! Later, to my relief, it was clarified to be a “Carry-in” dinner! Ha! Don’t know if I’ll get used to that one!
Sounds great, I have it made fixing to put it in oven. I have invited friends over for supper, trying it and the taco soup out on them. I can’t wait. Thanks for all you do Christy!!!
We are having our traditional gingerbread house making night tonight and we are having this yummy casserole before the creating begins! Oh, yum!
This was so good. I made it without the chicken to carry to momma’s for Thanksgiving as a side dish. The Zatarain’s was perfect. It gave it color and a wonferful flavor.
I love casseroles! I love cheese! This was perfect!
Thanks!
Teri
This looks so cheesy and good! Perfect comfort food. I would have added some salsa for just a bit of color
Its in the oven now! I have faith this will be a great DINNER for Sunday night. YEA…. OH and it SMELLS SO GOOD! I topped it off with CORN BREAD (jiffy hahah) Don’t tell my Weight Watcher leader Im cheating BIG TIME…!~
I have made this and it was so delicious. This is a keeper for sure.
Made this last night and doubled it to freeze the second one…it was absolutely YUMMY! Can’t wait to eat the second one;o)
This was delicious!!!!! My family loved it…
Finally made this for dinner and my family loved it! They told me this was a keeper recipe.
Made a double batch over the weekend – need it twice, prep it once.
This was the best chicken & rice casserole ever – and I’ve tried them all. The yellow rice made all the difference in the world.
Served it with green beans & crescent rolls – the whole family loved it.
Thanks for such a wonderful recipe…looking forward to trying many more.
I made this recipe and we LOVED it! A whole stick of butter made it quite greasy, so I ended up cutting that in half the next time I made it and that made me feel a little bit better….haha. My two-year-old daughter liked this so much that my husband gave her some, went to get something to drink with his, and by the time he sat down, hers was GONE and she was saying “pease” for more!!
Whoa.
Okay, I’m a mother of two, one of which thinks the only food groups in existence are yogurt, chicken nuggets, and mac and cheese so this comment carries a LOT of weight with me!!
Wow!
a two year old ate it and loved it?
I’m s’proud I could cry!!!!
Thank you for letting me know!
Gratefully,
christy
Just found your site today and really am enjoying reading your recipes. The story about the doctor’s office was SO funny. You said you can just take it out of the freezer and pop it in the oven and bake it. Does it easily come out of the bag and then place it in a casserole dish? How does that change the baking time? Do you not need to thaw it first? Thanks.
This will help. You don’t have to thaw it
http://www.ellenskitchen.com/bigpots/oamc/casserolespan.html
Holy Cow… Did this for Sunday Dinner, and My Husband actually complimented it!!! *Drops Jaw* He has his reservations at first, but loved it… the only complaint… Fat in the chicken (I didn’t notice any oh well can’t win them all!)
I needed a side dish for dinner last night so where did I go?? Off to your website! I knew you wouldn’t let me down!
I omitted the chicken and oh my goodness!! This was so yummy! My husband isn’t too crazy for casseroles (he’s not right) but he loved this too! I made a single batch and froze half. It was just the two of us. We had enough for lunch left overs and it was even better! I can’t wait to use what I have in the freezer!!
Can’t wait to add the chicken and make a meal out of it!
YUMMY!!! Thanks so much!!!
I cooked this on Monday night for dinner along with the broiled parmesan tomatoes as a side dish to put some color on the table. Everyone loved it! The tomatoes were incredible!! I am not a tomatoe eater but I had almost 3 slices!!!! I must confess I sliced some of the tomatoes thinner than the recipie called for but they were hard to pick up off the pan versus the thicker cut that were much easier to pick up…on the casserole I doubled the rice, and chicken and corn and cheese because we were a family of 8 that evening. I kept the recipie to one can of cream of chicken because I didnt want it too creamy. I also used one can of cheddar cheese soup in addition to the shredded cheese and it worked perfectly! Thank you for the great recipies I truly love your site!!!!
Hi, Christy! This is my first time to visit your website. LOVE it already & have also signed up for your email list! Reading your stories makes me a bit homesick…Mississippi girl transplanted to the “Commonwealth” of Virginia!! About this recipe–I have made this years, primarily as a side dish, and after a few tries, began making it without any butter at all–still scrumptious–and sometimes substitute a can of Mexicorn for the regular corn–gives it a bit of nice color variation. This has always been a family favorite which one of my brothers would BEG me to make for family dinners! I have never made it as a main dish but will definitely give it a try (have some canned chicken just waiting to become a part of this YUMMY dish!!
Hi Christy,
Recipe sounds great with or without chicken. Like another reader,I’d probably go with a little less butter.
I was wondering about how much rice those packages make. In other words, if I make my yellow rice from scratch, how much do I need for this recipe?
I went ahead and made this last night. I made a variation of my yellow rice (onions, garlic, turmeric, rice and some diced zucchini) and used about 3 cups. I also used 1/2 stick real butter. This was a good dish, and I can see lots of ways to customize it.
Thanks Christy.
Okay Christy, this is my family’s favorite casserole! I cooked this almost every week, it is so easy and simple. And of course it is so delicious!!!! Thanks so much for all you are doing!!!
Do you ever just get burnt out on food? I know it sounds horrible, but here lately just nothing has sounded that great to me… however I think this just may be the solution. I think I need a good cheesy, southern, comfort dinner. Thanks!
I tried this casserole for the first time about a month ago, since then I have made it 2 or 3 more times. I love love love it! It’s so easy and soooooooo tasty. And it reheats so well. I’m trying to force my twin sister who lives 8 hours away that she needs to make it asap. I’m pretty new to southern plate, but I just love it and I love you stories, keep em comin!
Thanks, Kate
Absolutely wonderful!!! Everyone at the party rant and raved about it!!! Thanks ever so much for sharing this recipe!!!
Christy, I know you probably won’t see this before I make the recipe, but how many ounces is the box of rice mix? We went grocery shopping tonight and got the ingredients. There were a whole bunch of Zatarain’s rice mixes to pick from, but no yellow rice! My fiance ended up picking a box of Zatarain’s Cheddar Broccoli rice. It is 5.7 ounces and the box says it serves 2.5. I noticed that in the picture of your ingredients, the yellow rice serves 4 (it says that on the front of the box way down in the corner). The weight of the box is covered by the stick of margarine! I wonder if the Yellow Rice is bigger then the one we bought? We got two boxes just in case, but I want to make this right because there’s a sizable difference between 4 servings and 2.5. Don’t want my casserole to have too much rice
Christy, never mind my previous comment
It occurred to me to check the Zatarain’s website, and… ta da! In case anyone is wondering, a box of the Yellow Rice mix weighs 8 ounces. Since my boxes of rice mix weigh 5.7, I’ll probably just cook both of them, divy it up, and put the rest in the freezer for later 
Can’t wait to try this yummy looking casserole! I don’t see how it couldn’t be delicious!
We just had this for dinner! It was really good, my fiance said “Mmmm!” when he took a bite. It is definitely on my “repeat” list. I had to change this a bit based on what was available- used 1 1/2 boxes of the Cheddar Broccoli Zatarain’s rice mix, ham instead of chicken, only added a little bit of margarine, and I used a good 2 cups of cheese. For the cream soup, I used an awesome mix (you blend potato flakes, dried milk powder, cornstarch, bouillon granules and some spices together in the blender then use a few tablespoons mixed with water instead of a can of soup) because it’s cheaper. The casserole turned out quite well, but next time I think I’m going to use one of those pouches of yellow saffron rice or plain rice because the flavor of the rice mix I used was definitely dominant. I’ll add some broccoli too. Think I’ll make a double batch and freeze one. Yum yum!
[...] – Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole, [...]
I recently found your site through Mommy’s Kitchen and love it! I just started browsing though for a quick and easy dish and found this and it’s cooking as I type. Sounds delicious! Thanks so much!
[...] – Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole, [...]
[...] – Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole, [...]
[...] – Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole, [...]
[...] http://www.southernplate.com/2008/11/cheesy-chicken-and-corn-casserole.html [...]
[...] – Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole, [...]
Christy, just bought some yellow rice packs (never used them before) and knew i’d seen them here. but reading the commentary before the recipe is cracking me up. i’m laughing out loud over the half-crushed Goldfish and orange Tic Tacs. indeed, only the orange ones! thanks for all the laughs! now, if i only had a few cans of “cream of”, i’d be good to go! lol
I added sauted onions and mushrooms to your recipe. It was wonderful. My family loved it. I am always looking for something different to cook.
Oh yummy!! That sounds wonderful Robin!
Found this recipe through a Google search for chicken corn casserole, and made it tonight. We all loved it! Now I’m subscribing to your blog, and telling everyone I know about it. Thanks!
Hi Shelley! Welcome to the Southern Plate family, we are so glad to have you !!!