Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken And Rice (The downside of being a Swan Princess)
I have a firmly held belief that the most important lessons in life are learned in Kindergarten. For this reason (and many others) when my five year old speaks, I listen. Oftentimes she’ll say something that has me stifling a giggle (Katy Rose does not like for folks to laugh at anything she says right now unless she clearly states that it is a joke beforehand), but others she’ll speak something truly profound and in her innocence has no idea that she has just opened her mama’s eyes to wisdom once again.
Yesterday, we were sitting in the living room together. Katy Rose was watching the Swan Princess while I worked on my laptop. The movie came to a part where the “evil guy” (as Katy Rose put it) was trying to keep the Swan Princess prisoner and Katy watched for a few moments before turning to me in absolute frustration.
“You see that, Mama? See that stuff right there? That is why I’ve decided I don’t want to be a princess when I grow up anymore – because you have to deal with that evil stuff.” She huffed and looked back for a moment, clearly disappointed in the downside of her now former dream before adding, “So here is what I’m going to do. If I have kids, I’ll just be a Mama. If I don’t have kids, I’m just going to live with you forever, okay?”
“Okay Katy Rose, that works for me”
Bless her heart, at five years old she just really feels compelled to have her entire life plotted out and realizing there was a downside to royalty threw her for a loop.
Fact is, there is a downside to every dream no matter how big or small it is. Look at people whose lives you dare to envy. Actors and actresses appear to have it all but can you imagine the frustration of not being able to run to the grocery store or go to lunch with a friend without folks stalking you with cameras and such? The hours they spend memorizing lines, being berated by directors for improper delivery, pressure of keeping up appearances. Reading glowing praise about yourself one day and scathing criticism the next. Sure, they may have a lot of money but they have a whole heap more bills than us that go with that. Staff, security, etc. There is a downside to it all and although we may hold them at arm’s length as if they are somehow a different class from us, they are just people beneath it all, same as we are.
I don’t reckon a lot of us think on the downside of our dreams and that is a good thing, because the upside of things is infinitely more inviting anyway. The funny thing that struck me most though, is that out of Katy’s two fallback dreams, both of them revolve around family.
With that in mind, how many of us are living the dream right now? You may look at starring in a movie as the “dream” but I packed two lunches this morning and watched two beautiful little blonde heads bob to the car as they headed off to school.
There may be a big reserved room for someone in a fancy restaurant with patrons dressed in formal attire but tonight I’m going to sit down to dinner with my husband and kids at an old oak dinner table and I doubt a single one of us will even be wearing shoes.
When I lay my head down at some point after the sun sets today I won’t be in a luxury suite, but I will be in our warm house, safely sheltered with a peacefully sleeping family and a big old dog snoring at the foot of my bed.
When I wake up tomorrow, I’ll have a big grin on my face and a song in my heart.
Living the dream, folks. Living the dream.
Now for the food….
You talk, I listen. Well, I listen whenever I can, of course! Folks have been asking for more slow cooker recipes for a multitude of reasons. Who doesn’t like to come home and have supper all cooked and waiting for them? I know I sure do! This is a recipe I modified for the slow cooker and some of you will be happy to know I also removed the entire stick of margarine it called for. Others, like myself, will shrug and go on with things. Because, in the grand scheme of the world, there are more important things to concern myself with than whether or not I’m ingesting a tablespoon of margarine with my chicken and rice ~winks~.
Alright, lets get cooking!
~revs up the engine~
Hello easy!
You’ll need: Yellow Rice*, Cream of Chicken, Whole kernel corn, onion, chicken breasts, and shredded cheddar cheese.
I love Zatarain’s rice, one of my favorite meal helpers. If you want to use the lower fat cream soup that’s fine in this. A lot of folks have been making my Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice with cream of chicken because they don’t care for cream of mushroom and that is great, too! Make it your own and tweak these recipes however they work best for your family.
Place your chicken breasts in the bottom of your slow cooker. Chop up onion and toss on the top.
Getting ready for my book tour, I made Ricky watch me do this. I kept telling him “Now you can do a slow cooker, its easy to cook supper if you just throw it all in and then finish it up when you get home from work. See how I’m doing this? See how simple this is?” He nods and feigns interest but who are we kidding? It’ll be pizza and happy meals the whole time I’m gone…
Spoon or glob your cream soup over that.
Y’all don’t be fooled by me using name brand soup here. I got it on sale. I’d use Timbuktoo brand if it saved me ten cents.
Now cover this and cook it according to the following:
Low – 7-8 hours
High 3-4 hours.
This is great to put on in the morning on the weekends if you cook it on high and then have a nice meal at lunchtime.
When it is done cooking, drain your corn and toss that in along with your cooked rice and cheddar.
You’ll need to cook your rice before this step. What I like to do is cook my rice the night before and just stick it in the fridge. Then you can dump it in and stir it up and give it a minute or two to get heated. You can also cook your rice soon as you get home, though. It’s still an easy and delicious supper!
Stir all of that up and give it a few minutes to get all heated and warm (this won’t take long)
This stuff is to die for. Prepare for a happy landing in your stomach!
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 large onion, chopped (I use Vidalia)
- 1 -8 ounce box Zatarain's Yellow Rice Mix, cooked according to directions
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- 1 - 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup (regular or fat free)
- 1 -15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
Instructions
- Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Scatter chopped onion over top. Spoon cream soup over top of that. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. A few minutes before serving, add in cooked rice, corn, and cheese. Stir to combine. Serve hot.
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Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 large onion, chopped (I use Vidalia)
- 1 -8 ounce box Zatarain's Yellow Rice Mix, cooked according to directions
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- 1 - 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup (regular or fat free)
- 1 -15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
Instructions
- Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Scatter chopped onion over top. Spoon cream soup over top of that. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. A few minutes before serving, add in cooked rice, corn, and cheese. Stir to combine. Serve hot.
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Tell us how each day is a dream come true in the comments
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I updated my Tales from the Tour section with the latest goings on. Click here to read that section of Southern Plate if you’d like. I don’t send those updates out to my email subscribers (don’t wanna bog down your inbox) so you might have missed a few posts. Right now we’re just gearing up over there but it will get more lively as I start to travel more!
“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today.
It’s already tomorrow in Australia.”
~giggle~
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Sep 29 2010. Filed under Crock Pot, Main Course, Quick&Easy.
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Made this tonight and it was a success! I dont like onions, so I just sprinkled the chicken and soup with onion powder to give it a little flavor. It was delicious!! Thanks for a great recipe!!!
I am so glad to hear that you liked it Kate!!!
I’m trying this tonight. I’ll check back in to let you know how it was. I’m skipping the corn (simply because we didn’t have any at the house and I’m trying to do a “use what you’ve got” method to try to clear our pantry).
I hope you enjoy Sam!!!
This was delicious!!!
I am so glad to hear that you liked it Cicily!!
Does the chicken need to be defrosted?
You can go either way. I’ve definitely put it in frozen before and it’s just fine!
I just dumped the uncooked rice in the crock pot with the chicken and then added the water & butter as directed on the box, and it turned out fine! Good for those days where you’re really lazy and don’t want to have to cook the rice ahead of time!
What do you eat this with?
I just ate it with toasted French bread. It already has corn and onions for veggies, chicken for the meat, and rice for the starch. It’s a one pot meal! To me it was kind of a cross between soup and a casserole, and very tasty!
I made this today. Just finished eating. My fiance and I both went back for seconds, so it’s a success! I must admit, though, I doubled the amount of cheese. I’m just an extra cheesy kind of person.
This was delicious. I have been trying out different chicken rice casserole recipes without much luck until this one. I served it with a big leafy green salad to balance out all the creamy yellow. Thank you!
Thank you, I made this last night. I asked my honey what he thought about it and he said” its like one of those foods you cant stop eating, ya just keep shoveling it in. ” LOL I guess that good then. Thanks again.
LOL, I am so glad to hear he liked it!!
Do you put the breast in whole or cut it up before cooking?
i was wondering the same thing do you need to cut the chicken up?
Looks so delicious! How many does this serve?
Adding this to the list of baby dinners… I am due in November, and this looks so good and easy to make.
I hope you enjoy it Liz and congratulations on your upcoming bundle of joy!!!
I’m just wondering if anyone could tell me the number of servings and the serving size for this recipe. I’m making it tonight for our family and wondering if I should double the recipe, to ensure leftovers.
I feed my family of four and we can get seconds if need be, so probably 6-8 servings, but it depends on how hungry you are and if you serve sides
Thanks!
[...] to recipe number two – Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken & Rice (say that five times fast!). This was one of those comforting, feel-good recipes. It was fairly [...]
Making this tomorrow night. Does the chicken need to be cut up before making or will it fall apart when mixing everything in?
I accidently put my corn and cheese in at the beginning. OOPS! Hopefully it won’t hurt it too bad. At least I didn’t put the rice in as well.
I just realized I forgot to get the yellow rice
How horrible would it be to just use the standard white jasmine rice?
It wouldn’t be too horrible. It won’t taste the same but will work.
My husband doesnt like corn..should i just leave it out or could i substitute with another veggie???
Either, you can leave it out completely or you can substitute with something that your family likes.
Broccoli Flowers or Spears goes well with this.
Made this tonight and it is wonderful. I love chicken and rice but it can get kind of boring and this is jazzed up!
I am so glad to hear that you liked it Kristi!!
Any idea about the nutrition facts, mainly total calories? Thanks
I’m making this for my husband, but I just have one question: Do I need to add the water that the cream of chicken soup asks for, or just put in the soup as is from the can? Thanks!
Just put the soup in as is from the can.
This recipe was fabulous just the way it is written! I wanted to leave a comment as I did throw the rice in about an hour or so before it was done and it worked great! I found I needed more liquid tho, so added some milk, maybe a cup, an extra can of soup, a tblspoon of butter, and I added frozen corn and peas because I had it. Lots of red pepper flake because we love heat, was delish! Thank you so much! I would have never even thought of adding Zanarans, but it was perfect.
I have been trying for the last 6 months to find something that my soon to be 3 year old would eat that did not include crackers, cookies or cake. So extreme was my daughter that she literally self-fasted for 3 meals (nothing to eat, just water) for over 24 hours!!! Then…I made this tonight. I swear to you the heavens opened up! Not only did she eat this (including the chicken which has NEVER happened before) but she cleaned her plate…AND asked for seconds. I used to be one of those parents who thought kids were picky eaters because they don’t expose their kids to foods, allow too much junk food etc. My first child always has, and continues to, eat everything and anything I give him. Then I had my daughter and my world of cooking hurt began. This was a break through meal and I cannot tell you just how excited and relieved I am. SHE ATE CHICKEN!!! Up until tonight her only protein source was milk. I see light at the end of the tunnel! Thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!
Oh my goodness, I am so glad to hear that she liked it Anita!! I have a picky eater myself so I know just how hard it can be to find those “just right” recipes that the whole family will eat.
Made this tonight and it was AWESOME! I couldn’t find the yellow rice so I just used chicken flavored rice and it was really good. The chicken was moist and just fell apart when it was finished. It passed the picky kid & husband test, so you know it’s got to be good! I used fat free soup and tried to go a little light on the cheese. The key to anything is moderation.
I am so glad you and your family liked it Michelle!!
My mom and I love this dish! Perfect for cool evenings and easy dinners. So yummy
I am so glad to hear that you like it Krissy, it is one of our very favorites!!
When you add the soup on do you add any water or milk or do you just turn it on & walk away?
Are you living the dream? I am! I never knew this was my dream until I was about 28 or 29 years old though so tell Katy Rose to take her time. : ) I look around my house and my yard and at my two healthy boys and I am amazed at how blessed I am. Every day. It’s pretty awesome.
Thank you so much for the recipe! I have to get some yellow rice and then I will give it a whirl. You are the best Christy!
I made this yesterday!!!! It was soooo incredibly good..and EASY. My husband and I both went back for seconds. I just couldn’t believe how quick it was to make but so tasty. Thanks for introducing me to a new favorite dinner!
My daughter give me this recipe last year. I just made this last night with fresh corn off the cob, and added mushrooms an black beans. My husband loves this recipe. It is a great kid pleaser
This looks delicious, but I might add some chopped red and green peppers or peas and carrots for some color and added nutrition. I have children and I figure why not make the most of something so delicious that they’ll obviously eat even with a few extra vegies inside?
Made this tonight. It was YUMMY!
Just put the chicken on and, naturally, realized I didn’t cut the recipe in half for two breasts vice four. So what if ours is extra rice-y/cheese-y!
I didn’t have the yellow rice but I did have a box of uncle bens long grain and wild rice that I substituted. Turned out great!
I am so glad it turned out great for you Kindra!!
Hello*!!! I found this recipe on Pinterest and I am making this tomorrow… I can’t wait… anything with cheese is up my alley.. LOL
Welcome to Southern Plate Valerie!! I hope you enjoy the recipe!!
Can I substitute the cream of chicken for something else? I love easy crock pot meals, but hate the not-so-healthy canned stuff.
Hello*!!! well this is now added to a GO TO MEAL for me*!!! I used my smaller 3qt-4qt crock pot. I am wondering about adding in some fresh or frozen broccoli, green beans or even peas. BUT either way this was DELISH and hubby approved*!!!
I am so glad y’all liked it Valerie!! You sure can add vegetables if you want.
Made this today and substituted the yellow rice with quinoa. Yummmmmmm!
This was pretty good. Easy to make. It will be added to my crockpot list but not onto favorites. I was initally worried about it being dry and burning because there was no liquid to begin with. It was very dry in the end and I added about 2 cups of milk before serving. I couldn’t cook the rice ahead of time so I added the yellow rice with the water and butter to the pot about 45 mintues before it was done. It cooked just fine. I did add 2 cups of chedder because I love cheese! But overall good and will make again!
I love easy crockpot meals for weekdays! With my husband working all day and my busy evening schedule, we only see eachother for more than 30 mins on tues, saturdays and sundays. So it’s nice to have an easy hot meal together before I have to run out the door. This is in my crockpot right now, can’t wait to try it
Can the leftovers be frozen? Worried about how the rice part of it will freeze/defrost/taste…
I’m a grad student trying to learn to cook, and everything I’ve attempted in the crock pot has failed miserably. Almost ready to give up completely, I tried this recipe today and it came out perfect! (5.5 hours on low = chicken juicy and falling apart.) Thank you so much! Can’t wait to make it for company!
Oh my goodness Carrie, you just made my day!! I am SOOO glad to hear that it turned out great for you!! Thank you so much for letting me know and I hope that this will encourage you to try some more!! I hope school is going great for you, what are you studying?
Thanks! I’m studying Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University, focusing on immunology and cancer research. Needless to say, that doesn’t leave much time for cooking! I look forward to trying more of your simple, delicious recipes.
You could make this even faster and easier if you use a rotisserie chicken. Adds great flavor as well.
Great idea Ginger!!! Thank you so much for sharing it with us!!
[...] Thursday: Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken & Rice [...]
Hi there! I have a embroidery/monogramming business and it is my busiest time of the year! My husband & kids are tired of these little easy meals (pizza, frozen lasagna, sandwiches etc) because they are use to me cooking good ole’ southern yummy dinners! Ive been on the search for some easy crockpot recipes & came across your blog! I’m so excited to have found this recipe because it looks absolutely delicious & luckily, I have everything in my pantry! Hooray! So I just put this in the crockpot & can’t wait until it is finished. Thanks for posting this easy recipe for us busy housewives who don’t have time to cook some nights!
How many will this feed?
[...] your own Crock Pot recipes to the comments below!1. Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin 2. Chicken and Rice 3. Cafe Rio Chicken 4. Slow Cooked Sweet Barbacoa Pork 5. Carrot Pudding 6. Apple Pie Breakfast 7. [...]
[...] Recipe adopted from Southern Plate [...]
Made this for dinner tonight. I took the advise of another poster, I added the rice, water and butter directly to the crock pot with the other ingredients. Added steamed broccoli on the side. Will definitely make again!! Thanks!!
I am so glad to hear that you liked it Cheryl!! Thank you so much for letting me know!
I made this for dinner tonight at my parents. They loved it! Thanks for sharing!
I am so glad to hear it was a hit Christy!! and I LOVE your name
Wow yellow rice as to be my new favorite rice…So stinking yummy. I knew my family minus hubby would live it as we love chicken and rice casserole dishes
adding this to favorites.