Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

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Using only five ingredients, this simple and easy chicken and wild rice casserole dish is creamy, hearty, and comforting.

 

chicken and wild rice casserole

Chicken and wild rice casserole is a meal that uses mostly shelf-stable ingredients. Assemble the ingredients for a few months’ worth of these casseroles if you have a hankering, and know that the bag will be ready to grab whenever you need it. You could even substitute canned chicken if you like to make it completely shelf-stable! My family gobbles this one up and everyone wants seconds so if we’re all here, I usually make double. 

With chicken, rice, cream of mushroom soup, green beans, and almonds, this wild rice casserole is creamy and hearty comfort food at its best. I also have a slow cooker version of this dish, if that’s more your style.

Check out some of my other yummy casserole dishes like Mexican Cornbread CasseroleChicken Tater Tot CasseroleMexican Cornbread CasseroleJiffy Corn Casserole, and Sloppy Joes Casserole

Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole:

ingredients for chicken and wild rice casserole

  • Chicken
  • Long grain and wild rice blend (Watch for a sale on this and then stock up!)
  • Cream of mushroom soup (A recipe for my homemade version can be found here)
  • Cut green beans
  • Sliced almonds
  • Ritz crackers
  • Butter

Helpful Kitchen tools

How To Make Chicken And Wild Rice Casserole:

cook the chicken

Boil the chicken in a pot, then cube or shred it.

mix ingredients together in mixing bowl

Cook the rice according to package directions. Stir chicken, rice, soup, green beens and almonds together.

spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray

Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray.

**This Casserole Dish is beautiful and gets great ratings! Give it a try if you’re looking to elevate your presentation!

spoon into casserole dish

Spoon mixture into a pie plate or casserole dish.

add ritz topping

Crush Ritz crackers and add on the top of the casserole. Evenly coat with 3 tbsp. of butter.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly.

Now that you’ve done all the hard work, sit down and eat.

Storage

  • Store chicken casserole leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days and reheat in the microwave.
  • You can also store wild rice casserole leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months. Simply thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the microwave.

Recipe Notes

  • You can leave the almonds out if you want or you can substitute them for water chestnuts if you like. You could also substitute french fried onions for these, that would be good, too!
  • While you easily adapt this wild rice casserole and use your favorite rice or rice blend (which might be white rice or brown rice), I recommend using wild rice for its distinct nutty flavor.
  • Feel free to add more vegetables to this dish! Increase the mushroom flavor with sliced mushrooms or you could even add a can of sliced carrots. Another option is frozen vegetables, like a cup of peas and carrots.
  • When it comes to the canned soup, feel free to substitute the cream of mushroom soup for either cream of celery soup or cream of chicken soup.
  • You could also add a cup of shredded cheese (or a mixture of cheddar and parmesan cheese) on top of your chicken casserole if you prefer your casseroles to be both creamy and cheesy. 
  • Another option is to substitute the chicken breasts for your favorite cut of chicken, whether that’s chopped chicken thighs, or shredded rotisserie chicken.

Recipe FAQs

Can I make this chicken wild rice casserole in advance?

Yes, you can prepare the chicken casserole up to 24 hours ahead of time. Simply cover with foil and refrigerate until it’s time to bake. Just remember that a refrigerated casserole might take longer to cook through. Another option is to bake the casserole, store the dish covered in the fridge, and then simply reheat quickly in the microwave or oven.

What do you serve with this casserole?

I recommend serving this chicken wild rice casserole with some roasted vegetables or a fresh salad. Another option is to do a side of zucchini and squash.

You may also enjoy these other chicken and rice recipes:

Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Rice Casserole

Chicken Fried Rice Easy Peasy

Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken & Rice

Chicken Teriyaki with Brown Rice Fresh & Fast

Chicken Fried Brown Rice

Simply Delicious Chicken & Rice Soup

chicken and wild rice casserole

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Using very few ingredients, this simple and easy chicken and wild rice casserole dish is creamy, hearty, and comforting.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken, rice
Servings: 4
Calories: 468kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 box long grain and wild rice mix I use Uncle Ben's, which is currently 6oz
  • 1 cup fresh shredded chicken
  • 1 can cut green beans mine is 15 ounces
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup 10-ounce, fat-free is fine
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder optional
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  • 1 cup Ritz crackers crushed
  • 3 tbsp melted butter

Instructions

To make casserole

  • Cook and cube or shred the chicken. Drain the beans. Cook the rice according to the package directions in a pot big enough to mix the casserole (no sense in dirtying up more dishes).
    1 cup fresh shredded chicken, 1 can cut green beans, 1 box long grain and wild rice mix
  • Once the rice is cooked, stir in all other ingredients (except Ritz and butter) until well combined. Spoon into a pie plate or casserole dish.
    1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  • Cover the top of the casserole with crushed Ritz crackers. Pour melted butter evenly over the Ritz.
  • Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly. Serve warm.

Nutrition

Calories: 468kcal
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75 Comments

  1. Christy, thank you so much for this idea! I have MS and there are days I just don’t feel like getting things together for a meal. I plan on days when I have the energy to put together some bag meals so it would be easy for hubby to make a meal for us. (with MS you never know what you are going to feel like later in the day) I will have to use cream of celery soup because hubby doesn’t like cream of mushroom.

    Thanks again,
    Sandi

  2. Christy,
    I love all of your recipes and have saved most of them. However, I’m unable to print just your recipe if I want to use it immediately. I end up having to print everything from the beginning of your talking about the recipe to the very end in order to get just the recipe itself. I hate using so much printer ink and paper. Can you tell me what I might be doing wrong or is that the only way I can obtain your recipes? Can you make the print part on your end more user friendly?
    Thank you so much for your assistance and your very interesting blog!
    Joan Evans

    1. Hey Joan! There is a print recipe button on each recipe, if you look at the bottom of the post where the actual recipe is, it looks like it is kind of on a recipe card format. At the top right of that is a button that says “print recipe”. When you click that, it opens up just the recipe in a new page so that is all that is printed, instead of all of the dialogue and step by step. I hope this helps you and I sure do appreciate you being here!
      Gratefully,
      CJ

      1. Actually, I have been hitting this button and I get nothing but a blank page (no recipe). I’m sorry I forgot to mention that in my last post to you. So, I have hit the right side of my “mouse” to bring up another print cycle within our computer and then I have to print everything in order to get your recipe. I’m not sure why the recipe is not coming up and all I’m getting is a blank page when I hit the “print” button on the recipe.

        1. I’m getting the same thing. I found a way around it. Select and Copy just the recipe and then right click to print.

  3. Love it … Love it … Love it I have shared this idea with everyone that has children going back to school, practice football, cheer leading etc..such a GREAT idea I wish I had you 25 years ago when my children was growing up. We crock potted almost every nite! Haha that ages me!

  4. I am so excited to make these for myself, and I think I may make some for my niece for a Christmas gift for her and her young family. Two weeks of meals would have been such an amazing gift when my family was young.

  5. I thought I was the only one with the aversion to water chestnuts. They always made me think that’s what it must be like to eat a bug. Yuck! I get home later from work that I used to (my choice so I can sleep a little later each morning). My husband is kitchen challenged, but if I had this ready up to the baking part, he could stick it into the oven. I’ll give it a try.

  6. Yum, that looks good! We love your slow cooker chicken and rice made with Uncle Ben’s, so I bet this one is great, too. I’d be careful, however, with putting nuts into your bag meals. If they aren’t stored properly or used quickly, nuts can go rancid. I store all my nuts in the freezer. No need to thaw them to add to recipes.

  7. Finally I find someone else who gets the heebee geebees from biting into a water chestnut! Those things are definitely a matter of taste.

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