The overwhelming response to my Bags To Dishes series continues, so I’m bringing you more recipes like Ma’s Chicken and Rice Bake! These shelf stable recipes can ensure you never have to wonder what’s for supper again – and will help prevent huge bills at fast food drive throughs, too.
Today’s meal has one of my family’s favorite ingredients :Yellow Saffron Rice. My husband and kids just love this stuff. It must be a Jordan thing because last year all of the Jordans (Georgia side and Alabama side) got together for a weekend in a big old cabin in the mountains and we all brought different things to cook. When I pulled out the package of yellow rice, my niece and nephew’s eyes got big as dollars and my niece said “OH you brought the GOOD stuff!”. So yeah, this is a regular ingredient in our food rotation.
Ma’s Rice and Veggie Bake is easy to throw together and a meal in one. You can easily customize it, though. Leave the chicken out, leave out the veggies, add more veggies or only the kind you like, and even make your own homemade cheese sauce if you don’t want to reach for the can (But don’t feel bad if you reach for the can because that is what I do!).
When you buy the ingredients, though, make sure you buy enough to make several of these bag meals. When combined with the other bag meal recipes I’ve brought you so far, we are getting close to a whole months worth of back up meals already!
Are y’all hungry? I sure am. Let’s get cooking!
In your bag, you’ll place: Can of chicken, Can of veggies (or dehydrated veggies*), can of cheese soup (or recipe for homemade cheese sauce), small can of evaporated milk, a large package of yellow saffron rice, and a copy of this recipe. Exact measurements are at the bottom of this post.
*I prefer dehydrated veggies because I like their flavor better than canned but I wanted to show at least a recipe or two with canned since I know a lot of y’all may not have a dehydrator. Another ideal is frozen, but this takes this from a completely shelf stable meal to a partially shelf stable meal, which is fine. If you decide to use frozen get a ten ounce bag or so and cook them in a bit of boiling water until heated through, then drain and proceed with recipe as written.
You can also have top this with cheese if you like, just before removing from the oven. You’ll need about a cup or so but that is optional, too.
To season this, you’ll need salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Actually, all of these are optional. Sometimes I add them, sometimes I don’t. Go with your mood on this one. Keep in mind that the Saffron rice is pretty well seasoned as is. If you decide to go rogue and use white rice, you’ll want to amp up the seasonings a good bit according to your taste.
Cook rice according to package directions in a pot large enough to add everything else (no sense in dirtying up a bowl). Once rice is cooked, drain veggies and chicken and toss those in along with evaporated milk, cheese soup, and seasonings.
Stir that up really good.
Place in an 8×8 casserole dish – or whatever you grab first that is oven proof.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Or until bubbly. Top with cheese, if desired, and cook 5 minutes more.
EAT!
Be sure you check out my original Bags to Dishes post to learn more about these meals and how you can adapt your family’s favorite recipes to be shelf stable. Also, take a gander at the other Bags to Dishes recipes I’ve shared!
Ingredients
- 10 ounce Package Yellow Saffron Rice the size that makes 5, 1 cup servings
- 10-12 ounce can of chicken whichever size you have
- 10 ounce can Cheddar Soup or homemade cheese sauce recipe
- 4 ounce can evaporated milk
- 14 ounce can mixed veggies
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup shredded cheddar for topping optional
Instructions
To assemble bag meal: Place rice package along cans of chicken, milk, soup, and veggies in a large 2 gallon zipper seal bag along with a copy of this recipe.
To make:
- Cook rice according to package directions. Drain chicken and veggies.
- Stir all ingredients into warm, cooked rice. Spoon into greased 8x8 casserole dish.
- Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Top with cheese, if desired, and bake another 5 minutes more. Serve warm.
This post was originally posted in 2014 but I updated the photos and post in 2020.
This post featured in Meal Plan Monday and Weekend Potluck!
“Pray the hardest when it is hardest to pray.”
~Unknown
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Yum 
This looks great and easy…could it be frozen before baking?
Absolutely, or you can just keep it all together in the bag in your pantry and not have to worry about freezer space. It’s very versatile either way you wanna go.=)
I made this chicken and rice tonight for my son and his daughters. I also roasted potatoes and onions in the oven and then served a pear salad with dinner. They LOVED it and said to put it on the list to make again. I asked for a rating on a scale from 1-10. All agreed it was an 11! I have never used yellow rice before but you can bet I will from now on. It has 10x’s the flavor than white. Thank you for offering this tasty meal! How simple yet wonderful.
Oh my goodness, I am so glad it received such high reviews!! Thank you so much for coming back to let me know Georgia!!
Ya – Hoo I received my Southern Plate T-Shirt today !!! Cute!!! Thanks.
So glad you got it Penny!!
I made this last week. It was great. I will be honest I was skeptical. I didn’t think my hubby would like it. Well, I was wrong. We have had it for leftovers twice now and it’s still good. I did double the recipe and put more veggies and 2 cans of chicken. I also added a can of cream of chicken.
Thanks Christy
These are wonderful. This is to be my life saver this Winter when the weather gets bad and I won’t drive in snow or ice. Of course some of them will be tried before then.
Thank you so much Mary Jo! You have a very good point there! Y’all can be all nice and toasty warm while everyone else fights the ice to get to the grocery store!
I LOVE this series you’re doing on Bags to Dishes!!! I’m printing the recipes off and my daughter and I will be filling a crate as a wedding shower gift for my daughter’s best friend. Rachel’s getting married in November. She just finished her Master’s Degree and started her first math teaching job this month. These will really help her get started in this new and exciting phase of life. And of course we’re doing these for us as well! yum!!! Keep em’ coming!
I love this idea for a gift! Thanks for posting.
Please tell us that you will be at Becoming next year – My daughter Holly and I were 1st timers there this year and she and I got the most out of your sessions. We enjoyed the rest but yours just fit us more so. Thanks for all you do and words of encouragement and perkiness it is contagious sometimes I can be down and read your post and it lifts my spirits.
Christy – you are the BEST!!! I thoroughly enjoy your posts and cookbooks, but this Bags to Dishes series is AWESOME or as my 16-year old daughter (who loves your recipes for Sweet ‘n Sassy Pickles and Pickled Onions) would say “awesome possum sauce!” 🙂
Living in a rural area and working in the “big city” means that going to the grocery store or for fast food (both are 18 miles away from our acreage) is no easy task. Among the many things I love about these Bags to Dishes recipes is that I don’t worry about having to use them up for fear of spoiling in a few days.
Keep these Bags to Dishes recipes coming!
Hi Christy,
Today I added a Bags to Dishes-Southern Plate Board on my Pinterest Boards. This way I can go to the board, make my shopping list and have all of the recipes. These are wonderful. Thank you. I have been so discouraged lately with getting so much take out. These will be so great to have on hand. I know that my family will enjoy these!
You are always encouraging me, in so many ways.
God bless you and your family!
Love, Pam
Your bags to dishes series is a fabulous idea. And your rice and veggie bake is amazing. I could go for a serving or three of that dish.
Please keep doing these!! We eat out FAR too often– expensive, greasy, diet busting food– because I’m too tired and it’s too late to cook for an hour. “Homemade” from a can STILL beats fast food! Thanks!
Yes, it definitely does Amy!! And much better on the budget as well!
If I am using dehydrated veggies, how much should I use? Love, love, love your recipes! The bags to dishes idea is wonderful!
I would use about 1/2-1 cup for an 8 X 8 dish, but it would really be up to you and your preferences.
Christy, this is another great recipe, that I can cook in ramekins to share with my widowed neighbors. Also I got to reading some of this recipes and I think if I made bag portions half the size I could take them and a small casserole dish with me to the hotel when I go to visit my daughter in college and we could cook it in the microwave so no eating out just sharing our time together and good food. thank you for all you do for us. I am positive there will be many jewels in your crown. You are such a blessing!
You are so sweet Marsha!! Blessings to you!
I have been saving these recipes, and am going to make up bags for my daughter. It’s dinnertime or later by the time she gets home from work, so this will help her fix dinner for my granddaughter, and they won’t have to eat late. This is a real time saver, Christy!!
Great idea Marsha!!
I am having a problem printing your recipes. When I hit the print button nothing happens.
Love the ‘Bags to Dishes’ series. I am adding the recipes to my ‘Boxed Dinner’. Same concept except I put my ingredients in plastic shoe boxes. They stack nicely in my OCD pantry. This Southern girl is really enjoying your blog. Are you sure you aren’t from Arkansas?
Betty
I am not sure what would cause that Betty, no one else seems to be having a problem but I will look into it to make sure it isn’t on my end.
LOL, I think you must be from Alabama, except the whole OCD pantry, mine always looks like a tornado passed through it.
Yes, Christy, I am also having the very same problem. I sent you an e-mail to that effect a short time ago.
My husband has looked into it and has found that nothing seems to be wrong on our computer or our printer. We are able to print out every other website for information, including other recipe websites, just not yours. Every time I try to print just your recipe, it comes up blank or I end up having to print everything having to use about 5-6 pages of paper plus ink. Could you please check on your end and see if a connection of some sort, which would enable people to print, is not working. Thank you so much because I really like your recipes.
Hey! I heard back from Ziplist today and they said to make sure folks aren’t using Internet explorer, as that isn’t compatible. Are you using Chrome, Firefox, or Safari?
Thank you, Christy, for checking into the problem. I guess it is on our end because, unfortunately we have Chrome, Firefox and Safari (how much worse could it get!).
However, my wonderful trouble-shooter husband (who by the way, also loves reading your recipes and definitely wants to try them!) figured out a way to copy them. Since BETTY LACY is also having a problem, this may help her:
I highlight just the recipe, put my cursor inside the recipe and hit the right button on my mouse. A menu comes up with a print function on it, I click that and I’m able to print your recipes now! Yea!
Thank you so much for your patience and willingness to help and answer all of my questions. I really love your recipes! These Bags to Dishes will really come in handy because my husband was recently diagnosed with cancer and we’re looking at 6-7 weeks of 4-hour treatments per day, 5 days a week, driving 1 hour there and back again. These will definitely come in handy.
I don’t think you realize how much you’ve helped so many different areas of various peoples lives, my dear! You are definitely an answer to prayer! I won’t be so stressed now, because I’m going to have to do all the driving each and every day, but knowing I can just throw a meal together in no time will relieve me from treading fixing dinner. Thank you so much, please keep these “Bags to Dishes” meals coming because I’m looking forward to each and everyone of them.
(Sorry this is so long. I’m very talkative too!)
Please do lots more of these bag to dishes recipes. They are wonderful! Thank you!!
I will be Marcy!!
I love this idea! I am making up bags for my son to take back to his first college apartment! Please share more bags to dishes recipes!!
Great idea Cynthia!!! There will be more, I just have to get them posted.
Just printed this one and can’t wait to make it. Your Mama’s coconut pie will be dessert.
Yummm, enjoy!!
I have to admit that when I read your first post about these bagged meals I was skeptical. Now that you’ve shown us several recipes I am totally onboard! I’ve always wanted to be the woman who has her freezer stocked with freezer meals but it’s never happened. This I can do! My husband loves that yellow rice too!
Welcome to the wagon Christy!!
Yum! I’m going to make this with frozen broccoli in place of the mixed vegetables.
I hope you enjoy it Sandy!!
We just got back from vacation and I wish I had a few of these ‘Bag to Dishes’ meals waiting for me to whip up! These would be great for that type of situation, too! I’m going to get in the swing of putting these together. What a great idea!! Thanks, Christy
Thanks Debbie!! I hope you had a great vacation!
Christy, I am really liking this idea of bag meals and the additional ideas I’ve gotten from your readers’ posts. Saffron rice is one of our favorites, too. I was wondering if you have ever tried this recipe in the crockpot and if so, how long did you cook it?
Thank you for these great awesome recipes!!! I’m making them for camping and to have that quick meal on hand for hungry children and parents. You are a blessing
Great idea Kate!!
I just made this recipe for dinner & added bread crumbs & topped with cheddar cheese & browned it. Will be serving the dish with a salad. I may add onions the next time. Thanks for the recipe, it’s delicious!
Kay
So glad you liked it Kay!!
I love your recipes and helpful hints! If I double this recipe, will it fit in a 9×13 baking dish?
I made this dish a couple of weeks ago, but couldn’t find the can of mixed vegetables I had (does that tell you the state of my pantry), so used a 12-oz package of frozen mixed vegetables that were thawed and drained. We all absolutely devoured this. Thanks, Christy (and your mom), for this great keeper recipe.
I am so glad you liked it!!
This was one of those nobody’s talking at the table meals, so I knew I’d found a winner! Thanks so much!
Oh goodness looking at this post I made a year ago makes it sound like I don’t encourage conversation at the table! I meant that everyone was busy eating bite after bite because it was so good.
I made this again recently and had to use broccoli cheese soup because my grocery store didn’t have cheddar cheese soup. Wanted to comment that it was just as good. Very tasty!
Thank you so much for these recipes. I plan on making some meals up with different types of noodles for variety (egg noodles, ziti, shells etc) since I have a family that’s not into rice dishes.
When my three year old tells me, Baba, I hungry my pride goes out the window. You have a bag of rice two months past the sell-by date? Thank you, I ll be grateful. When I was in another place in life, I looked for the freshest food on the shelf, but I still knew that sell-by dates are just marketing ploys to keep the merchandise turning as fast as possible. Too many people empty their cabinets if their canned ravioli is a day past the sell-by date, as if ptomaine had just entered the can overnight. That s how stores sell merchandise. That hole in the cabinet has to be filled with another can.
Amen. I use guidelines as a general informative thing to let me know about when an item was canned or packaged. I do not throw things away just because that date has passed. There have been studies on canned goods over 100 years old and while the nutritional value has declined, the food was still safe to consume. It is important to check the integrity of the can: make sure there are no dents or rust, but other than that, use your best judgement. Good point and I’m glad you brought it up!