Y’all I grew up loving a chicken casserole, and this Lemon Chicken and Rice Casserole recipe is just like the ones my mama would pull together. She would juggle a busy work day then sear some chicken thighs and add to a creamy lemon flavored rice before baking it up. Prep is just 15-20 minutes flat. If you need a pantry-friendly, efficient recipe on deck, get into this one boos. It’s pure comfort.
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How to Make Chicken and Rice Casserole
Step 1: In a large shallow bowl, combine flour with parmesan, garlic powder, onion powder, and half of the lemon zest. Season generously with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly with a fork. Dredge each piece of chicken on all sides with flour mixture. Set aside. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until shimmering but not smoking. Add chicken skin side down, and sear until golden, 6 minutes. Flip and cook until the opposite side is golden, around 6 minutes more. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Step 2: Stir together the soup, stock, rice, garlic, and remaining lemon zest in your prepared baking dish. Place the chicken on the rice mixture and layer lemon slices over the top of each piece. Cover the baking dish.
Step 3: Bake for 40-60 minutes or until the chicken is done and the rice is tender (it could take a bit longer up to an hour for some for the rice but if it is still liquidy continue baking). To develop a deeper color, uncover the dish for the last 5-10 minutes of baking.
Step 4: Sprinkle on the sliced basil. Let stand for 10 minutes. Stir the rice and season to taste before serving.
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Lemon Chicken and Rice Casserole Recipe
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I’ll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest separated
- kosher salt and ground black pepper
- 4 bone in skin on chicken thighs we used 3 large ones here but 4 smaller ones are great as well.
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 10.2 oz cream of chicken soup
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 3/4 cup long grain white rice
- 2 cloves of garlic grated or minced
- 1 lemon sliced into rounds
- thinly sliced basil for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 11 x 8 baking dish (or one of similar size).
- In a large shallow bowl, combine flour with the parmesan, garlic powder, onion powder, and half of the lemon zest. Season generously with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly with a fork. Dredge each piece of chicken on all sides with flour mixture. Set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until shimmering but not smoking. Add chicken skin side down, and sear until golden, 6 minutes. Flip and cook until the opposite side is golden, around 6 minutes more. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Stir together the soup, stock, rice, garlic, and remaining lemon zest in your prepared baking dish. Place the chicken on the rice mixture and layer lemon slices over the top of each piece. Cover the baking dish.
- Bake for 40-60 minutes or until the chicken is done and the rice is tender (it could take a bit longer up to an hour for some for the rice but if it is still liquidy continue baking). To develop a deeper color, uncover the dish for the last 5-10 minutes of baking. Sprinkle on the sliced basil. Let stand for 10 minutes. Stir the rice and season to taste before serving.
Notes
Storage and Reheating
Any leftover lemon chicken and rice casserole bake should be slightly cooled, then stored in an airtight container and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. I like to portion out the remains into individual containers for easier reheating. To reheat, either transfer the desired portion onto a plate or leave it inside its microwaveable container. Cover with a damp paper towel to retain moisture. Heat on high in 1 minute increments until heated through.Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- SWAP CHICKEN THIGHS FOR BREASTS. If you’re local market it out of thighs, or you simply prefer chicken breasts, go ahead and make the switch! Continue to follow the recipe as written, just be sure to allot for a longer cooking time since breasts are larger.
- USE BROTH, STOCK, OR WATER. This recipe calls for the use of chicken broth to cook the rice. You can use any kind of broth or even chicken stock you’d like. In a pinch, or as a preference, water can be used! For a creamier rice, you can add up to ⅓ cup of extra liquid.
- ADD SPICE. I intended for this recipe to be quite simple; it’s ingredient list is short and the flavors are light and well-balanced. Kick things up a notch by adding a touch of spice to the dish. Paprika, cayenne, red pepper flakes, or a dash of your favorite seasoning should do the trick.
- TRY A DIFFERENT CANNED SOUP. No cream of chicken? Cream of mushroom will work just as well.
- ADD/SUBTRACT COOKING TIME. The cooking time for this recipe will vary based on oven temperature, the kind of rice used, and the meat. Start checking sooner rather than later and adjust the time as needed.
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I made this for my niece and her husband when they came to visit and they loved it. The rice was so lemony and delicious, I will keep this recipe for other occasions when I have visitors!
So happy to hear everyone enjoyed it!
I LOVED this recipe! So delicious. I’d love to make a larger serving so I can have more leftovers. If I used a 13×9 baking dish, for 6 servings, how would that change cooking time? Would oven temp stay the same?
Hi Christina, so glad you liked it! It should change the cooking time by much, maybe 5-10 minutes. Just check on it as time gets closer. The temp would stay the same.
The rice was EXTREMELY lemony and the chicken had very little flavor. The chicken never really browns due to baking with a cover. Not a big fan of this one.
Hi. Should the rice be cooked prior to adding to the baking dish? Or is the rice uncooked and placed in the baking dish?
It should not be cooked as it will cook in the oven during the long bake time and higher baking temperature.
This was sooo good! The fam loves it! (Also made your hummingbird cake today too…fabulous!!!)
Made this last night and my boys loved it, ate it all up and said how good it was will definitely be adding to our rotation! I love lemon so I added a couple tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and put some cajun spice on my chicken since we like it spicy, So so good. Thank you for this recipe.
I wonder if leftovers can be frozen. It may not taste as good but I don’t see any ingredient in this that shouldn’t be frozen.
I made this tonight and it was absolutely PHENOMENAL!!! Prep definitely took longer than 15 mins but all very easy. My husband was beside himself and kept looking at me like I had done some sort of sorcery lol. You must add this to your rotation.
Sneaked 5 chicken thighs into this recipe. It’s delicious!
Great directions.. never used water/kosher salt.. turned out perfect.. i did use butter AND olive oil… had thick breast, cut in half.. Super moist.. always cooked chicken lower… this needs to be done EXACTLY as recipe states.. great flavor.. will try different seasonings in future.. thanks a bunch..