Delicious, creamy, cheesy rice casserole made with lots of mushrooms and chicken. This casserole will make a perfect family dinner that everyone will love.
Mushroom Chicken and Rice Casserole
Sound out if you have some picky eaters at home!
I’m not just talking about kids, we all know that kids tends to be super picky when it comes to food, I’m talking about our older family members. For me, my husband has been a culinary challenge for the past 15 years. He’s come a long, long way from the super picky guy I’ve met, but he is still not even close to be an adventurous foodie.
It’s very unlikely that he will ever be an adventurous foodie like I am, but I am still very proud of how far along he’s come. When I first met my husband, he ate so few things and I could count them on my two hands. I distinctly remember him refusing to eat simple ingredients like tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, along with most other veggies.
The first time I made my Chicken Stroganoff for him, his first instincts was to pick out the mushrooms and not touch them. But, since we just started dating, he didn’t want to hurt my feelings so he tried them. That was the first dish that started opening his eyes to more food and ingredients he thought he hated. He polished off every single bite and definitely started trusting me with food.
Through the years, I’ve “cured” most of his food fears, except for seafood. I just can’t get him to even taste anything that is seafood related or has been around seafood.
Years ago, my husband would not touch this mushroom chicken and rice casserole because it’s loaded with mushrooms. But now, he devoured every single bit of it and even all the mushrooms I had extra on top. If fact, everyone loved this simple, creamy rice casserole. This simple, comforting dish will definitely satisfy even picky eaters. (It may even change the mind of a few picky people as well.)
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Creamy Chicken Mushroom Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked rice
- 1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil for cooking
- 5-6 chicken tenders
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms
- Salt
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 Tbsp corn starch
- 2 cups shredded Italian cheese mix
Instructions
- Slice mushrooms and set them aside until ready to cook.
- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9x9 casserole dish.
- Preheat a cooking pan over medium heat. Add some oil and let it heat up.
- Cook chicken tenders, seasoned with some garlic powder, salt, and pepper, until just done. Take out the tenders and set aside.
- Add mushrooms to the pan where you cooked the chicken. Season with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder and mix well. Saute mushrooms until just done as well. Take the mushrooms out of the pan.
- Dice cooked chicken tenders and add it to a mixing bowl. Add cooked rice and mushrooms to the bowl as well. Add 1 cup of shredded Italian cheese mix and mix well.
- In the same pan where you cooked chicken and mushrooms, heat up chicken stock and heavy whipping cream.
- Combine corn starch with a splash of chicken stock and stir until combined. Quickly stir the corn starch mixture into the stock/heavy cream mixture.
- Stir in salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to simmer and take off heat.
- Combine the sauce with the rice mixture in the bowl. Stir well and transfer into the prepared casserole dish.
- Spread the casserole mixture evenly and top off with remaining cheese.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes.
Recipe Notes
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have a slight variation.
Barbara
Thank you for making a dish that does not require canned soup. Thank you for the work that is put into your blog. I am in my seventies and wish they had had these ideas way back.
Lyuba
Thank you so much, Barbara! I love what I do and I’m grateful for all my fans!
Naomi
This looks really good, do you know if it freezes well?
lyuba
Hi Naomi!
Sorry for the late response. If you want to try and freeze it, make sure to prepare it in the freezer friendly casserole pan, like aluminum one. I am not very familiar with freezing because I don’t freeze a lot of meals. I’m sorry I’m not much help with freezing!
Holly
What is Italian cheese mix. Is it a dry powder. Can i use a sub if i cant find it.
lyuba
Hi Holly!
SO sorry for the late response! The cheese mix is actually shredded cheese mix. You can ding it in the refrigerated cheese section with all the shredded cheeses. It’s usually a mix of Parmesan, Asiago, Mozzarella and others. You can use just shredded Mozzarella and add some Parmesan. It’s just a little extra flavor with Italian cheese mix.
I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Lauren
I made this tonight. I’m not sure if I got the cheese right- 6 cheese Italian mix. But anyhow I added onions to the mushrooms and omitted the corn starch because I didn’t have any. My thyme came out way too fast so I had to scoop it out as much as I could but it wasn’t that bad taste wise. Broiled it for a few minutes after it was done cooking to get the cheesy bubbly and crispy. Served with a salad and side of veggies. Overall it was good and my Dad and brother loved it!
lyuba
I’m glad everyone liked it, Lauren! It sounds tasty with the addition of onions 🙂
Jessica
Used egg noodles instead of rice bc that’s what I had on hand. Big hit!!! Thanks for getting my picky eaters to eat!😄
Wendy L.
This recipe is some good! We absolutely luv’d it. Thanks so much, Lyuba.
lyuba
Awe, thank you so much, Wendy!
I’m so gran you guys like it 🙂
Brenda
Definitely a keeper! Thank you 🙂
Lyuba
Thank you, Brenda!
Katie
Do you think I can make this up until bake the night before?
lyuba
Hi Katie!
I think you will be just fine doing that. I would just add cheese right before baking. Once you are ready to bake, give it a good stir, add cheese, and bake.
I hope you enjoy it!
Ruth
Hi Lyuba,
I made this for dinner and we loved it! thank you!
lyuba
I am SO happy to hear this, Ruth 🙂
Rebecca Rutledge Rawlings
Could you use wild rice with this?
lyuba
Hi Rebecca! Of course you can, it will just take a little longer to cook first since wild rice cooks slower. I hope you like it!
Delores Hassan
Hi, Before I make this recipe, I’m unsure of what kind of rice to use. When you say to use “3 cups of cooked rice” can I use Uncle Ben’s Minute Rice? Or should I use long grain rice?
Thanks.
Delores Hassan
Hi, Before I make the recipe Creamy Chicken Mushroom Rice Casserole, I’m not sure of what rice to use. Can I use Uncle Ben’s Minute Rice or should I use long grain rice?
Thanks.
LyubaB
Hi, Delores! Yes, you can use whatever rice you want just cook it first 🙂
Mary
Sounds great . If you don’t have tenders on here could you use cut up chicken breast?
LyubaB
Hi, Mary! Yes, you can use chicken breast! I hope you like it! 🙂