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Your family will love this easy Chicken Casserole recipe. It's the epitome of comfort food, made with minute rice, chicken, celery, a creamy sauce to hold it together, plus buttered cornflakes crushed on top.
Looking for more kid-friendly recipes? Try Calzones, Cottage Cheese Pancakes, Spaghetti Pie, Meatloaf, or Crispy Bean and Cheese Burritos!
My husband's favorite meal from his childhood was this Chicken and rice casserole recipe. My Mother-in-law is well know for her recipe, and my kids love it just as much as my husband. You can make it ahead of time, so it's great for a quick weeknight, or bringing dinner to someone in need.
How to Make Chicken Casserole:
Combine Ingredients: Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl except for the cornflakes and butter then pour mixture into a greased casserole dish.
Make Topping: Mix crushed cornflakes and melted butter together then sprinkle over casserole mixture.
Bake the chicken casserole with rice at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes then serve with Burrata Salad and Artisan No Knead Bread!
Make Ahead Instructions:
Make the chicken/rice mixture, spread it in the pan, cover and refrigerate. When you're ready to bake this traditional Chicken Casserole, sprinkle the buttered cornflakes on top and bake as directed.
More Budget Friendly Meals:
- Lettuce Wraps
- Tuna Noodle Casserole
- Jerk Chicken Bowls
- Chicken Tetrazzini
- Pink Sauce Pasta
- Mini Meatloaf
- Tamale Pie
- Chicken Tinga
- Orzo Salad
- Chicken Street Tacos
Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked chicken, , diced
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup celery, , diced
- 1 cup minute rice, , uncooked*
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 large eggs, , hard boiled, sliced
- 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup, (or homemade)
- 1 Tablespoon onion, , grated
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup corn flakes cereal, , crushed
- 1 Tablespoon butter, , melted
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl except for the cornflakes and butter. Pour mixture into a greased casserole dish.
- Mix crushed cornflakes and melted butter together. Sprinkle over casserole mixture.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe November 2014. Updated February 2018 and September 2023.
Help! I didn’t measure out my chicken, I just chopped 3 LARGE breasts and as I’m stirring everything together it seems very dry. I’m thinking I should probably add another can of cream of chicken soup. Or sour cream? Something. Don’t want it to be too dry.
Hi Kelley, You probably added 3 or 4 cups of chopped chicken (instead of 2 cups like the recipe says). The easiest thing to do would be to double the rest of the ingredients (just make a double batch). Bake half of the mixture as normal in a 9×13” –the rest of the mixture you could put in a ziplock bag or freezable baking dish and freeze for later use. Or you could bake two 9×13 pans and have leftovers or share with friends 🙂
Could you leave out the almonds? This recipe sounds so delicious!
You could definitely leave out the almonds 🙂
Hello what ut be ok to use spaghetti noodles? Thx sounds yummy
Hi Monica, I’ve never tried it with pasta but I imagine it would be delicious!
Hi Lauren! I had a question about the onion ingredient. The recipe called for shredded onion but in the second picture it looks like the onions are chopped. Any clarification you could provide would be great! Thanks so much – can’t wait to make this. 🙂
Hi Laura, It doesn’t really matter either way….in my Mother-in-law’s recipe it calls for shredded, but sometimes I just chop a little bit quickly. I haven’t noticed a difference in taste. Hope that helps 🙂
This looks delicious! Talk about bringing back memories of when I was a kid. I love the cornflakes on the top. People used corn flake crumbs quite a bit ‘way back when’ and it’s great you’re ‘turning people on to’ the wonders of not only good, homemade casseroles but also how simple ingredients often make the best meals !! (I’m going to start following you so I don’t miss anymore recipes!!)
Thanks Cecile! It’s true, the olden-day recipes are the classics!! Thanks for following 🙂
How many servings is this and what is the calorie count please?
I just made it and calculated about six servings at 462 calories each.
What do you think I could use instead of the canned soup? I have trouble with any canned soups. Sure sounds like a great dish!
Hi Shirley, you could make the canned soup from scratch, and then add it! (I don’t have a recipe on my site yet, but if you google homemade cream of chicken soup you will find an easy recipe!)
Equal parts chicken broth and heavy cream makes a great sub for cream of chicken soup.
Could one substitute cooked quiona for the rice?
I think that would work out great!
This is so good and so easy! I made a few changes to it. Only because I was making it for dinner. I left out the hard boiled eggs and substituted two 4.4 oz. jars of sliced mushrooms instead. I also added an extra can of cream of chicken soup with herbs, and used a 1/2 cup of slivered almonds instead of a 1/4 cup. I still plan to make the original recipe. I think it would be awesome for breakfast.
I’m glad you liked it! Your substitutions sound great!
Do you think this would freeze well? I haven’t made a casserole with rice to freeze before? Any thoughts, suggestions?
Thank you.
Hi Sarah, I haven’t tried it but I think it could work beautifully if you use already cooked rice! (I should note that mayo typically doesn’t freeze well, but I think it could work with the way it’s combined with all of the ingredients here.) You could try this: make it according to the directions but stop before you add the cornflakes. Cover it and freeze up to 1 month. Remove from freezer, and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Bake casserole, covered with aluminum foil, at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 55 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Add the cornflakes about halfway through the baking it uncovered. Good luck–let me know how it turns out!
Thank you for the tips. It froze well and the husband loves it!
Wonderful! Thanks for letting me know!
Hi Sara P. Method and time for thawing you used?
Definitely cook the rice or choose an alternative. My rice was maybe half done at the most. Next day I used my sprayer to spray water in the bottom of the dish to avoid wetting the top, covered with foil & probably took 30-40 minutes & rice was done. To me, there’s not a taste to it that just really makes you want more, so maybe someone has a suggestion to make it a bit more tasteful.
Garlic and mushrooms. Maybe a tablespoon or (2 or 3) of sherry.
Did you use minute rice…I was going to make this tonight! Maybe I should cook the rice first!
I usually always cook the rice first (I never really have minute-rice on hand–but this is my mother-in-law’s recipe and thats the rice she always uses.)