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
Follow me for more great recipes
Recipe
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
Follow Me
I originally shared this recipe November 2014. Updated February 2018 and September 2023.
This post contains affiliate links.
Made this tonight with cooked rice and homemade cream of chicken soup. It was so tasty! Hubby and I loved it! Will definitely be making again. Thanks for the great recipe.
This was great! I added more seasoning: celery salt, garlic powder and mushroom seasoning. I didn’t have corn flakes so I crushed Club crackers for the top. It was nice to have a casserole without cheese. I also did 1/2 mayo, 1/2 sour cream. Love, love , love!
What is a substitute for mayonnaise?
I’ve found the best is plain greek yogurt, but I haven’t tried it in this recipe.
Made it today! My whole family loved it!
I am not a fan of instant rice, do you think I could cook some regular rice maybe not as long?
Thanks
No problem, see my note in the recipe card 🙂
Tried this for first time and was really good, even added shredded cheddar cheese to it!! Would add shredded green pepper next time!
Can this casserole be frozen?
I wouldn’t recommend it since it has mayonnaise it. Sorry!
I love this recipe and have been making for week nights and gatherings alike. I will double the recipe but omit the mayonnaise and soup for half of it and freeze. Then its quick to pull out add two ingredients plus the cornflake topping. This works great.
I made this today and after 25 minutes the rice and celery were still hard.
Hi Laura, are you sure you used minute rice and not regular rice? If everything was mixed together (using MINUTE rice) properly it all definitely would have cooked in that amount of time 🙂
You had to have used regular uncooked rice instead of cooked rice or Minute Rice. Also celery cooks to soft fairly easily. Are you sure you didnt cut your celery into too large pieces? I cut mine as small as I can.
If you do not have corn flakes available, you can use panko bread crumbs. I would not recommend using saltines as it would make the dish too salty. Otherwise, good, simple recipe. Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE this recipe! We call it Bridge casserole, it has no eggs and I crush Pepperidge Farm stuffing and melted butter on top of this casserole! It’s a great “comfort casserole” to take for new moms, and funeral gatherings!