Cheddar, Chicken & Rice Casserole

I’ve been gone for ages!  I’ve been out of town for a week and playing catch up since I got back.  But for my inaugural post back, I decided to do my own take on a a Stauffer’s casserole I had recently.  It had a decent flavor, but not enough chicken and vegetables.  So in my version, I decided to swap out the white rice with brown, up the chicken, and more veggies so that it was actually a full meal.  The end results weren’t bad, but I think it still needs a bit of tweaking.  Something to give it a little more zing.  At 480.5 calories and 14.7 calories per serving (serves 6), it’s worth playing around with some more.

Ingredients:

• meat from a rotisserie chicken, diced
• 4 cups of brown rice
• 2 cans cheddar cheese soup
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced, garlic
• 4 oz. sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1 tsp parsley
• ground pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the chicken, rice, mushrooms, soup, stock, parsley, salt, and pepper.
2. Heat the olive oil over medium heat.
3. Saute the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic until tender crisp.
4. Add the peas and saute until warm.
5. Add to the chicken and rice mixture.
6. Stir until well combined.
7. Add to a 9×13 baking dish (be sure to spray with cooking spray first!).
8. Top with panko bread crumbs.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until top is slightly golden brown.

Printable version.