Forgotten Chicken (Chicken and Rice Casserole)
A One Pan Meal with a 60s comfort food vibe, Forgotten Chicken is a Chicken and Rice Casserole that can be made natural with brown and wild rice!
My kids always love it when I make one of Grandma’s recipes. And I have to admit that many of the old classics rank higher on the comfort food scale than say, Tuscan Kale Salad (though we love that dearly).
So today I’m passing along a re-creation of my mother’s Forgotten Chicken–one that uses more natural ingredients. Happily I had a leg up, since my mother got on the healthy eating bandwagon early and used Uncle Ben’s rather than the more common minute rice.
Now in the spirit of true confession, I did keep the Cream of Mushroom soup from the original. I don’t think that this is particularly unnatural per the ingredient list. And it’s cheap and easy to work with as well as keep in the pantry. But if you’d like to sub that too, you can find plenty of online advice.
Here’s to fall comfort food. And to Grandma!
Why You’ll Love This!
Flavorful. Rich and creamy, with Italian seasonings and French onion flavor, this is comfort food at it’s finest.
Easy. Measure in a handful of ingredients then bake for 1 ½ hours. How easy is that!
Fun. Who doesn’t love stepping back in time to enjoy a classic casserole!
Step by Step Overview
Preheat oven to 350 F. Pour the brown and wild rice into a covered low casserole, braiser or 9 x 13 pan.
Put 1 chicken (cut up) on top of rice.
Spoon 1 can cream of mushroom soup over chicken. Put seasonings over all, then add chicken broth.
Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours. If the rice is dry when baking time is up, add about 1/4-1/2 cup water, reseal and bake for an extra 10 minutes. Serve hot.
Variations
Now I admit that I don’t do a lot of casseroles on my blog. Perhaps it’s because many of them are a challenge to make healthier. Or maybe I just ate one too many growing up.
But for for some tasty (and usually still healthy) options, take a look at my classic Chow Mein, Hamburger Rice Hotdish (Casserole). Or consider a Thanksgiving green bean casserole alternative in my Cheesy Green Bean Casserole with Cherry Tomatoes. And finally there’s my healthy potluck favorite Cheesy Rice & Lentils Casserole that went with me to CSA parties for years!
Tips & FAQs
You can use all dark meat (legs and thighs) or all chicken breasts if you prefer. This is a really good recipe for using up your dark meat if you need breasts for another recipe. I think next time I’ll save the wings for a future batch of Baked Marinated Chicken Wings.
This recipe is sometimes also called “No Peek Chicken!” and the idea is not to lift the lid and let out the steam. In truth I do like to check at least once because rarely, especially if the pan seal isn’t tight, you may need to add a little extra water.
If you do get to the end and find it’s dry, just add a little water (around 1/4-1/2 cup), reseal and bake for another 10 minutes.
Many people bake this in a 9 x 13 pan that they seal with aluminum foil. I use a lidded braiser and happily the Le Creuset rep taught me how to select the pan with the best fitting lid! And back in the day my mom used a Corelle dish with a heavy glass lid.
Enjoy!
Cooking with Rice
- Apple Pecan Brown Rice Salad from Audrey Humaciu
- Dirty Rice Recipe from Jen Around the World
- Ellodharai/lack Sesame Seed Rice from Magical Ingredients
- Forgotten Chicken from Art of Natural Living
- Instant Pot Wild Rice Pilaf from Creative Cynchronicity
- Quick One Pot Red Beans and Rice from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
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Forgotten Chicken (Chicken and Rice Casserole)
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown rice uncooked
- 1/2 cup wild rice or additional brown rice uncooked
- 1 whole chicken cut up
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 package Lipton Onion Mix (or 2 T dried minced onion,1 Tablespoon dried parsley, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon celery salt, ½ t black pepper)
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth (or 2 1/2 cups hot water mixed with 1 Tablespoon chicken stock base like Better Than Bouillon)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Pour the brown and wild rice into a covered low casserole, braiser or 9 x 13 pan.
- Put 1 chicken (cut up) on top of rice.
- Spoon 1 can cream of mushroom soup over chicken.
- Put Italian seasoning and Lipton Onion Soup (or substitute seasonings) over all, then add chicken broth. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.
- If the rice is dry when baking time is up, add about 1/4-1/2 cup water, reseal and bake for an extra 10 minutes.