Chicken wild rice casserole
Nutty wild rice, tender chicken and browned mushrooms baked in a creamy sauce under a parmesan crust, a cozy Minnesota-style bake.
- 95 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $2.43 a serving
- 450 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1½ cups wild rice blend
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes
- 1¼ lb chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 tbsp butter, divided
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ cup grated parmesan
From your pantry
- 3 cups water
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme
Each serving has about 450 calories, 30 g protein, 45 g carbs and 16 g fat, and costs about $2.43 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No baby bella mushrooms? White mushrooms work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No sour cream? Plain Greek yogurt works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Bring the wild rice, water and bouillon cubes in a medium over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and as the package says, about 45 minutes, until tender. any extra water.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Low heatTimer: 45 min
Dolly’s tip: Wild rice stays a little chewy even when it’s done. That’s how it’s meant to be.the oven to 350°F. the chicken with the salt and pepper and wash your hands and board.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
1 tablespoon of butter in a large over medium-high and cook the chicken 5 to 6 minutes, until the biggest piece reads 165°F. Move it to a large bowl.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Add the rest of the butter, the mushrooms, onion, celery and thyme and cook 7 minutes over medium heat, until and .
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
the vegetables, rice, soup and sour cream into the chicken and spread it all in a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Sprinkle the parmesan over the top and 25 minutes, until bubbling at the edges.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Timer: 25 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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