Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

I've been playing with this recipe for a few weeks now and truly, I haven't been more excited about a dish in AGES!

I love comfort food it's one of my top favorite cuisines in the entire world! This recipe has been a long time coming; there was a night a few weeks ago where I was scribbling down the outline for this recipe at 1am because it hit me like a ton of bricks. I've been in desperate need of a casserole lately, they remind me of home and my mom's cooking. But I don't have all the time in the world or all the funds on hand to craft the perfect casserole. I'm simple, I just needed a one dish meal I could whip up in less than two hours- start to finish. I always have a few things on hand; chicken, cheese, and rice! So those 3 ingredients wound up as the basis for this recipe.

If you're like me and don't feel like spending a pretty penny of a plethora of ingredients, I've got you. The secret to this recipe is all in the seasoning, and truth be told, the choice of cheese! I've tried it with both chicken and ground beef, both versions came out fantastic but I definitely prefer the chicken out of the two. The recipe is bound to turn out for you if you're sure to season according to directions and you use the correct cheese! Surely it'll come out of the oven tasting like momma's home cooking!

---

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

Time | 2 hours

Difficulty | Moderate

Servings | 4-5

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts

• 1/2 tsp of salt

• 1/4 tsp of pepper

• 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

• 1 cup of long grain wild rice

• 1 tbsp of onion salt

• 2/3 cups of diced red onion

• 1 1/2 cups of shredded butternut squash

• 1/2 a cup of pecorino romano cheese

• 1 (15 oz) can of whole kernel fire roasted corn

• 1 1/2 cups of salted chicken broth

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Line a casserole* dish with aluminum foil and place the chicken breasts in the bottom. Pour 1/2 a cup of the broth over the top of the chicken. Season the chicken with the salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast.

3. Cover the casserole dish with another piece of foil and evenly poke around 6-8 ventilation holes throughout the top.

4. When the oven comes to temperature, place the chicken in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. After that, remove the foil from the chicken and bake for another 15 minutes until the chicken in tender and golden brown on the top.

5. Remove from the oven, carefully take the foil out of the bottom, and use two forks to finely shred the chicken breasts. Set aside the shredded chicken in a bowl and rinse out the casserole dish while the rice cooks.

6. In a medium saucepan, cook the rice according to directions with the onion salt. TIP! For one cup of rice, I usually use two cups of water.

7. While the rice cooks, dice up the red onion, shred the butternut squash and cheese**, then open and drain the can of corn. Add all these ingredients in the bowl with the chicken breast.

8. Once the rice is finished cooking and allowed ten minutes to cool, it and the chicken broth can be added to the bowl. Give all the ingredients a good mix before spraying the casserole dish with nonstick spray and pouring all ingredients inside. Cover with more foil and then reheat the oven to 425°.

9. Once the oven come back to temperature, place the casserole in the oven and cook for 45 minutes. Check it, stir the contents, and then remove the foil and allow it to cook for another 20-30 minutes or until all the broth has evaporated.

10. Once it is done, remove the casserole from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before serving! Store leftovers in the refrigerator or in an airtight container.

* | For this recipe, I used a four quart, oval casserole dish.

** | I've tried this recipe with two different cheeses, Pecorino Romano and sharp white cheddar. Out of the two, I much preferred the Pecorino Romano due to it's sharper, saltier taste. But if cheddar is more your style, I recommend using Tillamook's Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese and adding a little more salt to taste!