Name: Chicken and Rice Casserole (with cream of chicken soup)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 1 tin of cream of chicken soup (Preferably Campbell's Condensed Cream of Chicken soup); 3 chicken breasts; 2 shallots, finely chopped; 1 garlic clove, finely sliced; Vegetable oil; Salt and Pepper to taste; Rice (about 75g pp - I use Basmati); 1/2 tsp cornflour; Chopped coriander

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Cream of chicken and rice casserole

This chicken and rice casserole, with cream of chicken soup, is a simple recipe that anyone can make, which tastes great and is almost impossible to get wrong. It is an easy recipe that only needs a few ingredients.

Origins of this recipe

This recipe is one of my late Grandma Molly’s special recipes. My granny used to live alone in Forest Hill in South London, and I would visit her by train whenever I was around.

My Gran was not really a great one for cooking, but she always made this simple recipe for me when I was visiting, as she knew I loved it. I believe her version did not even have any garlic or shallots in it, and I do not think she even pre-cooked the chicken, as I do. It was that simple!

Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

The key to the recipe is, of course, the Campbell’s soup. Remember the iconic paintings of Campbell’s soup cans by Andy Warhol? Yes, those ones!

Now, back in the good old days, Campbell’s used to be the best known and eaten brand of soup that I can remember. But now it does seem to be less easy to get hold of, and certainly, where we live, I, unfortunately, could not find any Campbell’s ‘condensed’ cream of chicken soup anywhere.

So here I used a can of Heinz cream of chicken soup for these pictures. You could of course also try cream of mushroom soup if you wanted some variation. The Heinz soup is not ‘condensed’ so the result is slightly different and less thick, so if you can get Campbell’s, please do use that. It is just better, and will give you a thicker and tastier sauce in your casserole!

cream of chicken and rice casserole — Chicken and rice casserole

However, if you end up using an alternative, as I did, and you wish to thicken up the sauce, just stir in half a teaspoon of cornflour when it comes out of the oven. That should do the trick!

I have used chicken breast in this recipe, but if you wish you can also use chicken thighs and cook the chicken on the bone if you prefer. It is up to you.

The secret to getting the nice fluffy rice in the photos is to rinse and soak your rice before you cook it. Check out some tips in my pilau rice recipe, just leave out all the added ingredients and add only a pinch of salt.

I hope you get to try this recipe. If you do, please let me know how you get on in the comments section below!

How to make chicken and rice casserole with cream of chicken soup

Chicken and Rice Casserole (with cream of chicken soup)

This easy chicken casserole with rice recipe is so easy to make and tastes fantastic.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

1 tin of cream of chicken soup (Preferably Campbell's Condensed Cream of Chicken soup)
3 chicken breasts
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
Vegetable oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Rice (about 75g pp - I use Basmati)

Optional

1/2 tsp cornflour
Chopped coriander

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
Clean the chicken breasts of any white parts, chop into bite-sized pieces and season with some salt. Finely chop the shallots and slice the garlic.
Then fry the shallots and garlic together in a skillet until starting to brown. When cooked remove to a casserole dish.
Then fry the chicken until browned on all sides. You may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your pan. When browned, remove to the casserole dish.
Then add the cream of chicken soup to the casserole dish with the rest of the ingredients, mix well, cover and place in the oven. I use a covered Stonewear Le Creuset casserole dish to cook this.
Cook in the oven for 40 minutes at 180C.
Then rinse the rice well under the cold water tap and soak in cold water until you are ready to cook it. I cook my Basmati rice in 2 x 5 minutes on full power in my microwave rice cooker.