Homemade Chicken and Rice Casserole (Copycat Campbells Chicken Casserole)

I decided that I was going to try to make homemade Chicken and Rice Casserole just like the Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup one that my husband loves.  In case you like it and want to make it from scratch or even if you haven't, it is way easy and this tastes the same or better then the original with a can of soup.

First, I started by getting out the ingredients to make the Cream Soup base.  If you have time to do this early, you can make it early and refrigerate before or you can make it hot and put it straight into the casserole.  I found it was super easy to cook up in the morning and I actually stuck the whole pan in the fridge to cool.

First step is to put in milk and cornstarch.  I used a whisk to mix everything together but since I use a nonstick pan, I do it with a plastic whisk which actually works great.

Next is to add the seasonings needed to make the soup and the seasonings I like to add to the casserole.  It was super flavorful and the main difference from the canned soup as well as there aren't weird chunks of meat in it which I don't like in cream of chicken soup.

 I added the butter and you can see that it is thickening and sticking to the whisk.

After the butter is melted, it is wonderfully coating the whisk and it was wonderful.  At this point you have a condensed cream of chicken soup.

The important step that makes it easier then the canned soup and adds the chicken flavor which way better then the canned soup, is to add chicken broth.  It needs 1 1/3 cup chicken broth which I did over heat and mixed it together. 

 It ends up the consistency of soup because it basically is ready to eat.

In the 7x11 pan, I add 3/4 cup of rice.  The first time I made it, I added the seasoning to this instead of soup but the second time I added everything to the soup.  This can also be measured beforehand so that it is ready to go at dinner time.

When it is time for dinner,  you add the pot of soup to your rice.  I stir back and forth to combine.  My husband swears that I do something differently here because he could never get this to work without me but I swear I move a fork around until it seems thicker.

The next step is to bread the chickens which is great to do with just wet chicken into the breadcrumbs to make it easier.  During this process, I press the chicken tenders very thinly.  I can normally only fit 5 pieces of chicken across the top so if you need more you can bread and bake on another pan.

Each on is lightly placed on top of of the rice mixture and I get them to float (my husband only gets them to sink). 

I go across the whole pan and try to fit my 5 chicken pieces across.

There are a few different ways that you can do the next step but I used to spray with cooking spray but I don't use that any more. I frequently just drizzle a little canola or vegetable oil on the chicken to help crispy up the breadcrumbs.  This time I mixed a little melted butter into the remaining breadcrumbs.

It made it nice and chunky to add a little more bread crumbs because the chicken didn't seem to hold the crumb as much.  I wanted a little more crunchy topping.

I sprinkled it on the top of the chicken.

It is funny how different the coloring of the two breadcrumbs showed up but it wasn't super thick just a sprinkling.

I baked it until the top browns and the rice comes together.

It is super easy to see in my pans because it sort of goes up the sides and gets less liquidy on the sides.

 You can see here how the soup sticks to the chicken and to the edge of the pan.

We scoop it all out together on to our plates and enjoy the tasty dinner.  There is an option to put a veggie in the pan like peas or broccoli but we like our veggies separate so we don't put any into the casserole.

Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 cup cold milk
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ⅛ freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 1/3 cup chicken broth 
• 3/4 c rice
• 5 chicken tenders
• Breadcrumbs

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan whisk together milk and cornstarch. Add butter, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and parsley.  Add more seasonings to taste.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Once boiling, simmer for 30 more seconds to thicken.
3. Add chicken broth and stir until combined. Set aside to cool or use right away.
4. Preheat over to 375 degrees
5. Mix soup with rice in a 7x11 casserole dish until combined with a fork.
6. Bread wet chicken tenders and flatten.  Place chicken on top of the rice mixture in the casserole dish.
7. Use cooking spray, canola or vegetable oil, or melted butter to coat each chicken tender.
8. Bake for 45 minutes or until brown and serve.

 
Super tasty and easy meal to make with things that we always have around the house.  Super flexible to change to what ever seasoning you prefer.  The original soup recipe can be found here and the Campbells Chicken and Rice Casserole original recipe can be found here.  You can see from these recipes that I have changed these recipes and added my own take on it over the years and the recipe just keeps changing.  I hope that you try this recipe and enjoy it as much as we do and feel free to change it up to fit your families needs.