Baked Chicken and Rice

Baked Chicken and Rice

When I was growing up, most of the time Mom fixed meals using foods we grew in the garden and meat we had raised. Most meals were meat and potato meals. Usually four items on our plates at dinner: Meat, potatoes, vegetable, and some sort of salad. Most always a dessert accompanied that, often though it was a bowl of home-canned fruit. Once in a great while, Mom would make a casserole or dinner using ingredients we had to buy such as cheese, pasta, or rice. It was such a treat to have a meal out of the norm.

One of the dishes Mom would occasionally make for Sunday dinner was Chicken and Rice. So easy to put together and throw in the oven to cook while you do other things. This dish is such a comfort food for me! Creamy, warm, delicious! I’m not sure where she got the recipe, but the original name was Busy Day Chicken.

I buy whole chickens and cut them up into 10 pieces for this, or sometimes I buy chicken leg quarters and cut those apart. It depends on which is the best price per pound. I’ve tried using boneless/skinless breasts and I don’t like it nearly as well. The fat from the skin really flavors the rice. However, if you’re really watching fats, the boneless/skinless breasts will work. This time I used a pack of thighs I found in the reduced bin. Perfect!

You’ll Need:

1 fryer cut up or 6-8 other pieces of chicken
1 10.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup (condensed)
1 1/2 soup cans of water
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix OR 2 T. bulk onion soup and dip mix
1 C. long-grain rice

How to:

Scatter the uncooked rice in the bottom of a greased 9×13 pan. Sprinkle with a few shakes of salt. Set chicken pieces on top of rice. Mix mushroom soup, onion soup, and water together. Pour over chicken. Cover with foil and bake at 325 for 2 hours. Uncover the last 25 minutes to allow browning.

Notes: This recipe freezes well after it’s cooked so if you’re cooking for a smaller group it’s easy to portion off and free in individual servings OR do the recipe in 2 8×8 pans. I’ve also used a deeper dish and doubled the rice and soup mixture.