One Pan Baked Chicken and Rice Casserole, served with brown rice, carrots and peas, is healthy, flavorful and involves almost no clean-up!
Healthy Chicken and Rice Casserole
One Pan Chicken Brown Rice Vegetable Casserole recipe will delight you with its ease and quick cleanup anytime you are tired of cooking! I spent a weekend retesting, reshooting and double checking every bit of this chicken and brown rice recipe!
Chicken thighs baked in brown rice with chicken stock, butter and carrots bake up into a fluffy chicken and rice bake. Right when you take it out of the oven you pour on some frozen peas and mix. The heat of the dish will warm them without making them mushy. Dinner is prepped in 10 minutes, an hour in the oven and you have a healthy easy meal people will fight over!
How to Make this Chicken and Rice Bake
To make this Chicken and Rice Casserole with brown rice and veggies, preheat oven to 375 degrees. The perfect size baking pan for this recipe is 13 inches by 9 inches. Scatter rice on the bottom of the pan. Layer chicken on top. Season the whole pan generously with salt and pepper. Remember this will be seasoning the whole dish, not just the chicken. Scatter the carrots between the chicken pieces. Scatter bits of the butter around the pan. (optional)
Pour the boiling hot stock on top gently. Wrap tightly with foil and cook for 60 minutes. 
Right when coming out of the oven, toss with frozen peas. Let sit for 3-4 minutes. Enjoy your Chicken and Rice Bake! 🙂 
Want dinner on the table in 30 minutes? If you swap the brown rice for white rice in this chicken and rice casserole, the meal will be done in 30. The meat won’t be quite as soft and tender, but it will still be delicious! 
CHICKEN AND RICE CASSEROLE RECIPE NOTES (UPDATED) 7/12/2016:
Some of you had left me comments that the timing wasn’t working in this Chicken Brown Rice Vegetable Casserole recipe so I tested it once and it worked well but I did notice an extra 5 minutes didn’t hurt so I am updating it with the new time. Here is a not so fancy screenshot on my iPhone (excuse the not Pinworthy photo) of my original remake the way we do it every week (no edits, 375 degrees, exactly 60 minutes) and it was definitely a tender rice bake, not soupy: 
Then I decided to test this baked chicken and rice recipe a couple of more times because with 3 of you saying the same thing I knew there was a disconnect between what I was seeing/tasting and what you all were experiencing and I knew it was more than a five-minute difference.
Adjusting the Chicken and Rice Bake Cooking time
Here is what I came up with…
- I use 3-4 ounce skinless thighs (this time in July 2016 I used 4-ounce bone-in skinless thighs). I realized this may have been the biggest issue that may have presented itself. When I went to the store and bought some more chicken I got some of the normal chicken thighs that were on sale, both bone-in and boneless. The boneless ones were almost 6 ounces each, bone in was closer to 7.
- The larger boneless thigh (6 ounces each) batch took 1:30 minutes to cook. The bone in (7-ounce thighs) batch took 1:45 (I think this may be where most of the discrepancy was)
- Second, I noticed that between my normal chicken and the larger thighs that they seemed slightly frozen in the middle. I don’t know if anyone else’s chicken was like this, but that may also add to the timing issues. If they are at all frozen it just means it will take even longer since the colder the chicken is it will just make the boiling stock get cold quickly which will also add to the cooking time.
- I know no one mentioned this but I think it’s worth mentioning if you peel back the foil to take a peek during cooking you are letting all the steam out which will make the cooking time go way up.
- This is totally not meant to insinuate anything but I would also just test the temp of your oven. I have a thermometer that lives in there so I know my oven is pretty spot on but you never know.
- Final note: The biggest difference in your cooking time will be the temperature of your chicken and the temperature of your water. If your chicken is fully defrosted and you use boiling hot water/stock and you wrap tightly with foil, you should have a fully cooked, non soupy meal in 65 minutes.
If you guys have any other notes, I am happy to answer in any way I can. I didn’t realize how much larger the chicken in the store would be! My apologies to those who had fails, I wish I could deliver you a tray of this Chicken and Rice Casserole cooked through, I made four trays of it in the last three days determined to get to the bottom of this… (Thank goodness this dish freezes well!).
Ingredients
- 6 4 ounce boneless skinless chicken thighs** (Please read the recipe notes: you can also use bone in, but don't leave skin on, it will get oily)
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice
- 3 cups chicken stock (boiling hot)
- 2 tablespoons butter (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 lbs sliced carrots
- 1 bag (12 oz.) frozen peas
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Scatter rice on the bottom of the pan.
- Layer chicken on top.
- Season the whole pan generously with salt and pepper.
- Remember this will be seasoning the whole dish, not just the chicken.
- Scatter the carrots between the chicken pieces.
- Scatter bits of the butter around the pan. (optional)
- Pour the boiling hot stock on top gently.
- Wrap tightly with foil.
- Cook for 65 minutes (If your chicken pieces are larger please refer to the notes for updated cooking times).
- Right when coming out of the oven, toss with frozen peas.
- Let sit for 3-4 minutes.
- Enjoy 🙂
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi Sabrina. While it’s almost two years later, I just found this recipe. It looks amazing and I read many of the comments but my question is, can this be adapted to a slow cooker?
You may have covered but I didn’t see this asked. Thank you!
It’s still on my to-do list to adapt this to a slow cooker recipe….I do love my slow cookers, haha! Stay tuned!
Any idea what the ballpark calorie count is on this dish?
I’m so sorry but I don’t have any nutritional facts for recipes on the site but I know there are a lot of free resources on the internet from when I’ve cooked for clients with low calorie diets.
I made this after church today. Although it tasted very good the brown rice did not cook all the way. I had the broth at a rolling boil and I cooked it at 375 for 65 minutes. I plan to make again with brown instant rice.
Hi! Can this be made with carrots zucchini and mushrooms? Or do you think the mushrooms and zucchini would get too soggy? Thank you!
It would be best to roast them at the end by themselves. Enjoy!
I read through all of the comments but didn’t see if anyone asked about using drumsticks instead of thighs. I just so happened to have them on hand. Thanks… Looks delicious!
Yes, it’ll work fine 🙂
I made this recipe and it was delicious! The rice was so moist. I usually do my rice in the rice cooker and it comes out kind of dry. I seasoned the chicken and everything in the pan with Himalayan salt, pepper, garlic powder, and lemon pepper seasoning. I cooked at 400 for about an hour and it came out perfect!!
Oops I have to add that I did do a little leas rice than recipe called for.
Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know how much you enjoyed it!
I don’t see this questions anywhere, might have missed it. You write 2 POUNDS of carrots. I got 1 lb in there and it looks like way more than your photo. I love carrots, but is something off?
It’s baking, will let you know how it comes out!
Yes, 2 pounds is correct. I hope you enjoyed it!
Delicious and so easy! Used skinless bone-in thighs and followed recipe for timing and it was right on time. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
I was wondering what to make for dinner tonight, then I remembered making this a couple of months ago and absolutely loving it. Not only is it super easy to make, but it’s healthy and cheap too! Oh, I used white rice and it came out perfectly 🙂
I’m so glad you remembered this recipe and enjoyed it again! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
This is perfect, Sabrina. I like how you have sprinkled pepper on the chicken that not only gives a great texture but a great smoky taste to it. I tried that but the tiny pepper stones just don’t stay there, don’t know why. Amy I doing something wrong? Because when the chicken mixes with the rice, it looks bland but tastes great nonetheless. Any idea? Thanks, dear.
I think because the broth is washing over the chicken, it’s not allowing the pepper to stay on. My suggestion would be to put the pepper on after putting it in the oven so the broth doesn’t move around or make sure to move the dish into the oven carefully as to not have the broth moving around. I hope this helps and I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipe.
This is the recipe that helped me discover your blog! I’ve screwed up a couple of times by not seasoning it properly (not salting and peppering the entire surface area), but have since discovered using other seasoning like Old Bay or garlic powder in addition to the salt and pepper. Do you have other one pan recipes like this? It is so awesome! thank you.
Maggie
PS I’m working my way through the sloppy joe recipes Philly cheese steak s.j. tonight. It was great!
I’m so glad you kept trying! It’s such a great meal, I’m glad you didn’t miss out. I do have other one pan/one pot recipes. There is a search bar at the top of the page and if you type in “one pan”, it’ll pull up all the recipes for you to look through. Happy searching!
This sounds awesome- do you think it could be made in the Crock-Pot with bone-in thighs?
Yes, that would totally work!
This looks delicious and I’m making it for my family tonight, Sabrina! I’ve been looking for a healthy chicken and rice casserole that doesn’t include the creamy soup mixes. I love the addition of the veggies too.
Can’t wait to revisit your blog!
Thanks Lori! Hope you enjoy it!
So I am trying to use up all my food that I have since we are pcsing. (Military family moving to a new state). So I have brown rice, spam, and a can of pea and carrots, and a cream of chicken. Would I be able to use this with this recipe? I know is kinda off, so I’m not sure if it would work lol please let me know what you think(:
First off, Thank you so much for you and your family serving our country! I love that you’re getting creative and smart not to want to waste anything also. I don’t see an issue with the substitutions you’re wanting to use with the exception of the cream of chicken. It’s so much thicker so I might suggest still using the broth instead.
Hi I made the casserole and it came out perfectly. Thank you for the modification bc I had bone-in thighs and cooked everything for 1:45 just like your updates recommended. My question is, do you have the nutritional value for the recipe? Thanks!
So glad you loved it! I’m sorry but I don’t have the nutritional facts for recipes on the site but I know there are a lot of free resources on the internet from when I’ve cooked for clients with low calorie diets.
This is the best blog of today, I learned a lot your content is mind blowing, Keep Blogging
That’s so sweet of you to say. Thanks!
I’m making this for a third time tonight this March. I’m wondering can I add mushrooms to it?
Sounds like a perfect addition! I would add them at the end with the peas or you could sautée them and add them into the dish when it’s done.
This is a wonderful recipe! I was having a little trouble with it being a bit soupy after the 65 mins, but a few more minutes did the trick! Very very tasty, even my picky two year old cleaned his plate, thank you for sharing your recipe!
Winning over a picky 2 yr old is definitely a win! Thank you for dropping back by and letting me know how much you enjoyed it!
Will it come out the same if I use a casserole slow cooker
That is a very good question, I haven’t tried it that way so I can’t answer that. But I would be thrilled if you tried it that way and let me know? My gut is saying it *should* work, but its a matter of the liquid having no way of escaping at all that worries me. In an oven you’ll still lose a bit through steam escaping the foil, in a slow cooker you really keep every last bit.
If I wanted to increase the rice to 2 full cups, should I just increase the chicken stock to 4 cups?
Yes, and just make sure the stock is boiling hot when adding. Enjoy!
I made this tonight and my family wants me to make it again! Here’s what I did different
I used 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, 3 chicken bullion cubes to 3 cups of hot water, brown rice. Thyme seasoning on chicken, And added as side dishes peas and corn. I didn’t do the butte or vegetables in it. My son wants me to use white rice instead next time.
It turned out perfect for me. I’ve made different variations of this in the past and it didn’t turn out right. So I’m very glad this one turned out!
I forgot to add I cooked it at 375 for exactly an hour. Perfect.
Fantastic! This dish is perfect to tweak to your taste buds and I’m so happy your whole family enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know!
I read somewhere for this same recipe if you put rice on top it’ll also work.I have 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs I want to use, would it work for this?
Yes, you can definitely make this with 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs. Depending on how big they are, you may have to increase your cook time. enjoy!
How many calories per serving please .
Sorry I don’t have the nutritional facts for recipes on the site but I know there are a lot of free resources on the internet from when I’ve cooked for clients with low calorie diets.
Delicious and so easy. My family loved it. I will definitely be making this again.
Yay! So glad to hear your family loved it! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know!
Your recipe is so simple. Today I had little time to cook in the afternoon so used my slow cooker. I didn’t have the peas but added celery and sweet potato instead. I didn’t have the Breast fillets and used chicken pieces instead. It smells amazing. Because of the extra veggies I had to add extra water later as it was very thick. I know my husband will like it. Plus it is healthy. I removed the chicken skin before cooking. Thank you. We are having it this evening for dinner.
Healthy is always a plus! So glad you were able to play around with the recipe and make it your own!
Made this tonight with 4 larger chicken thighs. Since the thighs were about 7 oz I baked them at 375 for an hour and a half. Everything came out perfect! It was delicious! This will now be a go to recipe of mine. It was unbelievably easy to make.
So happy to hear it! Thank you for coming back to let me know!
Can you use turkey wings or thighs with these!
I haven’t tried it before but I don’t see why not. It will alter the taste a bit just because it’s different. If you try, I’d love for you to come back and let me know how it worked out for you.
So if I use white rice and bone in chicken thighs, how long should I bake it then? Have you tested that?
You could do white rice and chicken thighs probably with no ill effects though it would cook for so much less time. 30-40 minutes for reference.
I just printed this recipe and got a 59-page document…way more ink than I need to spend on a recipe that I have not tried, yet. My printer rant out of paper twice just trying to print the recipe. I don’t need to print all the comments. I have never had this happen before when printing a recipe. Also there is no print preview. I would really recommend that you fix this. Thank you.
That’s so odd, did you use the print recipe button? I’m sorry all the comments printed and there will be a new recipe card soon so hopefully that won’t happen again.
Cooked for 70 minutes rice still uncooked and too much stock
Did you use boiling hot stock? If you’d like to troubleshoot you can email me at contact @ dinnerthendessert.com and I’d be happy to work through it with you, this is one of our staples in our house.
I’m a convert to chicken thighs because of you. Tonight I cooked a batch of breasts separately to use later in the week. The breasts, my former favorite, were dry and tough and the thighs were tender and delicious. Thighs win! I tried the chicken and brown rice with vegetable casserole for the first time and it was perfect. I used SMALL boneless skinless thighs, I didn’t weigh them but they were small. After 1 hour there was a small amount of liquid still in the bottom of the pan, but in 5 minutes it was all absorbed and the dish was perfect (for me)!
However, my husband just started a low salt diet, so I did not add extra salt and he said it was bland. Any suggestions for flavor without salt?
Garlic will do wonders for it, Rosemary too (although I personally am not a fan of rosemary it is quite popular with these flavors). Maybe a bit of thyme or oregano? Or flavors like cumin and coriander will bring a lot of flavor to the dish (and add a bit of a Mediterranean twist).
Can I make this dish with leas servings, and how? I’m only feeding my husband and I!
Sorry this comment took so long to get to, it ended up in my spam filter somehow! Half the ingredients in an 8×8 baking dish 🙂 Same cooking time.
If I wanted to use chicken breast and white rice vs thighs and brown rice how long would you cook it for? (30 min?)
Sorry this comment took so long to get to, it ended up in my spam filter somehow! Sorry I just found a huge number of comments over the last three months that was snared in the spam filter and I am trying to follow up with each one now even though in your case I am way too late to help. Yes about that long cooking would be right, 30-35 minutes.
You said this freezes easily. How long/what temp do you bake it once it thaws from being frozen? I haven’t made it yet but I have enough chicken to make two batches.
Well, it’ll be done cooking by that point, so you will only need to heat it long enough for it to be warm. You could even heat a portion in the microwave!
This came out REALLY GOOD! Didn’t change a thing. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
My significant other likes white rice. Will this also work? BTW this recipe looks delicious!
Yes! Cut the cooking time in half. The chicken won’t be as fall apart tender but it should be done in significantly less time.
This sounds wonderful… it reminds me of a recipe from my grandmother, which uses 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup. I’m really looking forward to trying your version because I’m not a fan of cream soups anymore. Thanks so much for the helpful info regarding the thigh sizes etc- I think a lot of the troubles I’ve had w various chicken breast recipes recently can be chalked up to the size discrepancies with those, too (it seems all chicken are well-endowed these days, haha!). =)
Yes! I sometimes am in the grocery store and I see chicken breasts that weigh almost a pound for a single piece. And yes, you won’t miss the cream of soups in the recipe, the chicken stock and rice make for a delicious fluffy and moist rice.
Update! I made this for dinner this evening. My bone–in chicken thighs weighed 5oz each. I cooked 8 of the-, no other alterations to the recipe (except I skipped the butter and added a bit of Cajun spice in place of the salt). I used boiling hot chicken broth and cooked the dish for 1 hr 20 min. PERFECT… absolutely perfect. This is a wonderful recipe and I look forward to the leftovers! Thank you so much, Sabrina!
AWESOME! So glad it worked out so well for you! Thanks for coming back and letting me know it turned out. 🙂
Just wanted to comment on this recipe. .it looked wonderful and after reading the reviews and then the revisions or notes I decided to give it a try, however I used regular skin on bone in thighs…BUT I marinated them for 3 hours ( i used the marinade all the time and have left as long as 2 days..its terrific flavor) 2Tbs soy sauce, Tbs grated ginger,1 tbs rice vinegar, 2 Tbs dry sherry, and 2 grated cloves of garlic..massage around in zip lock bag for a few hours or overnight. Then seard the skinnier of the thigh (trimmed any extra hang over fat) and browned it really nice..polled holes in skin to help render. Drained on a paper towel just skin side patted dry.
Then I added grated/minced shallot and garlic , ginger to chicken broth before I boiled it..DEFINITELY boiled broth and used carrots between etc as recipe stated..covering tightly same as this recipe calls for…the recipe is the same other then marinating the chicken and searing skin. I ALWAYS but skin on and bone in because of flavor and because some said it was bland I marinated it as well. This kept it from being oily and gave it alot of seasoningto chicken..still used pepper and light salt. This is easy to adapt flavors and if you prefer blander a good recipe…I agree that chicken cant be frozen at all nor not boil stock before pouring over rice and have it cook properly or not take alot of extra time…if you change up veggies and seasonings you could do Mexican or Indian, Caribbean etc…with this technique. Great recipe to share and adapt…thanks and would love to see anyone elses adaptation of flavors/combos posted. I love asian!
That sounds amazing!!! I love Asian flavors too and yours sounds awesome! Thanks for the feedback!
I’ve made this twice in the last 2 weeks. Followed the recipe to a T, and both times I’ve had to leave in the oven for an additional 60 mins and at a higher tem for the rice to fully cook. My family loves the dish and so do I, just the wait is longer than I like. Any ideas or suggestions as to why this may be?
Travis are you sure the oven is at the correct temperature? I’ve tested it and recorded to the minute and temperature how long it takes a number of times. Part of the reason some people have had cooking time issues have been: water not boiling hot to begin with (this is a big one), oven temps are off, chicken is frozen (or partially frozen) or the pieces of chicken are huge. Also what size pan are you using? If you use a smaller one, the deeper the food is the longer the cooking process. Would love to troubleshoot via email if you would like? contact @ dinnerthendessert . com 🙂
Realized after I starting cooking that I was supposed to wait till the end to put in the peas. Here’s hoping it turns out fine. I should have actually read rather then assuming they went in at the same time as the carrots. 🙁 I will try to remember to post the results of this mistake.
I’ve noticed when cooking some times you have to take where you live(altitude) into account. Maybe that is also a factor for some? In that case I like to pay attention to the portions of the food that could possibly burn(I’m horrible about that some times.)
Thank you so much for your wonderful recipe! My mom used to make a “No Peek Chicken” that included white rice and canned soup. I remember enjoying it, however this was SO much better! Sorry, Mom! Your directions were spot on! Only one dirty casserole dish? This recipe is a keeper;)
So glad to hear it!! I actually made the dish again today too and enjoyed it for dinner. Wanted to update the photos in the post now that I understand not to shoot food photos with yellow kitchen lights on, haha.
Thanks so much for your kind words! It isn’t often I beat mom’s recipes. 🙂
What size pan did you use?
I use a 13′ by 9′ baking pan, it’s the perfect size for this recipe.
Can it be instant rice and does the rice go in uncooked?
No, unfortunately that would cook very quickly and then it would overcook and turn mushy. If you wanted to use instant I would suggest cooking the chicken in your saute pan first before putting it in the baking dish, but that sort of loses the one dish magic. Sorry for the delay in responding, for some unknown reason your perfectly reasonable comment got marked as spam and I didn’t see it!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made it with boneless, skinless chicken breast halves. I added onion, garlic, dried basil and dried thyme, replaced the carrots with baby carrots and skipped the peas. It was easy to prepare and the additions made it very flavorful. I think I am going to be preparing this very often, since I just need to throw everything in the pan, and even though it took an hour and a half to cook I was able to get plenty done in that time.
So glad you enjoyed it! I love the additions you made, and thank you for coming back to let me know how you enjoyed it. 🙂
I didn’t add the butter to keep the fat down. We found it a bit bland but very good, the rice was perfect and the carrots and chicken cooked just right. Next time I’m going to add a tsp of Mrs. Dash or chicken seasoning.
Also, I was out of whole carrots so I added a bag of baby carrots and they worked great.
When I can add more spice and flavor I love adding minced garlic and ginger or a bit of cayenne even. Glad you enjoyed it though 🙂 Maybe I should edit the post to include the top ten ways I use this recipe as a base and add different flavors.
PERFECT! I made this tonight. Worked out great…I used all organic ingredients. Slight changes I made-used baby carrots, and for the broth I substituted 1 cup of Portobello soup and added fresh garlic and red onions while it simmered then used frozen corn (it’s what I had). I also used my dutch oven with lid, I was very hesitant about that, not having used it too much, came out great. I thank you so much for this recipe. I remember my mom making something similar but with white rice. During the week I’m usually only cooking for 1, so this works perfect. Dinners and lunches.
🙂 In much gratitude to you.
Yum sounds amazing! Love the changes! Thank you for coming back and telling me how you liked it!
Thank you for leaving this comment! I was wondering if I should use dutch oven.
This looks so good! Have you ever tried it with regular boneless skinless chicken breasts? That would be the only difference I would make, because it’s what I always have at home. Do you have any idea how much longer/shorter that might take?
Are you going to use brown rice? If so by the time the rice cooks the chicken with be really overcooked. I use white meat a lot in cooking but for this version if I were to switch cuts of meat, I would say you should switch to white rice, I just can’t see the breast meat surviving an hour in the oven without getting super dry and overcooked.
Good point. I will use brown rice but maybe I’ll try grilling the chicken and adding it for the last 5 mins. Hmmm
Just made this for dinner tonight and everyone LOVED it!!!! I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and they came out sooooo tender!!! I did add some chopped onions and garlic to the chicken broth before I boiled it. I will definitely be making this again and again it was so easy. Thank you so much for a delicious and healthy recipe!!!
I forgot to say that I cooked it for exactly 65 minutes without peaking at it and the rice was perfect. I used Carolina brand brown rice.
I’m so happy to hear you loved it! It really is a staple in our house. I love your addition of onion and garlic too! 🙂 Thank you so much for coming back and commenting!
Wow my typing is horrible. I have long grain white rice not instant and only boneless skinless chicken breast on hand. Will this recipe still work? And what should be the cook time be then?
So this isn’t something I have tested, but if I had your ingredients here is what I would do. Still use the hot boiling water, but brown the chicken on high heat first. Don’t try and cook it through too much, but get a bit of color on it. Bake for 20 minutes. The goal would be that when the rice is done cooking the chicken breast is finished too. I just think in 20 minutes without browning the chicken it may not be 100% cooked through and you don’t want to have to overcook your rice to get the chicken to finish cooking. That would be my best guess at it. I hope it works for you!