One Pot Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole
Flavor of game day favorite buffalo chicken wings in a chicken and rice casserole. A gluten free dinner all will enjoy!
Posted By Savita
A comforting cheesy chicken and rice casserole loaded with buffalo sauce, chicken, veggies, rice and melted cheese!
This, my friends, is my take on weekend game-day favorite Buffalo Chicken turned into a comforting winter dinner! You need just 5 minutes of prep and 20 minutes of cooking time.
Just like you, I love one pot meal or casseroles. Seriously, these make weeknight dinners so easy and manageable. Specially on a breezy fall evening or cold winter night… casseroles bestow double blessings! First, quick dinner with no dishes to wash and second, heat of stove and oven to warm home naturally. Kinda like kill-2-birds-with-one-stone.
Oh, and that reminds me if dinner happens to be chicken dinner with buffalo wing sauce flavors! That's even better! :-)
I won't chirp for my love for casseroles just yet since first I'm so excited to share how flavorful and amazingly delicious this chicken and rice casseroles is!
By far it is our new family-favorite!
If you love Buffalo Chicken? I mean, who does not?! Then, this casserole gives you flavor of buffalo sauce coated chicken with comfort of cheesy rice casserole.
Today, I combined all classic ingredients of Buffalo Chicken - chicken, buffalo sauce, carrots, celery, cheese into a comfort skillet chicken and rice meal. No kidding, every fork-full of this casserole brings something delicious to the party!
Oh man, since I made it a month ago, we were dreaming about it. I mean, counting days to complete our meatless-month and bake another batch.
Family Favorite and not as spicy as you might think!
You might think this recipe is spicy. It is not spicy! Beauty of cooking buffalo chicken with rice and cheese is that these two balance the heat perfectly. Also, you can control the amount of spice buy just using the right buffalo sauce.
I used the mild wing sauce i.e. Buffalo sauce... which makes it just right spicy so that whole family can enjoy it. When it comes to Buffalo Sauce I'm super fan of Frank's RedHot Wing Sauce (Buffalo) and that's what I used for this recipe.
Now, if you are in mood of a spicier casserole, you can drizzle more wing sauce on top while serving or use a hot, or extra hot wing sauce. I leave this for you to decide.
Recipe in making:
Buffalo Chicken Casserole comes together very fast since all flavor is build on top of the wing sauce and chicken.
I first season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook in skillet until it is crisp brown from both sides.
Casserole are generally great to utilize the leftovers. So often I also use pre-cooked or leftover chicken for this recipe. Leftover turkey or leftover rotisserie chicken work great too.
Once chicken is ready (when using fresh), I remove it from skillet and add the aromatics - onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. I saute everything until onions are tender, then add liquids - tomato sauce, hot sauce, and chicken stock with rice.
Once liquid starts boiling, I cover the pan, lower the heat and let everything simmer for 12-13 minutes. Water is almost absorbed by end of 13 minutes. Then I add cooked (chopped) chicken with fresh chopped herbs. Fold it in, add cheese on top and broil until cheese melt and is bubbling.
Voila! Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole is ready!
That was easy!! Isn't it?
Update: This recipe was originally posted on Oct 12, 2016. But due to Indian holiday responsibilities in full swing.. I could not do justice with this post earlier. This chicken and rice is so scrumptious that I had to update the pictures, and make some other updates to give it the worth it deserves. So, I decided to bring it in front and share with you again.
Honestly, with finally a need of jacket today.. I'm feeling like cooking a warm casserole for dinner and this chicken and rice are on the top of the list.
Let's jump straight to the recipe and enjoy!
A few more chicken and rice recipes from my recipe collection:
Ingredients
- Rice Casserole
- 1/2 Cup Yellow Onion (medium onion, small diced)
- 1.5 Cup Rice
- 1 lbs Chicken (thighs, thin sliced)
- 1/3 Cup Hot Sauce (Buffalo mild Hot Sauce)
- 1 Cup Tomato Sauce (8 ounce can)
- 2 Celery (stalks, small diced)
- 2 Carrots (small diced)
- Salt and Black Pepper
- 3 Garlic (cloves, minced)
- 2 tbsp Canola Oil
- 2 Cup Chicken Stock (prefrably low-sodium, homemade or store-bought)
- 1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese (or Mexican blend, shredded)
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Powder
- For Serving
- 3-4 tbsp Cilantro (for garnish)
- Sour Cream (blue cheese dressing or sour cream, for serving)
Directions
- 1. In heavy bottom crock pot or deep skillet, heat 1 tbsp. of oil. Salt and pepper the chicken slices and cook in skillet until brown from both sides and cooked through. Remove chicken in a plate, whip of the oil but leave behind the bits attached to bottom of pan (if any).
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2. Add 1 tbsp. of fresh oil, with garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Saute until onions are soft (2-3 minutes). -
3. Add cumin powder, saute for 30 seconds. Now, add hot sauce and tomato sauce with 2 cups of chicken stock and rice. Mix well. Bring to simmer. Cover and cook one low-medium for 12-15 minutes or until rice are cooked through and most of the water is absorbed. -
4. Once rice are cooked, add in chopped cooked chicken, and herbs (cilantro). Fold in the chicken. -
5. Now, top with grated cheese. -
6. Broil for 5-7 minutes until cheese has melted and bubbling. Let it cool down a bit before serving. Enjoy!
Savita's Recipe Notes:
I used regular white rice for this recipe which takes about 12-13 minutes. Amount of liquid and cooking time will vary if using any other variety of rice.
Standard Buffalo sauce is mild hot. So rice may look deep orange but are not overly spicy. I like to serve sour cream on the side and veggie stick to balance the flavors.
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