Chicken Alfredo Rice Casserole
Chicken Alfredo Rice Casserole is a warm and comforting dish you can prep ahead and bake just before serving. If you plan ahead and have extra cooked rice, a rotisserie chicken, and prepared Alfredo sauce, this recipe only takes a few minutes to stir together.
I first prepared this chicken alfredo rice casserole in the last couple of weeks before my second daughter was born.
I was busy prepping dinners for our freezer to help with life after baby's arrival.
What's nice about this particular rice casserole is that there's just the right amount of sauce to prevent it from getting mushy when you bake it.
The vegetables stay nice and crisp, the rice is firm, and the buttery breadcrumbs on top give a nice crunch.
You can use prepared Alfredo sauce, but I highly recommend making a batch of our homemade Alfredo sauce with cream cheese. Use one half of the sauce to make Alfredo pasta or a chicken spinach Alfredo pizza, and save the other half for this freezer-friendly casserole.
Why This is the Best Recipe
- Kid-Friendly: My kids always enjoyed this creamy rice casserole with my homemade alfredo sauce. I diced up the red peppers extra small!
- Easy to Prep: Keep a few basics ready to go in your fridge and assembling the final dish takes just a minute.
- Buttery and Golden Brown: The yummy panko topping is the best part! I love the texture of it against the fluffy rice.
Ingredients
This may look like a lot of ingredients, but I have several tricks for keeping it easy and making quick work of the prep of this dish.
- Shredded Chicken: You can use a rotisserie chicken or cook your own shredded chicken in the Instant Pot.
- Alfredo Sauce: You can use store bought jarred sauce or make my quick homemade Alfredo sauce ahead.
- Cooked Rice: If you're making a batch of Instant Pot jasmine rice, make double the amount so you have leftovers for this recipe!
- Frozen Peas
- Roasted Red Peppers: The jarred kind! Drain and chop.
- Basil
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- Bread Crumbs
- Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Sliced Almonds
- Garlic Salt
DIY Meal Kit
You can cook the entire dish from scratch at dinnertime if you want to, but this is an excellent DIY Meal Kit recipe.
Prep and assemble the following elements and the rest of the dinner will come together quickly on a busy night:
- Cooked Chicken
- Cooked Rice
- Alfredo Sauce
- Frozen Veggies
Shredded Chicken:
The first key to cutting time is to use a rotisserie chicken or keeping bags of pre-cooked shredded chicken on hand for dinner prep.
One good sized chicken will provide 2 - 3 cups of shredded meat once the skin and bones have been removed.
I love to stock up on rotisserie chickens from Costco, pre-shred the meat, and store them in separate zip-top baggies in the freezer.
Then, I can thaw just what I need for a single recipe.
Cooked Rice:
You need about 4 cups of cooked rice (or 2 cups raw rice, then cooked) for this recipe.
I have 3 time-saving tricks for planning ahead for cooked rice:
- Chinese Takeout: Order extra containers of white rice when you do carryout. Keep them on hand for meal planning later in the week.
- Freeze Cooked Rice: You can cook and freeze rice for using later.
- Instant Pot Jasmine Rice: I can place 2 cups of jasmine rice in my Instant Pot mini and the 4 cups of rice I need is ready to use in the casserole by the time I've shredded the rotisserie chicken and chopped the peppers.
Alfredo Sauce:
You can use jarred or prepared Alfredo sauce from the grocery store with a little milk to thin it out for this dish.
However, if you make our favorite homemade Alfredo sauce earlier in the week, you can save half of it for this recipe. It is SO MUCH better than the prepared kind and only takes a few minutes.
How to Make the Casserole
Once you have those main ingredients ready to go, the rest of the recipe is SO easy to prep!
If you plan to bake and serve it right now, preheat your oven to 350°F.
In a very large mixing bowl, combine the rice, Alfredo sauce, shredded chicken, diced roasted red peppers, frozen peas, sliced almonds, dried basil, and crushed red pepper flakes.
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This is a very thick mixture.
If you don't have a very large mixing bowl, you may prefer to stir it in stages:
- First, the alfredo sauce and seasonings
- Then the alfredo sauce and the rice
- Then add the chicken and peppers
- Then add the peas and almonds
Be sure to check the recipe card for a note on whether or not you need to add milk at this point.
Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and spread the mixture out evenly.
Hint: You can use a 2-quart covered casserole dish or a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
The 9 x 13-inch dish will give more crispy edges, a thinner breadcrumb layer, and may bake more quickly.
The deeper casserole dish we used leaves more of a creamy center but can take longer to heat in the center.
Bake the covered casserole for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the breadcrumb topping.
Mix together the breadcrumbs, grated parmesan, melted butter, garlic salt, and dried parsley until the breadcrumbs are evenly dampened.
Uncover the casserole, spread the breadcrumb mixture evenly over the top and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
The breadcrumbs should be golden brown and the center of the casserole piping hot.
Serve warm.
Variations
Frozen peas and roasted red peppers are so easy to keep on hand, but there are several substitutions and variations you could also play with:
- Sundried tomatoes
- Chopped broccoli
- Chopped asparagus
Freezer Tips
If you plan to freeze the casserole, simply assemble it as instructed but then stop before baking.
Spread the mixture into a freezer-safe baking dish, top with the breadcrumbs, cover with aluminum foil, and freeze.
Thaw the dish in your fridge overnight. Bake covered for 30 minutes, uncover and finish baking for 15 - 20 minutes.
Serving Suggestions
This cozy comfort food has everything you need all in one casserole but to round out your dinner you could add a garden salad and some garlic bread or whole wheat breadsticks on the side.
This is also an excellent meal train dinner to bring to a friend since it travels well and can be frozen for later.
More Chicken Casserole Recipes
If you love making easy chicken casseroles, you won't want to miss these delicious recipes:
📖 Recipe
Chicken Alfredo Rice Casserole
Ingredients
For the Casserole Base:
- Alfredo sauce 1 (10 oz) container refrigerated sauce or homemade Alfredo sauce, see notes
- 1/2 cup milk see notes
- 4 cups cooked white rice or wild rice from 2 cups uncooked rice
- 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
- 1 (10 oz) bag of frozen peas
- 1 jar roasted red sweet peppers drained and diced
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- Sprinkle of dried red pepper flakes
For the Breadcrumb Topping:
- 1 cup dried bread crumbs I use panko
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the Alfredo sauce and milk. Stir in the cooked rice, shredded chicken, peas, sweet peppers, almonds, and basil.
- Transfer the chicken and rice mixture to the prepared baking dish. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover the dish and carefully stir the casserole to ensure the middle gets nice and hot.
- Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl until the breadcrumbs are evenly coated in the butter. Sprinkle them over the top of the casserole and return the dish to the oven.
- Bake the casserole, uncovered, 20 to 25 minutes more or until heated through and the breadcrumbs are golden brown.
- Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
Homemade Alfredo:
If you prefer to make homemade alfredo sauce, you'll only need about half of my recipe. You can save the other half for another use (pasta, pizza, dipping sauce, etc.) NOTE: If using homemade sauce, you can reduce the milk to 1/4 cup.Save This Recipe to Your Recipe Box
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Such a great recipe for busy families 🙂
Such a great recipe for busy families 🙂
How can you not like Alfredo sauce?! It's cream and cheese! And butter! I mean, I can see not being *able* to eat it due to cholesterol or lactose or fat or self-respect issues, but not *wanting* to eat it?
Tiffany this is great! I've been looking at what recipes freeze back well for when I'm doing the same thing later this summer before our twins arrive. Thank you!