This chicken and rice bake recipe skips the canned soup shortcuts and delivers real comfort with a homemade sauce. It’s creamy, rich, and built with pantry staples—without the preservatives. It’s a practical, affordable dinner that hits all the right notes for weeknights, meal prep, or feeding a group.

Ingredients for Chicken and Rice Bake Recipe

  • 1½ cups carrots (7 oz), peeled and roughly chopped

  • 1½ cups celery (7 oz), large chopped

  • 2 lbs chicken thighs

  • 2 tbsp jarred garlic (fine)

  • 2 boxes Rice-A-Roni wild rice

  • ½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce

  • ½ tbsp salt

  • 1 tsp black pepper

  • 1 tbsp chicken base

  • 2 cups water

  • 1½ cups heavy cream

  • 1 tsp poultry seasoning

  • 8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

How to Make This Chicken and Rice Bake Recipe

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Sear the chicken
    In a Dutch oven or large skillet, heat a small amount of oil over medium-high heat. Sear chicken thighs on both sides until browned but not fully cooked. Remove from pan, allow to cool, and dice into bite sized pieces.  Then set aside.

  3. Sauté the vegetables
    In the same pan, add carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook for 3–5 minutes to soften slightly and pick up the flavor from the chicken.

  4. Build the bake
    In a 9×13” baking dish, combine sautéed vegetables, uncooked rice (with seasoning packets), Worcestershire, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chicken base, water, and heavy cream. Stir everything to combine.

  5. Add the chicken
    Add the seared chicken thighs into the rice mixture, stir lightly so everything is covered.

  6. Cover and bake
    Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

  7. Add cheese and finish
    Remove foil, top with cheddar, and return to the oven uncovered for 10 minutes until melted and bubbly.

  8. Let rest before serving
    Allow the dish to rest for 5–10 minutes so the sauce can settle and thicken slightly.

Recipe Notes for Chicken and Rice Bake Recipe

Why we skip canned soup in this chicken and rice bake recipe

Canned soups—like the ones from Campbell’s—are full of preservatives like potassium chloride and disodium inosinate, along with stabilizers like modified food starch and soy protein concentrate. Even the “cream” is usually a blend of milk and industrial thickeners. This recipe skips all that. Instead, it builds flavor from scratch with chicken base, cream, and real vegetables—nothing you can’t pronounce. It’s not about being fancy. It’s about knowing what’s in your food.

Don’t skip the sear

Searing the chicken gives you golden color and deeper flavor. It also leaves behind fond (those browned bits in the pan) that seasons the vegetables naturally. You lose all that if you go straight to baking raw chicken in liquid.

Use what you have

This chicken and rice bake recipe is adaptable. Swap in frozen peas, spinach, or broccoli. No celery? Leave it out. The structure holds, the flavor stays solid, and you don’t have to overthink it.