Chicken and Wild Rice (Freezer Meal)
Chicken and Wild Rice. I make my freezer meals 2 ways. One way is to just make them all in a 2 day process. Compile my list, shop, and do meat prep.
Then the next day I assemble them. The other way I like to do it is over the course of a week or two.
I buy the ingredients enough to double the recipes, then I make one for dinner and just double it and put one away in the freezer.
Then by the end of about 2 or 3 weeks, you have 10 meals frozen in the freezer ready to go for later. Your meals will do well in the freezer for 2-4 months.
Chicken and Wild Rice
1 box wild rice with seasoning packet (4.3 oz)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can water
1 small can mushrooms, drained
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, uncooked
1 cup slivered almonds
1. Mix together rice with seasoning packet, both cans of soup, and water. Stir in mushrooms.
2. Pour in to 8X8 freezer dish, I use the foil pans. Top with 6 chicken pieces and sprinkle with slivered almonds.
3. Double wrap in heavy duty foil, label and freeze.
Cooking Instruction: Thaw and bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour until chicken juices run clear and rice is tender.
I like to serve this dish with a side of broccoli and fruit.
Liked my Chicken and Wild Rice? Try the Turkey and Wild Rice Soup {Slow Cooker}
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My family of boys all thought is was way too salty! I used more than the recommended amount of rice and it cooked in an hour and was not too soupy. Not bad for my first freezer meal attempt.
Going to have this today. Thank you very much!
Love this recipe, I have made it many times (at least 10-15 times). I do not like to use chicken thighs so I use chicken breasts and it works out great. I have made this using homemade cream of chicken soup and with store-bought cream of chicken and mushroom, both ways taste great but using homemade soup allows me to control the sodium content more. Unfortunately, I don't always have the time to make homemade soup so I often use store-bought soup.
This always takes more than one hour to cook in my experience, maybe one and a half to two hours. I have done this as a freezer meal and also for cooking right away, it's great both ways! I have also made this with green beans instead of mushrooms and that tastes really good as well, it's a good swap to use beans and only cream of chicken soup if someone your serving doesn't like mushrooms. The rice is always creamy not soupy when I make this and I like the consistency. I think that the amount of liquid helps keep the chicken breasts nice and moist which works great for me since I don't use thighs.
Thanks for an easy and delicious recipe.
This is excellent! I used fresh mushrooms instead of canned though. Thank you for sharing!
I tried this recipe tonight and like another reviewer, my rice was very soupy after one hour and my chicken was not done. I did use thighs as directed. The pan seemed too full and I used the 8x8 as directed. It seems like 2 cans of soup and 1 can of water is too much liquid for the amount of rice in a box of rice-a-roni. I ended up baking for a total of 90 minutes before my chicken was done and the rice was still fairly soupy. I was very disappointed with my results and will NOT be making this again. I'm just glad I tried it out first before taking it to someone as a freezer meal.
making this now. . in the oven. . .will let you know how we like it 🙂
I made this for my daughter to have a quick meal after working a 12 hour shift. I boiled a chicken breast in water until tender when pierced with a fork. Remove breast, allow to cool a few minutes and then shred. Add chicken to soup mixture and stir. Pour into 9x13 glass baking dish sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake at 325 for about an hour. Allow to cool 10-15 minutes. I used mini foil loaf pans and filled about 3/4 full. Wrap with heavy duty foil. Label with date and heating instructions. Freeze. Bake in oven for 1/2hour or so until heated through. Or, can remove from foil pan (sit in a bit of hot water to loosen) and place in microwaveable dish. Microwave a few minutes, stir, repeat until hot.
Will all those ingredients fir into a an 8x8 pan? Seems like a lot of food!
I'm a little late to the game on this, but quick question: Any ideas for a vegetarian alternative? I often substitue different kinds of fish for chicken, and was wondering if you had any thoughts as to what might go well in place of chicken in this recipe. It sounds and looks amazing! 🙂
Cream Soup Substitute:
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup low-fat or fat free milk
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in flour; keep stirring until smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and add the chicken broth and milk, a little at a time, stirring to keep smooth. Return to heat. Bring sauce to a gentle boil; cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Taste and add salt and pepper, as needed to taste.
Use in casseroles in place of condensed cream soups.
This cream soup base can be varied by using vegetable broth, sauteéd chopped celery, celery seed, or sauteéd chopped mushrooms. Add herbs and or seasonings, as desired.
After an hour my chicken (used thighs) wasn't done and the rest was soupy. Gave it another 30 mins. Still soupy. Ended up eating sandwiches for dinner. I am nervous because I made two at the same time. Any thoughts about what could have gone wrong? Such a waste 🙁
Is there a particular brand of rice you like to use?
Am new to the whole freezer meal thing... so this question may sound silly. But how long do you defrost? Do you defrost at room temp, and if so, how long does that take? If you defrost in the fridge, is that for a day? two? Thanks.