Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken and Yellow Rice
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Looking for a family-friendly, hearty, and filling meal that’s easy and won’t heat up the kitchen? Look no further than this Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken and Yellow Rice Recipe! (scroll to the bottom for printable recipe and video)
Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken and Yellow Rice Recipe
Seven simple ingredients are all that is in this recipe, and it is so easy to put together!
My family really enjoyed this Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken and Yellow Rice dish, and I will definitely add it to our meal rotation. Whenever I get a thumbs up from my kiddos about dinner, it’s a must to make repeatedly.
What makes this chicken and rice recipe so much better than others is the addition of yellow rice instead of regular white rice.
I’d never had yellow rice before, and when shopping for the ingredients, all I found was Zatarain’s brand of yellow rice. I took a little bite of the rice after I cooked it in the microwave, and yes, yellow rice is tasty!
After I tasted the rice, I had to google yellow rice to find out how it was made (of course, lol.) I did find a few recipes that sounded good, so maybe someday I will attempt a huge batch from scratch and then freeze it…but that, my friends, is a task for another day!
How had I made it this long in life without knowing about this tasty yellow rice side dish?
Yellow rice definitely makes the dish, so don’t be tempted to substitute plain white rice. (Seriously, don’t.)
Ingredients for Chicken and Yellow Rice + notes
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts | I don’t recommend bone-in because removing all the bones and gristle would be too difficult, and this is supposed to be an easy dish. I also don’t recommend thighs due to the amount of liquid fat they produce during the slow cooking process.
- Onion | You only need half an onion, and yellow or white is fine.
- Cream of chicken soup | If you are looking for a healthier cream of chicken soup, check out the Pacific Foods Organic Cream of Chicken Condensed Soup. It’s more expensive, but they avoid GMOs, avoid additives, preservatives, and common allergens.
- Zatarain’s Yellow Rice Mix, cooked according to directions | Important! You are adding the COOKED rice at the end of the cooking time.
- Monterey Jack Cheese | Cheddar works fine too
- Can whole-kernel corn
- Sour cream
- optional garnish: fresh parsley
How do you make cheesy chicken and rice in a crock pot?
I know I said this before, but I will say it again just in case of any questions…
This cheesy chicken and rice recipe is crazy simple.
It’s like one of those recipes that you can’t mess up. It’s very forgiving even if you make a mistake, and I also have to report that it tastes super good the next day as leftovers. (if you have any!)
What makes this recipe so easy is this is almost what I call a “dump dinner.” Just toss in a few ingredients into the slow cooker, and when done, shred the chicken and stir in the last few ingredients.
This recipe does use canned cream of chicken soup, but if you are bothered by that, look into the Pacific Foods Organic Cream of Chicken Condensed Soup. It’s more expensive, but they avoid GMOs, avoid additives, preservatives, and common allergens.
To make the Slow Cooker Chicken and Yellow Rice:
- Prep: Place the chicken breasts in the crock pot, top with the chopped onion and cream of chicken soup.
- Cook: Then cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours.
- Shred and mix: At the end of the cooking time, open the crock pot and break the chicken up into small pieces. Add the rice, cheese, corn, and sour cream to the crock pot. Stir until all combined.
- Melt the cheese: Put the lid back on and allow the crock pot to cook for about 10 to 15 more minutes or until everything is warm and the cheese has melted.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish with a sprinkle of cheese and fresh parsley.
Simple as that!
Pro Tips
1. If you find your chicken breasts are huge or random sizes, it helps to cut them into more uniform sizes before cooking.
2. To keep from overcooking your chicken breast, you can check its internal temperature with a meat thermometer after about 3/4 of the cooking time has passed. Once the breasts have reached 165 degrees F, they are done.
Yes! Follow the instructions in the recipe card; the only changes would be to cook the chicken with the onions and soup in your pressure cooker on the poultry setting, Do a 5-minute natural release. (Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then quickly release the rest.)
Shred the chicken, add in the rest of the rest of the ingredients, stir, cover, and let the cheese melt.
If you want to cook this recipe ahead of time and freeze it, this is what I recommend:
Cook the chicken with the rice and onions. Shred and let cool. Place in a freezer-safe air-tight container and freeze. You could also precook the rice and freeze in a separate container.
When ready to eat, pull the rice and chicken containers from the freezer and let them thaw overnight in the fridge. Then combine the chicken mixture and rice in a large microwave-safe bowl and reheat in the microwave for about 4 to 5 minutes. Then add the sour cream and cheese, stir, and heat for another minute or two until the cheese is melted.
You could also reheat it on the stovetop.
More Easy Crock Pot Recipes you might enjoy:
- Slow Cooker Beef Chili Recipe
- Easy Slow Cooker Meatball Subs
- Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Barbecue Beef Sliders
- Creamy Green Chile Enchilada Soup
- 3 Ingredient Barbecue Pulled Pork Recipe
Pin this recipe for later:
Use your crock-pot for good this season and create this cheesy chicken and rice crock-pot recipe!
Trust me…your taste buds will thank you.
Did you make this Cheesy Chicken and Yellow Rice Recipe?
Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and/or a review in the comments section below. If you share an image on Instagram or Facebook, be sure to tag me and use #scatteredmomrecipes!
Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken and Yellow Rice
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 7 hours
- Total Time: 7 hours and 15 minutes
- Yield: serves 4 to 5 1x
- Category: main dish
- Method: slow cooker
Description
Crock Pot Cheesy Chicken and Yellow Rice is a fabulously filling and hearty dish the family will love!
Ingredients
- 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 1 – 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup
- 1 –8 ounce box Zatarain’s Yellow Rice Mix, cooked according to directions
- 1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese (plus a bit more for garnish)
- 1 –15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
- 3/4 cup of sour cream
- optional garnish: finely chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts in the crock pot.
- Add the chopped onion and spoon the soup on top of the chicken.
- Cook on low 7 to 8 hours or high 3 to 4 hours.
- At the end of the cooking time, open the crock pot and break the chicken up into small pieces.
- Add the rice, cheese corn and sour cream to the crock pot. Stir until all combined.
- Put the lid back on and allow the crock pot to cook for about 10 to 15 more minutes or until everything is warm and the cheese has melted.
- Garnish with a sprinkle of cheese and fresh parsley.
Keywords: chicken, slow cooker, crock-pot, yellow rice
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This was soooo good! My husband is a huge fan🤍
★★★★★
Can you use frozen chicken or does it need to be defrosted first?
So there is a bit of debate on this question… Some people say no problem, they do it all the. But others say it might not be safe as the chicken spends a lot of time at an unsafe temperature. For me, I have a terrible phobia of serving chicken or pork not cooked all the way through, so I don’t put large pieces of frozen chicken into a crockpot or pressure cooker. However, you can do your own research on this and as long as the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 you will probably be ok. They even make slow cookers now with a meat probe for this exact thing: https://amzn.to/3E0Twcl And yes, I have this slow cooker, lol.
So I feel like a failure!!!! I was rushing in the am and pm when I got home from work and it didn’t register that needed to PRECOOK the rice!!!!! I guess I’ll see what it looks like in the am…..most likely trash 🤦🏻♀️
well darn. You could probably save it by adding broth and cooking it on the stove top. Let me know what happens.
This was a great, quick recipe. Thanks so much for the idea. I didn’t have cream of chicken, so I used cream of mushroom..
★★★★★
Can I use rotisserie chicken?
of course!
I made this tonight and the grandkids tore it up and i made a side of baked beans with hard boiled eggs and hamburger mixed in,i call it my nuclear bomb,I’ll probably get chewed out tomorrow lol,on a side note my daughter and husband and kids(all 8) of them live in a camper out back,gonna b wild out there tonite lol,thanks for the recipe,was awesome.
Oh my gosh, I would hate to be in that camper tonight! Glad y’all liked it. 🙂
Do u think mixing black beans in it also would be good. Just a thought ?
I bet that would be yummy!
Hi, This looks awesome! I was wondering if this could be turned into an instant pot recipe?
Thanks
This chicken recipe is the bomb. It’s so easy in the kids gobble it up
★★★★★
Hi! Wondering how I could turn this recipe into a freezer meal to dump in the crock pot to day of if possible?
Hmmm… I guess you could freeze the onion and chicken, but I would just open the can of soup and add it when tossing everything in. I think if you tried to add the rice too early it might be mushy and the sour cream and cheese would curdle/separate if added at the beginning.
Yum! This was tasty.
★★★★★
I ended up subbing the sour cream for yogurt. We loved it thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
yummy….its looking delicious …can't wait to try this..!!
Hey great slow cooker dish! This week's Food on Friday on Carole's Chatter is all about collecting up slow cooker/crockpot recipes. It would be great if you linked this in. This is the link . Have a good week.
Thanks for stopping by CountryMommaCooks and linking up at our Saturday Link and Greet Party…hope to see you again tonight : )
Deana @ CountryMommaCooks
Yum, I agree with a commenter above, my picky eater would love this! Thanks for sharing.
That looks amazing! I think even my picky eaters would eat this. Thanks for sharing. Visiting from Someday Crafts.
Looks So yummy!