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!

One Pot Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole
Diet Info: DF GF F LF Na LS VG V Fa

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! 

Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole | chefdehome.com

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.

Cheesy Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole ready in 25 minutes and loaded with game day flavors | chefdehome.com

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?

Cheesy Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole ready in 25 minutes and loaded with game day flavors | chefdehome.com

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:

Coconut Cashew Curry Chicken and Rice with Mango One Pot Curry Chicken and Rice Lemon Chicken Rice Soup in Pressure Cooker

One Pot Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole

5 (3 reviews)
One Pot Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole
Total Time: Prep Time: Cook Time: Cuisine: American () Difficulty: Easy
Yields: 4 Servings - Serves: 4

Ingredients

Rice Casserole
For Serving
Smart Swap: Use leftover Turkey or Rotisserie Chicken to make most of this family dinner!

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).
  • Step for Recipe - One Pot Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole 2. Add 1 tbsp. of fresh oil, with garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Saute until onions are soft (2-3 minutes).
  • Step for Recipe - One Pot Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole 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.
    Step for Recipe - One Pot Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole 4. Once rice are cooked, add in chopped cooked chicken, and herbs (cilantro). Fold in the chicken.
  • Step for Recipe - One Pot Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole 5. Now, top with grated cheese.
    Step for Recipe - One Pot Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole 6. Broil for 5-7 minutes until cheese has melted and bubbling. Let it cool down a bit before serving. Enjoy!
Savita's 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.

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Tag @SAVITACHEFDEHOME on Instagram and hashtag it #SAVITACHEFDEHOME

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10 Responses

  1. Easy to follow directions. The balance of flavors and texture are so cozy. I’ll put this on repeat.
  2. One of my husband and my favorite recipes❤️
    Thanks for sweet feedback.
  3. So did you use Franks WING sauce or Franks HOT sauce? Because those are two different things…
    I mostly use Buffalo RedHot (medium hot) wing sauce.
  4. Yummy and easy
  5. I made this tonight and everyone in my family of six loved it!! It really is amazing- thank you for sharing this recipe!!!!
  6. This was a great recipe. It def needs more than 12-15 minutes for the rice though. Follow the time on the package. I also topped it with green onions and sour cream
    Hi Ana, I'm glad you enjoyed buffalo chicken and rice. Time to cook rice always vary based on kind of rice used. I have added it in notes. but thanks for re-iterating the message. It was good to follow the package timings.
  7. This is was so good! I didn't think buffalo sauce will be so good with rice and chicken! thanks for the recipe.