Family Friendly Chicken and Rice Bake

Description

Family Friendly Chicken and Rice Bake

Ingredients

8 tablespoons Butter (divided, plus more for greasing pan)
1 large yellow onion
4 stalks of celery
4 Carrots
1 1⁄4 cups uncooked rice of choice (we used white, but you can use brown, wild, etc...)
32 ounces chicken stock
1⁄4 cups Flour
1⁄2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1⁄2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
1⁄4 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon Salt
2 cups milk of choice
1 1⁄2 pounds Chicken Breasts (cut into bite-sized pieces)
1⁄2 cups Parmesan Cheese
5 cups crusty bread cubes (we used a sourdough loaf)
  salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your baking dish with a little butter.
  2. Prep your vegetables: Chop/dice onion, celery and carrots. We cut up our onion and celery pretty small (mostly for the kids). Place veggies in greased baking dish.
  3. Next, add in rice (uncooked) and chicken broth. Mix to combine. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour (and wait for the delicious smell to start overtaking your kitchen!)
  4. While rice mixture is cooking (towards the end of the hour), melt 4 tbsp butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Once butter is melted, add in the following: flour, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, sage and salt. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly.
  5. Next, slowly add in milk, whisking little by little until you have a creamy sauce (will be fairly thick).
  6. Carefully remove dish from oven, and remove foil from top (be careful – this will be very hot). Pour/spoon sauce over rice mixture and add in (uncooked) chicken pieces. Gently mix the sauce and chicken into the rice mixture.
  7. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Then sprinkle parmesan cheese over top.
  8. Next, melt remaining butter (4 tbsp), then pour over bread and toss to coat. Once bread cubes are coated, pour them over top of casserole dish, evening them out somewhat as you go.
  9. Return dish to oven, uncovered and bake for an additional 25 minutes at 425 degrees.
  10. Once done, carefully remove from oven. Sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper, and parsley if desired.
  11. Serve and enjoy!