Chicken and Rice Casserole
INGREDIENTS
-1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced into cubes
-4 Tbsp olive oil
-8 slices of bacon, diced
-1 medium yellow onion, diced
-8 oz Cremini mushrooms, diced
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/4 plus 1 1/3 cup chicken broth
-1/2 cup low fat sour cream
-1/4 cup cream
-1 cup long grain rice
-1 to 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
-few pinches of paprika
PROCEDURE
-Preheat oven to 375
-Slice uncooked chicken into cubes. Set aside on a plate.
-One at a time, prepare bacon, onions, mushrooms and garlic. Set each aside in their own bowl.
-Heat a pan to medium-high. Add olive oil. Once hot, cook chicken in batches until the pieces are brown on each side, 4-5 minutes per batch. You're just browning them, not cooking all the way through. Salt each batch and set chicken aside on a plate with paper towels to soak up excess oil.
-When all the chicken is cooked, use the same pan to cook the onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Salt them. Add garlic and cook one more minute. Remove to a large empty bowl.
-Add mushrooms to pan - no need to add more oil - and salt them. Cook them a few minutes until they're browned. Remove to bowl with onions.
-Add the bacon to the pan and cook until crispy, 5-10 minutes. Remove to paper towels.
-Add 1/4 cup chicken broth to pan to deglaze. Let it reduce to 1 Tbsp and then remove the pan from the heat.
-Pour the rest of the chicken broth, the cream and
the sour cream into the pan and mix well. Add salt to
taste.
-To mushrooms, onions and garlic add rice, Italian
seasoning and Paprika. Mix well.
-Pour rice mixture into a casserole dish. Place
chicken pieces on top. Pour cream mixture on top of
rice and chicken. Top with diced bacon.
-Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
