Backwoods Casserole

Backwoods Casserole–chicken and rice in a tomato sauce with cajun seasoning, corn and bacon. An easy dump and go Instant Pot recipe.

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Backwoods Casserole

Today’s recipe is a super fast dump and go recipe with tender bites chicken thighs, rice, green chiles, sweet corn, tomato sauce and bacon crumbles. This recipe is gluten free and dairy free and full of flavor! You’ll love that you can just layer the ingredients into the pot, press start and walk away.

This recipe has been adapted from Backwoods Home Magazine.

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon chicken base
• Boneless skinless chicken thighs–or chicken tenderloins
• Converted rice–or long grain white rice
• Dry minced onion
• Cajun seasoning
• Garlic powder
• Frozen sweet corn–or a can of corn
• Tomato sauce
• Diced green chiles–I used mild
• Bacon crumbles

Steps

Pour broth into Instant Pot. Add in half of the chicken to cover bottom of Instant Pot. Sprinkle the rice over the top of the chicken. Place the remaining chicken on top of the rice. Evenly add in the onion, cajun seasoning, garlic powder, corn, tomato sauce and green chiles. Don’t stir. (This layering will help prevent the burn error message).

Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.

Stir in the bacon crumbles. 

Serve topped with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

Notes/Tips

• Serve with green beans or a side salad.
• I liked a dollop of sour cream on top of my portion! Some of the members of my family liked some cheese over the top.
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Other recipes you can make with chicken thighs are Olympic Casserole and D’Iberville Casserole.
• What is converted/parboiled rice? Don’t confuse converted rice (or sometimes it is called parboiled rice) with pre-cooked or minute rice. Parboiled rice has been processed in its husk by soaking, steaming, and drying. As a result, all the nutrients from the husk are absorbed into the grain before it’s removed. The starch content alters in the process, making cooked parboiled rice less sticky than regular white rice. The rice kernels aren’t clumpy and glued together instead they are more separated. I found a bag of parboiled rice at Walmart next to the normal long grain white rice. Sometimes I buy it at Winco in the bulk section. I have also found it in the orange box (Ben’s brand) next to other rices.

Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for. 

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*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.