Guardian Angel Casserole–tender bites of chicken with hearty brown rice in a creamy sauce made in the Instant Pot or slow cooker. An easy dump and go dinner.
Guardian Angel Casserole
You can count on this dish just like you can count on your guardian angel. It will save you when you’re in a pickle and need an easy dinner that doesn’t take much prep time at all. The very first dish I made in the crockpot was a version of this recipe. It’s been with me since the beginning of my marriage and everyone always loves it. We love making this with brown rice but if you’d prefer to make it with white rice check the notes section below. Enjoy!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon chicken base
- Brown rice
- Butter
- Garlic cloves–or 1 tsp of garlic powder
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs–frozen is okay
- Cream cheese–or boursin
- Good Seasons dry Italian dressing mix
Steps
Pour broth into Instant Pot. Sprinkle in the rice. Add in the butter and garlic. Place chicken into the pot and place cream cheese on top of the chicken.
Sprinkle the Italian dressing mix over the chicken.
Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 22 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Place chicken on a cutting board and chop or shred. Stir it back into the pot. Let sit for a couple minutes to let the rice soak everything up.
Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips
- Serve with steamed broccoli, green beans or asparagus.
- To make this gluten free use a gluten-free italian dressing mix.
- Can I use white rice instead of brown rice? If so, how should I adjust the cooking time? Yes you can. However you’ll need to cut up the chicken into bite size pieces so they cook at the same rate as the rice. Pressure cook for 5 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
- Can I use chicken breasts instead of thighs? Yes, but they won’t be as moist and tender.
- 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 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Other recipes you can make with 4 ounces of cream cheese are Slow Cooker Recipe for Cheesy Corn and Peppers and Slow Cooker Ground Beef Stroganoff.
- Recipe adapted from Angel Chicken Rice Casserole on That Oven Feelin.
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.
Guardian Angel Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 37 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Tender bites of chicken with hearty brown rice in a creamy sauce made in the Instant Pot or slow cooker. An easy dump and go dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup brown rice
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 20–24 ounces of boneless skinless chicken thighs (frozen is okay)
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1 (0.7 oz) package Good Seasons dry Italian dressing mix
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Pour broth into Instant Pot. Sprinkle in the rice. Add in the butter and garlic. Place chicken into the pot and place cream cheese on top of the chicken. Sprinkle the Italian dressing mix over the chicken.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 22 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Place chicken on a cutting board and chop or shred. Stir it back into the pot. Let sit for a couple minutes to let the rice soak everything up.
- Serve and enjoy!
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Add broth, rice, butter garlic and half of Italian dressing mix into the slow cooker and stir. Nestle the chicken into the slow cooker and sprinkle remaining Italian dressing mix over it.
- Cover and cook on high for 3 hours. Add in the cream cheese and cook on high for 1 more hour, or until brown rice is cooked.
- Place chicken on a cutting board and chop or shred. Stir it back into the slow cooker. Let sit for a couple minutes to let the rice soak everything up.
- Serve and enjoy!
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
More recipes with brown rice…
Instant Pot French Onion Rice
Savory, flavorful and cheesy! If you love the flavors of french onion soup you will love this easy Instant Pot casserole recipe.
Recipe for Slow Cooker No-Stir Brown Rice Mushroom Risotto
A deliciously easy side dish that is very low maintenance compared to a normal risotto recipe! Makes 6 servings Ideal slow cooker size: 3-4 quart 1 cup diced onion (1/2 of 1 large onion) 2 Tbsp butter 1 garlic clove, minced 8 oz sliced mushrooms 1 cup long grained brown rice 1/2 cup broth (or
Slow Cooker Brown Rice Pilaf with Chicken Sausage
An easy and healthy meal of seasoned brown rice with carrots, peas and chicken sausage.
Instant Pot Chicken and Brown Rice
Whole chicken legs are seasoned and cooked until tender in your electric pressure cooker and then browned under your broiler. Brown rice is cooked alongside the chicken and comes out with a creamy consistency–almost risotto-like. And no cream of soups are used in this recipe!
*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.
hello ,could this recipe be made with cocus
I haven’t used couscous much but I’m pretty sure it cooks very fast so it wouldn’t work to pressure cook it along with the chicken. You could cook it separately and stir it in.
Can you make this recipe with white rice?
Yes you can. However you’ll need to cut up the chicken into bite size pieces so they cook at the same rate as the rice. Pressure cook for 5 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
Hi Karen, do you know if this recipe can be made with low-fat cream cheese?
yes it can
thanks! we love your recipes! they never fail