Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

• servings: Yield: 10 to 12 servings
• active time: 30 min
• total time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Ingredients

**COOK**

Two 6-ounce boxes long-grain and wild rice mix, such as Uncle Ben's

**ADD**

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing dish

16 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced, or two 4 1/2-ounce cans sliced mushrooms, drained (reserve the liquid)

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups chicken broth

3 cups half-and-half

**ADD**

4 cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, diced

1 cup toasted slivered almonds, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup sliced pimientos

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

PREHEAT: Bake to 350 degrees F. bake 25-30 minutes

Grease a 9-by-13-by-2-inch casserole dish.

1. Cook the long-grain and wild rice mixes according to the package directions. Set aside.

2. In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and onions and saute, until the onions are translucent. Stir in the flour, cooking for 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly stir the broth (and reserved canned mushroom liquid if using) into the onion mixture, then stir in the half-and-half. Cook until the mixture has thickened, 7 to 10 minutes.

3. Add the chicken, rice, toasted almonds, pimientos, parsley, salt and pepper into the wet mixture.

4. Pour everything into the prepared casserole dish and bake, uncovered, until most of the liquid has been absorbed,25 to 30 minutes.

Notes

Do rice and Chicken breasts ahead