Italian Chicken and Rice Casserole Recipe made by a two year old!

This Italian Chicken and Rice Casserole recipe is so easy that a two year old can make it. This recipe is great for a family dinner when you are short on time. Just throw everything into a casserole dish and bake in the oven for a yummy supper. My two year old, Julius, loves to cook and he made this casserole. I find that having him involved in the cooking process gets him more interested in the foods that I serve for dinner. He loved this casserole and begged for seconds.

You can make this recipe one of two ways, regarding using cooked or uncooked rice: 1) You can pre-cook the rice before you assemble the casserole and cut the cooking time in half to 30 minutes. 2) Or, as my recipe outlines below, you can put the rice in the casserole raw and cook for about one hour, or until the rice is fully cooked. Our rice was not thoroughly done at one hour. So, I would recommend checking the dish after one hour every 5 - 10 minutes until the rice is cooked.

If you have a toddler helper, you'll want to assist them obviously first by always encouraging them to wash their hands before cooking. Then get all the ingredients pre-cooked and measured in easy-to-handle containers. Next, after they add each ingredient to the casserole dish, spread the ingredient out evenly. Also, mixing the ingredients thoroughly is another task that mom or dad can monitor. Your child will love cooking with you and the thrill of being able to add the ingredients to the casserole. Julius is always interested in tasting lots of the ingredients before they are added to the dish.

Chicken - I baked two frozen boneless chicken breasts at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes and then diced the meat with a fork and knife.

Rice - We used uncooked rice in this recipe. The rice came out a little al dente in some parts of the dish. Next time, I would precook the rice first before assembling the casserole.

Mixed veggies - I thawed frozen mixed veggies of carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli & then diced them with a fork and knife. Use your favorite veggies.

Red Sauce - We used meat flavored spaghetti sauce. You can use any kind of red sauce or just plane tomato sauce. This dish has lots of flavor from the Italian seasoning, garlic, chicken bouillon, and and cream of chicken soup.

Cheese - Use your favorite kind of cheese. We used a blend of cheddar and mozzarella which was finely shredded.

Italian Seasoning - If you don't have Italian seasoning, just mix equal parts of thyme, basil, and oregano.

This dish is so yummy with a side of fresh crisp salad topped with your favorite dressing and garlic toast. We baked homemade croutons for our salad from stale bread. Would you like to know how? Cut the bread into small cubes (about 1 & 1/2 cups) and place in a bowl. Melt 3/4 stick of butter and pour over the bread cubes. Top with about 1 tsp of garlic salt and a sprinkle of parsley. Stir together until thoroughly combined. Place on top of a lined cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 6-10 minutes or until crispy. I flipped my croutons over halfway through the cooking process to ensure both sides are crispy.

Thank you for watching our video on Italian Chicken and Rice Casserole Recipe made by a two year old! You may also like one of these hubs on cooking for toddlers:

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