Cheesy Chicken and Rice

This is another Pinterest recipe. You can find the original at Southern Plate.

I thought it was a good start to a recipe, but it was a bit bland for me. The recipe says to place 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot, top with one chopped onion, then spoon 1 can cream of chicken soup over the top. Cover and cook on low for 7-8hrs or high for 3-4hrs. Then add 1 can corn and 1 box yellow rice and 1 cup shredded cheese before serving.

Now, when I was assembling this, I did not like dumping these ingredients in with no seasoning. I just never cook like that. I season everything. But, I wanted to try it as is first.

And the finished product was, well, bland. Also, I found the chicken to rice ratio to be a little heavy on the chicken. This could just be me, but I really liked the yellow rice (I had never tried it before) and wanted there to be more of it.

Lastly, I doubled the cheese (the original recipe calls for 1 cup, I put in 2 cups) and I still tasted NO cheese. Now, if you are going to call something "cheesy" in the recipe title, I need to actually taste cheese. I don't know. I'm a stickler like that.

So, here are the changes I made and liked it much better:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can diced green chiles
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
2 boxes Zatarains Yellow Rice
1 can whole kernel corn
4 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

I put the chicken at the bottom of the crock pot, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Use less salt than you usually do b/c the cream of chicken soup and the yellow rice have added salt.

Top with chopped onion, can of green chiles (the small can) and spoon soup on top of that. Put the lid on, cook on high for 7-8 hrs.

With the last few minutes of cooking, add can of corn, cooked rice and cheese. Stir it all in and let warm through and melt cheese.

The green chiles added extra flavor, but was not spicy. I love green chiles, but if they are not your thing, you could do a can of diced tomatoes or chop up some bell peppers or something. I just think it needs some kind of extra flavor.

I also sprinkled cheese on top before serving. You know, the "cheesy" thing.

Enjoy!