Creamy Mushroom Rice Bake

This pressure cooker chicken mushroom casserole was created somewhat out of necessity and mistake last week! It turned out so great when we made it in our RV that I just had to share it with all of you though. It’s now one of our go to Instant Pot recipes for dinner, and we keep the ingredients on hand for busy nights.

You can make this in your Crockpot Express, Mealthy, or as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe. They all work the same as far as timing goes and will turn out fabulous in any brand of pot except the latter needs to use the lid that is not attached.

As I said, we were living in our travel trailer for a few weeks while we renovated a house we bought and all I used was my pressure cooker and slow cooker. It was a game changer for coming up with easy rv meals for the 5 of us.

I bought a bunch of dry ingredients, as well as canned chicken and tuna so one night I threw a bunch of things together with a package of mushrooms and fresh green beans I found at the store and voila! We’re calling this Instant Pot chicken mushroom rice but anything works really.

I will start by saying I am all about easy Instant Pot casseroles. Maybe it is because I am a child from the 70’s, but using up leftovers is a must in our house. I also typically use fresh ingredients but when you’re traveling or in a tight spot precooked works just fine.

Ingredient Notes

Yes and I suggest that you do add protein. Chicken can be fresh, diced into bite size pieces but don’t use more than 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs. Canned or rotisserie chicken is okay too drained.

Can you use leftover chicken?

You can use fresh diced chicken breasts, thighs, canned and drained, or leftover chicken breasts for this recipe. That is why it’s so great. This became one of our favorite August recipe. There wasn’t any left that night and I made it twice that week.

In this case we used white long grain rice, NOT instant, and that will be reflected in the cook time shown in the recipe card below. This would not work with brown as it takes 3x as long which would mean the vegetables would become mush during that time so I don’t recommend it.

For the right flavor profile you want to use canned Cream of mushroom or chicken soup or you can make your own homemade cream of mushroom if you wanted to start from scratch.

Green beans and these small baby bella Instant Potmushrooms are on the firmer side and worked perfectly. Both came out as tender as the rice did so I would personally stick with those. Small diced carrots would probably be fine too.

Can you add cheese?

Yes, and I suggest that you do. I mean shredded cheddar cheese is optional but fantastic added in so it melts and you can add more to the top when serving as well if you want.

How Long to Cook Creamy Mushroom Rice Bake in Instant Pot

Lock lid and set to high pressure for 9 minutes. Allow to naturally release steam for 2 minutes, then release any remaining pressure. Fluff and add cheese to melt if desired now. Serve!

You can keep an extra 1/2 cup of cheese on the side to sprinkle on the top for extra pressure cooking goodness. Total cook time for this is about 15 minutes so it’s done in a jiffy and like I said is great when you’re traveling in an RV too.

Tips for Success

Things to remember: when you are cooking with rice do NOT stir it in! Of course if you are JUST cooking rice that is different, but if it is added to a dish like this one you want to add it last and gently submerge it into the liquid at the top.

This will prevent it from showing the burn on Instant Pot and sticking to the bottom and ruining your dish. Nobody wants to see the dreaded burn notice on your pot, so take note.

Try our Instant Pot butter chicken is amazing with some Instant Pot bone in chicken thighs in a creamy sauce. We have a lot more Ninja Foodi chicken recipes here too to enjoy.

Or if you want a healthy meal, our pressure cooker beer can chicken has been popular If you want to use frozen vegetables and pasta, our pressure cooker chicken noodle casserole is always a hit.

Three to four days in the refrigerator is safe. If you don’t think you’ll eat them that quickly then you should freeze them immediately.

Can you freeze cooked casseroles?

The short answer is yes, but don’t use the container you cooked it in. Instead put leftovers in plastic containers or freezer bags. Let out the air and put it into your freezer that way. When reheating remove from your freezer container and put into a microwave safe dish. Reheat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between. Use broth to thin it out if it becomes too thick when reheating.