Ritz Chicken and Rice Casserole made in the Instant Pot is warm, creamy, buttery, and comforting! You’ll love this easy dish made with quick and convenient ingredients.

Best “old school” chicken and rice casserole

This is a well-beloved casserole known by many names: sour cream chicken casserole, chicken casserole with crackers and rice, old school chicken and rice casserole, etc. Ringing any bells?

This is that casserole that your grandma used to make that was filled with flavorful, decadent chicken and rice with crunchies on top.

And it’s been upgraded for your Instant Pot, meaning that you’ll have to spend even less time on it than your grandma did—with the same mouth-watering result.

More likely than not, you’ve tasted several versions of this casserole, all topped with something different. I’ve seen bread crumbs, panko, potato chips, and even corn flakes!

And you definitely can’t go wrong with any of those toppings. Personally though, I’ve fallen in love with the buttery richness of crushed Ritz crackers.

This Ritz topping is light, flaky, crunchy, and packed with savory decadence, and SO easy!

How to make Ritz chicken and rice casserole

Watch my easy how-to video!

Included in this video are recipes for Instant Pot Cajun Sausage and Rice, Instant Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken and Rice, and Instant Pot Chicken Teriyaki Bowl

There are only 6 major ingredients to this old school chicken and rice casserole: Ritz crackers (of course!), sour cream, cream of chicken soup, rice, chicken broth, and chicken tenderloins!

To give your casserole the best flavor, use full fat chicken soup and full fat sour cream.

Take this recipe from fridge to table in five simple steps:

Season chicken.
(Optional: use the sauté function to brown your seasoned chicken.)
Toss in rice, chicken, and broth: cook.
Add in the cream of chicken soup and sour cream: stir.
Top with crunchies: crisp.

I used this air fryer lid to achieve the crispy top in my Instant Pot, but you can easily achieve the same thing in an oven.

Simply transfer everything to a greased casserole dish after mixing in all of the ingredients. Top with your crushed Ritz crackers, then bake for about 30 minutes to heat through and crisp those crunchies.

My roommates and I used to serve this recipe as a “fancy” dinner whenever we had boys over—little did they know it was so easy!

That’s one of the best things about this Ritz chicken and rice casserole: it looks and tastes like you’ve slaved for hours, but in reality, you hardly had to put in any effort at all!

Pro tips and variations

I recommend using the sauté function to brown your chicken before cooking it with the rice—it adds a lot of flavor. If you don’t have the time, don’t worry about it! Your casserole will still be scrumptious.
Optional ingredients: You can add in cheese or broccoli florets to this recipe if you like them! Add them at the same time that you add the cream of chicken soup and sour cream. I like to keep it simple, but I have many friends who swear by some extra cheddar.
If you don’t have Ritz crackers, you can also use other traditional toppings: saltines, crushed corn flakes, panko, breadcrumbs, potato chips, or crispy onion strings. I believe that buttery crackers are the best, though!
Use good salt. I know that it might sound silly, but good quality salt really makes a difference in the end flavor! I swear by Redmond Real Salt.

Other Easy Instant Pot Entrées