Homemade Chicken Rice-A-Roni Recipe – you’ll never use the boxed stuff again! Rice, spaghetti, chicken bouillon, Italian seasoning, parsley, garlic powder. SO good and super easy to make. I like to mix up the ingredients and put into baggies for a quick side dish during the week.
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Pin This RecipeYou will never open another box of Rice-A-Roni after making this rice. This Homemade Chicken Rice-A-Roni is just as easy as the boxed stuff, but it tastes 100 times better! Chicken Legs keeps asking me to make this for dinner.
I know you might be saying that this is a lot of work for a side dish. It might be if you are measuring out everything each time you make it. I wanted to avoid reaching for the box, so I made several kits of this homemade Rice-A-Roni at one time. I measured out the rice and pasta and put it in a ziplock baggie. Next, I measured out the seasonings and put them in another ziplock baggie. Now, all I have to do is add butter and water. Just like the boxed stuff.
Homemade Chicken Rice-A-Roni
Ingredients:
- 2- oz vermicelli, broken into half inch pieces (about ½ cup)
- 1 cup long-grain rice, not instant
- 4 tsp chicken bouillon
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- ⅛ tsp garlic powder
- 2¾ cup water
- 2 Tbsp butter
Instructions:
- In a large skillet, melt 2 Tbsp butter. Add broken pasta and rice. Cook until lightly brown.
- Add water and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover.
- Cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until water is absorbed.
Steph
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LOVE this and will keep making it. I didn’t have Italian seasoning but that didn’t matter. I used Better than Bouillon. My husband is snoopy and he came out to the kitchen looked at the bowl I had sitting on the counter to cool down said this looks good, grabbed a spoon took a bite of it, and walked away with my bowl!
This was fantastic! I eat gluten free so I only swapped the 1/2 cup of vermicelli for another 1/2 cup of rice. It came out fantastic and it seems way healthier than the boxed stuff. My boys complimented it.
I would do a little less Italian seasoning if you don’t like the smell, but it didn’t affect the taste for me. It was just very aromatic.
So delicious and easy to make. The perfect comfort meal topped with seasoned chicken
Hi Steph, a great recipe. I was able to find vermicelli already in small pieces. That was a time saver. Love that thanks to you I’m able to recreate the San Francisco treat anytime without all the msg and added salt!
Appreciate your variety of recipes here. Will definitely try out other recipes soon. Thanks again!! Happy holidays!
I have not made this yet but I have read the reviews. I’m on a low sodium diet and I have sodium-free bouillon (both chicken and beef) so I can make this and add my own salt. This sounds yummy and I can’t wait to try. I’ll write another review after.
Note: For those that are on a sodium-free or reduced sodium diet, I found sodium-free bouillon in both beef and chicken on Amazon. It’s Herb Ox and it comes in packets that are equal to one bouillon cube or 1 tsp. bouillon.
Oh my goodness. This is soooo good. I’m a from scratch cook except rice a roni always was from a box I just love it. But I found this recipe and made it. It’s spot on! No box ever again. Thank you for the recipe!
I made this recipe not even 30 minutes ago and am currently eating it. It’s delicious! It’s been 6 years since I’ve had to go gluten free due to intolerance and IBDs, and this brings me back to my childhood. Thank you!
This turned out great, and very flavorful. It was a little tedious breaking up the pasta, but it was worth it. I used angel hair pasta instead of vermicelli, and the texture was still good.
Can I use angel hair instead of vermicelli? My store don’t have vermicelli.
I used angel hair, and it turned out fine. It’s thinner and cooks quicker than vermicelli, so I was wondering if it would turn out too mushy, but it was great.
I will never buy Rice-A-Roni again. This is definitely a keeper. Thank you .
Would brown or wild rice work with this do you think? Trying to get more whole grain and fiber 🙂
brown rice and wild rice require different liquid measurements and cooking times. I have only made the recipe as written, so I do not know what adjustments would need to be made.
Does this recipe double well? If not, what changes would you make to serve twice the amount of rice & pasta?
simply double all the ingredients
I’ve made this doubled. Made no adjustment other than to double everything. Turned out great!
I had some leftover fried chicken, so I chopped it up and threw it in. Delicious!
Made as the recipe instructs, this legit tastes like “The San Francisco Treat”… only better! And I feel less guilty making it at home :). I want to try adding slivered almonds to this because I seem to remember a version of Rice a Roni that had almonds too. Thanks for a great recipe!
Could you use orzo for the pasta?
I haven’t tried using orzo, so I can not say. Let us know how it turns out if you try it.
I’ve browned orzo in side dish before. My husband thought it was rice-a-roni. I’d say it works just fine 😅
Absolutely love this! When I was first married and didn’t know how to cook I used to make Rice a Roni all the time. I altered it by throwing in rotisserie chicken, mushrooms and sour cream. Loved it, but I love the idea of being able to cut back the salt! Thank you so much!
Absolutely love this! Definitely stays in my rotation!
After frying ingredients, could a person use a rice cooker??
No idea. I’ve never used a rice cooker. It is a pretty easy and foolproof recipe as written.