Cheesy Spinach Rice Casserole
This Cheesy Spinach Rice Casserole is easy enough for a weeknight, but also perfect for company. With this semi-homemade recipe, it takes very little effort to make a hearty, tasty side dish!
Cheesy Spinach Rice Casserole
Yeah, we all need shortcuts. I’ve shared a few doctored up cake mix recipes that come together quickly and always get rave reviews, like my Kahlua Cake and Lemon Bundt Cake. This Cream Cheese Tea Roll is a family favorite that starts with frozen bread dough. Though I tend to cook from scratch, when company is coming, an easy recipe like this cheesy spinach rice casserole is welcome.
How to Make this Easy Rice Casserole
This easy rice casserole is pretty self explanatory. But here are a few tips and reminders.
- Remember to defrost your spinach a day ahead of time so you aren’t delayed when it’s time to mix up the ingredients.
- Follow the directions of the box of rice to make that portion of the recipe. No need to let the rice cool before mixing.
- I used Monterey Jack cheese in my version of this Cheesy Spinach Rice Casserole, but if you’d prefer Swiss or Cheddar, almost any other melty cheese would work well.
- If you’d like, sprinkle some extra cheese on top during the last 10 minutes of baking for an extra cheesy topping!
- The original recipe called for 2 boxes of spinach, but I only added one. If you’d like more veggies and less carbs per serving, feel free to add a second box.
- I like to use my potato ricer to squeeze the liquid out of the defrosted spinach, but the resident dish washer hates to clean that. Instead you can use your hands to squeeze dry the spinach. I do this over a colander in case I drop some of the spinach.
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Cheesy Spinach Rice Casserole
An easy doctored up rice dish that always gets rave reviews!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
One 6 ounce package of Long Grain and Wild Rice (I use Uncle Ben’s)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon chopped onion
10-ounce package of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Cook rice according to package instructions.
While rice is cooking, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small pan, melt the butter and add the onion. Cook for a couple minutes to soften.
Scrape onion and butter into a large mixing bowl. Add spinach, mustard and salt. Mix to combine.
When rice is cooked, add to the bowl along with the cheese. Mix well and pour into an 8 x 8-inch casserole dish.
Bake, uncovered for 30-40 minutes.
This sure sounds good! I usually make this type of rice about once a year, I think we should have it more often:@) Happy New Year Liz!
So delicious and healthy too! I haven’t had any baked rice casserole in ages…this surely has me crave some!
This looks like a dish that would be universally enjoyed!
★★★★★
I grew up eating this casserole! I loved it so much and I’d almost forgotten about it – thank you so much for reminding me. Can’t wait to try your version of the recipe!!
★★★★★
Great tip to use the Potato ricer to squeeze out liquid, will definitely use it for a recipe I’m making for New Year ‘s Eve later today. The cheesey rice sounds awesome, will try it with cauliflower rice!
This casserole sounds good and would be a terrific easy to make side dish.
A good side dish is hard to find…but not anymore. This sounds great. Thanks, Liz!
★★★★★
Cooked spinach isn’t usually one of my go-to dishes but we would gobble this up in a heartbeat. This is great any time of the year!
★★★★★