Buffalo Chicken and Rice Slow Cooker Casserole

I rarely identify with the term comfort food. I think it’s because, unless you are force feeding me steamed broccoli or those crunchy fancy green beans, I consider all foods comforting. I may be partial to carbs, but a salad or spring roll can bring about as much comfort and nostalgia for me as mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. 

But I get it, and if you wanted me to come up with some comfort foods, using the true sense of the word, one thing that comes to mind is the classic casserole. 

Casseroles have gotten a bad wrap in recent years, and rightly so given the usual ingredients. But as most of us move on from mixing condensed canned soup with other boxes of ingredients and calling it delicious, there are still ways to make casseroles. 

The first thing that comes to mind with this recipe for me is that old school cheesy chicken and rice casserole. You know, where the rice is kind of mush and the chicken can barely be detected, but it’s so flavorful and comforting. 

This one swaps out cheesy-ness for spicy buffalo chicken inspired flavor. Although, I can imagine that a sprinkle of blue cheese on top wouldn’t be half bad. 

I’m not a huge fan of cooking ingredients before they go into a slow cooker. It defeats the purpose for me. But that being said, I did brown the chicken for this recipe. There is just something about using chicken thighs that makes me want them a little firm and crispy around the edges. It only takes a couple minutes and you can pop them right into a dry, non-stick skillet. 

I use white rice in this recipe, but brown can be substituted. Just watch it closely towards the end in case the brown rice needs more liquid. You also don’t have to cook your rice down completely. I wanted my chicken to be super easy to shred, so the rice in this is almost like grits or a thick porridge verses defined grains. 

Serve it with extra hot sauce because as the recipe is written, it is lightly seasoned. That way, once it has finished cooking if you don’t want it to be spicy you can sprinkle in a little salt to your taste, but if you do like heat, you can skip salt and drown it in more hot sauce at the table.

Of course, we need a few greens. Finely chopped celery and celery leaves are perfect for sprinkling over the top. 

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