It’s getting colder outside, and I’m starting to crave that cold weather food. Stews and braises have happened already happened, but one thing that’s been gnawing at me was a good, solid casserole.
Coming from the Midwest, I have casserole in my blood, and there’s nothing like the classic chicken wild rice casserole laced with chicken of the woods (or another meaty mushroom). I made sure to freeze some extra tender chickens just to make it this year.

The home version includes a crust of breadcrumbs and sunflower seeds.
Wild Wild Rice / Lake Rice

Wild wild rice. The real deal from the White Earth band of Ojibwe. Note the light color and how it isn’t shiny and black like paddy rice.

This is a great chicken of the woods recipe. In a perfect world you want tender nubbins like these.

This is a meal I can eat regularly. Just add a side of greens.

Restaurant version: fried shallots instead of breadcrumbs

Can you make this vegetarian?
Substituting other mushrooms for chicken of the woods
Of course you can use other mushrooms, but I really like the big meaty polypores here. Hen of the woods, or Ischnoderma resinosum would be my other top choices for wild mushroom substitutes, if I had to choose.
Wild Rice, Chicken of the Woods, and Chicken Casserole (Easy Home Version)
Ingredients
Crust
- ½ cup breadcrumbs or panko lightly toasted
- 3 tablespoons sunflower seeds lightly toasted
- Small handful of chopped parsley or similar optional
Wild Rice Casserole
- 2 cups of leftover chicken
- 8 ounces young, tender chicken of the woods mushrooms cut into 1 inch pieces, as you would chicken meat
- 2 cups chicken stock or equivalent like mushroom stock
- ¾ cup Chopped onion (1 medium-small onion) (green garlic makes a good substitute, and is what I actually used here)
- 2 large cloves Fresh garlic, finely chopped or pressed, etc
- 4 ounces lard or unsalted butter + more for drizzling over the top and sweating the mushrooms
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour or equivalent for the roux
- 1 cup heavy cream sour cream, or half and half
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or similar
- 4 cups cooked wild rice
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
Crust
- Mix the panko and sunflower seeds with the parsley if using and reserve.
Casserole
- Mix the stock and cream. Cook pieces of chicken of the woods in some fat, adding the onions or other alliums after the mushrooms have wilted and the edges of the pan are starting to color.
- Season with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes until the onions are translucent, then add the 4 oz of butter, melt, sprinkle over the flour and stir to make a roux. stir in the stock and cream in batches, stirring well after each one to prevent lumps and cook until thickened.
Assembly
- In a large mixing bowl (or the cooking pan) mix the wild rice, cooked chicken, thyme, stock and mushroom-allium mixture, taste and double check the seasoning, adjusting and tasting a few times to make sure the seasoning is dead-on, then put into a baking dish, like a 9x11 casserole size, or a 10 inch cast iron skillet.
Baking
- Top with the crumb-seed mixture, criss cross with melted lard or dot with butter and bake for 20-25 minutes at 450F, or until the crust is well browned and the mixture is hot.
I made the homemade version and substituted the chicken with walleye chunks (pre-cooked). Wonderful!!
I support walleye and mushroom casserole.