The TikTok One-Pot Casserole I’ll Be Making Long After the App Is Gone

With the threat of a TikTok ban looming, many creators have been sharing never-before-seen content or recreating some of their most viral videos. In the potential last few days of the social media app, users are soaking in the content and watching viral moments for what may be the final time.

One creator who’s looking back on her time on TikTok is Melissajorealrecipes. Over the years on the app, she’s amassed millions of views for her recipes, including lasagna soup, stuffed artichokes, and creamy chicken pasta. She even released her own cookbook, “Make It! The Best of Melissa Jo Real Recipes.”

Melissa Jo recently posted a video commemorating her first-ever viral recipe from 2020, Stick-of-Butter Rice (which garnered more than 10 million views!) with a new version of the previous hit: Stick-of-Butter Chicken and Rice.

What Is Stick-Of-Butter Chicken and Rice

Stick-of-Butter Chicken is exactly what you’d expect it to be—chicken cooked with an entire stick, or half cup, of butter. However, unlike our Famous Butter Chicken recipe, which tops breaded chicken with a cubed stick of butter, Melissa Jo’s recipe is more like a casserole made with rice, fresh mushrooms, canned soup, and cheese.

The one-pot casserole comes together in 5 minutes and only calls for a handful of ingredients, most of which are pantry staples or seasonings. The base of the dish—besides chicken, rice, and butter, of course—is condensed French onion soup and beef consommé. 

The savory canned soups add the trendy French onion flavor to the casserole and create the liquid that cooks the rice in the oven to save you a step. The final product is creamy, cheesy rice with mushrooms and moist, melt-in-your-mouth seasoned chicken that has dinner on the table with no fuss.

How to Make Stick-Of-Butter Chicken and Rice

If TikTok goes away—along with your saved recipe collection—here’s how to make Melissa Jo’s Stick-of-Butter Chicken and Rice at home.

In this order, you’ll add 2 cups of white rice (uncooked), 6 ounces of sliced mushrooms, 1 10.5-ounce can of condensed French onion soup mixed with 2 10.5-ounce cans of beef consomme, 1 stick of melted salted butter, and 1 cup of pecorino romano to a 9×13-inch baking dish.

Then, season 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 5 chicken thighs) with paprika and Complete Seasoning—or a blend of garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and oregano. Add the chicken to the baking dish, cover, and bake in a 350-degree F oven for 1 1/2 hours.

Once cooked, remove the foil, fluff the rice, and crank the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Put the dish back in the oven, this time uncovered, for another 8 to 10 minutes—or until the chicken begins to brown.

Melissa Jo serves her Stick-of-Butter Chicken as-is for dinner—however, I like to serve it with an extra veggie or salad on the side to really round out the meal. No matter how you serve it, though, it’s the perfect easy weeknight dinner that you can throw together in a pinch. It’s no wonder the recipe has gone viral twice now.