It seems like moms everywhere have always been big on Tuna Noodle Casserole as a comfort food staple, but Tuna Rice Casserole deserves its share of the limelight too. It’s a creamy bake that uses an easy pantry protein, just like the noodle version, but here the comforting carbs come in the form of tender long-grain white rice. This recipe uses a quick creamy homemade sauce and no canned soup at all, and while that might draw you in, you’ll stay for the crispy, buttery cracker crumb topping.

Instead of the cream of whatever soup you often find in tuna casseroles, this bake relies on a roux-based sauce for its creaminess. You simply start by sauteeing some onions in butter before stirring in some flour and cooking it just until the flour taste is gone.

That thickens up the milk that you stir in next, along with a bit of cheddar cheese.

Then come the hearty bits – like white rice, canned tuna, green peas – and some sour cream to up the creaminess factor.

It heads into a casserole dish and gets topped with a mixture of Ritz cracker crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

It gets nice and bubbly in the oven, but the topping gets delightfully golden brown and crisp. I’ve had plenty of cracker crumb toppings before but the way this one mingles with the nutty Parmesan cheese is not to be missed.

I mean just look at that topping! I could go on and on about it, but the good news is that the actual casserole below is just as worth rattling on about. It’s creamy and just cheesy enough and is the kind of delicious warming comfort that you always want out of a casserole.