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Casserole season is every season and today we’re sharing our very best chicken casserole recipes! Best part? All of these dishes are both balanced and healthy made with real ingredients.
PS: before we share all of our favorite chicken casserole recipes, sink your teeth into the most flavorful (and easiest!) chicken casserole!
You know when you have “nothing to eat?” That’s when you make a chicken casserole recipe! Today we’re sharing all of our very best chicken casserole inspo + a classic chicken and rice casserole recipe that you’re going to absolutely love.
Table of Contents
What is Chicken Casserole?
A chicken casserole is when you cook all parts of your chicken meal in a baking dish. Usually, the ingredients you use in your chicken casserole are uncooked for a quick “throw everything into a dish and bake it” kind of meal. Typically a chicken casserole includes 4 parts:
- Grain: pasta or rice
- Chicken: breast or thighs
- Vegetables: all kinds!
- Sauce: cheese sauce, roux, etc.
From midwestern chicken and rice casserole to creative Asian-inspired casseroles like orange chicken casserole, we are huge fans of taking classic chicken dinners and turning them into casseroles.
Like I mentioned above, most chicken casserole dishes that you’ll find on FFF use raw ingredients so you can toss everything into your baking dish and bake it. None of that hour+ prep time!
Take Chicken Tikka Masala for instance. You’re going to serve that with some kind of vegetable and grain, so why not make a Chicken Tikka Masala Casserole?
Ceramic Dish vs. Baking Pan
First things first, let’s talk casserole dishes! Our chicken casserole recipes call for ceramic casserole dishes and let me tell you, there is a difference between that and a baking pan. Casserole dishes are like cast iron pans in that they bake things more evenly and faster than a normal metal baking pan.
We much prefer to use a ceramic casserole dish for our chicken casserole recipes for this exact reason. However, no fear if you don’t have one! A baking pan will work just fine, you may just need to adjust your bake time.
Favorite Ceramic Casserole Dishes
- Avery Ceramic Baking Dish
- Stoneware Rectangular Baking Dish
- Williams Sonoma Rectangular Baking Dish
What can I use if I don’t have a casserole dish?
Feel free to use a deep cast-iron skillet or a dutch oven in place of a casserole dish! You can even use a cake pan.
Do you cook chicken before putting it in a casserole?
You do not need to cook your chicken before putting it into a casserole if you plan to cook your casserole for at least 45 minutes in the oven.
How long can you keep chicken casserole in the fridge?
Most chicken casseroles will last 3-5 days in the fridge.
Storage tip: make sure to store your casserole in an airtight container with the lid on.
Can I freeze chicken casserole?
Chicken casserole is a great meal to freeze for later. Let your casserole cool completely and then cover it with a piece of plastic wrap, pressing it onto the top of your casserole and removing as much air as possible. Then, cover it with a piece of tin foil doing the same thing.
freezer tip
We suggest baking your chicken casserole in a disposable tin casserole dish. This will free up your other casserole dishes for real-time baking.
What do you eat with chicken casserole?
The great thing about a chicken casserole is that all parts of your meal are usually baked right into the casserole. Typically you get a grain, vegetable, and carb, so there really is no need to serve it with anything else. However here are a few suggestions: