An Easy Family Favorite
- Noodles and chicken make the ideal combination for a quick and simple dinner.
- Use common pantry ingredients to make the shortcut sauce, or if you have time, use the homemade sauce listed in the notes.
- Use leftover meats and vegetables from your fridge to make this dish.
- In just 30 minutes, savor this casserole dinner, or make it ahead of time for a hectic weeknight meal.
Maintain the staples, such as the meat and cream of chicken soup, but feel free to switch up the additions based on what you have on hand!
Pasta: Instead of egg noodles, try fusilli, penne, tortellini, or any other medium-sized pasta.
Chicken: For this recipe, use either leftover cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken. Diced ham or leftover turkey for a change.
Add your preferred frozen vegetables, such as peas, carrots, or broccoli. When adding fresh veggies to a dish, cook them until they are crisp-tender.
Sauce: A homemade version is included in the recipe notes, but the quick version uses cream of chicken soup.
- For a twist, try substituting your preferred cheese for the cheddar, such as pepper jack.
- Instead of Panko bread crumbs, crushed Ritz crackers or potato chips make an excellent topping.
- If desired, garnish the sauce with herbs like parsley or fresh thyme.
A FAMILY FAVORITE DINNER RECIPE
I love a good casserole. A delicious and substantial meal that can be prepared in a single baking dish is unbeatable. This one is made with easy to find ingredients. Actually, the majority of these ingredients are most likely already in your pantry!
I created this recipe to be a “pantry” recipe. which implies that I wanted you to be able to make it with nearly all of the ingredients in your pantry. However, you could boil chicken and dice it. You could use a store-bought rotisserie chicken. You could use leftover roasted chicken. Several options are available to you based on your individual preferences.
Cream of celery or cream of mushroom make excellent alternatives to cream of chicken. Alternatively, you may attempt preparing your own cream of chicken soup!
Simply use crushed Ritz, crushed Saltine, or regular bread crumbs.
Although I haven’t tried it, please let me know if you make this recipe in an Instant Pot or Crock Pot!
Yes! Prepare the casserole as directed but don’t bake. Cover the casserole very well. Before freezing, I usually cover the area with a layer of plastic wrap and then another layer of aluminum foil. It will last up to 3 months. Let casserole partially defrost before baking. It will likely require an additional 10 minutes or so of baking time because you are baking it from cold.
Leftovers from this chicken noodle casserole keep well in the refrigerator for up to three days when stored in an airtight container.
How to Freeze Casseroles
Casseroles freeze well, making them an excellent option for last-minute potluck meals or future dinners. Just watch out that a casserole containing raw meat shouldn’t be frozen. Here’s an easy method for freezing any kind of casserole!.
- Aluminum foil or parchment paper should be used to line the bottom of a casserole dish, overlapping by at least 6 inches on each side.
- Assemble the casserole and chill it overnight in the refrigerator. Tightly wrap the casserole in plastic wrap and mark the date on it.
- Freeze the casserole. After the dish is frozen, you can remove the foil from the pan and use it again.
- Place the casserole in the freezer. You can reuse your pan by simply lifting the foil out of it once it has frozen.
