Mississippi Chicken Casserole Recipe
Chicken Casserole, the ultimate comfort food
A true comfort food, this Mississippi chicken casserole is one of my favorite recipes. It’s an easy meal to get on the table for busy weeknights, high in protein, and made with simple ingredients. No canned soups here, but still just as easy!
It’s made with frozen veggies, egg noodles, a creamy sauce, tangy peppers, and homemade dairy-free ranch dressing mix you’ll want to mix with everything.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- High protein and makes great leftovers for meal prep.
- It’s an easy recipe and a family favorite, ideal for busy nights and picky eaters.
- Huge serving size with 30g of protein.
- No canned soup or seasoning packets!
Homemade cream of chicken for the win.
One thing I love about this casserole is that everything is made from scratch and no canned soups. Homemade is a great way to control exactly what goes in your food. With a few minutes of prep time, you will be a believer after trying this!
Homemade cream of chicken soup is so simple you’ll be shocked. Chicken broth, milk, flour, and a few simple seasonings…that’s it! And with 6 basic ingredients, you likely have on hand, behold a homemade ranch mix better tasting (and cheaper) than grocery store-bought.
Save the extra seasoning for next time or add to cottage cheese, Greek yogurt or your favorite dressing for a flavor boost.
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Can I store-bought cream of chicken?
I highly recommend trying this easy homemade version, but if store-bought is better for you, that totally works too! Use one 10 oz. can of cream of chicken in place of homemade in this chicken casserole.
Can you make this ahead of time?
Yes and no. If you want to make this easy casserole ahead of time, I suggest prepping everything but do not combine with the noodles. Cook the chicken, make the sauce and mix everything together but do not add the uncooked noodles until ready to bake. The noodles will get soggy if mixed and not cooked immediately.
Ingredients:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions for Mississippi Chicken Casserole. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Variations and Substitutions
- You can use rotisserie chicken, boneless skinless chicken thighs, ground beef or ground turkey.
- Feel free to omit the noodles or use zoodles for a low carb option.
- Use mild pepperoncini or for an extra spicy casserole use medium heat.
- Use 2 Tbsp. store-bought ranch seasoning mix in place of homemade.
- You can substitute homemade cream of chicken with 1 – 10 oz. can of cream of chicken soup.
How to make this Mississippi chicken casserole (a visual step-by-step guide):
Step 1: Preheat oven and prep the casserole dish.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a large 9×13-inch casserole dish. The casserole will be filled to the brim, so make sure to use a large enough dish.
Step 2: Cook chicken
Place the raw chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes until fully cooked through and no longer pink (image 1).
Once cooked through, shred with two forks (image 2) or a hand mixer (my preferred method!).
Step 3: Sauté onions and garlic
While the chicken cooks, saute the onions and garlic in cooking spray until the onions are slightly translucent and fragrant (image 3). Remove and place in a large mixing bowl.
Step 4: Make homemade cream of chicken soup
In the same pan you cooked the onions and garlic, make the homemade cream of chicken soup. Add the chicken broth, milk, flour, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper to the pan (image 4).
Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat and whisk it continuously until it thickens (image 5). This happens very quickly, in minutes! Once it’s thickened and resembles the canned cream of chicken soup, remove it from the heat and add to the large mixing bowl with the onion mixture.
Step 5: Make homemade ranch dressing
In a small mixing bowl combine the ranch seasoning ingredients and mix to combine.
Step 6: Mix together
To the same large mixing bowl add the shredded cooked chicken, Greek yogurt, low-fat milk, melted butter, half of the Monterey Jack cheese, uncooked noodles, mixed vegetables, chopped pepperoncini, and the 3 Tbsp. of the homemade ranch seasoning (image 6).
Mix until everything is well incorporated (image 7).
Step 7: Pour into the casserole dish
Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish, smoothing it out with a spoon (image 8).
Sprinkle the remaining Monterey Jack cheese on top of the chicken mixture (image 9).
Step 8: Bake
Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the foil and continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the noodles are tender and the cheese is melted and bubbly (image 9). If you’d like a golden top, you can broil it for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Step 9: Cool and serve!
Allow the casserole to rest for a few minutes before serving.
What to serve with this chicken casserole
Serve this easy chicken recipe on it’s own or, if you opted to make without noodles, serve over rice, mashed potatoes, another cooked noodle variety or zoodles. A side salad or roasted veggies are a perfect addition to this dish.
How to store this chicken casserole
Store in an airtight container for up to five days. The best way to reheat the next day is in the microwave or oven.
If you like this casserole be sure to check out some of our other chicken recipes
- Crockpot French Onion Chicken
- Grilled Teriyaki Chicken
- Chicken Teriyaki Pineapple Bowls
- Thai Chicken Noodles
If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and/or comment! Tag me on Instagram @ohsnapmacros, I love hearing from you!
Mississippi Chicken Casserole Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts raw
- 1/2 medium yellow onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt 226 g
- 1/2 cup 2% low-fat milk 120 ml
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 112 g
- 3 cups uncooked wide egg noodles 6 oz.
- 12 oz. bag frozen mixed veggies (corn, peas, carrots, green beans) or any of your choice defrosted
- 16 oz. jar of pepperoncini (mild heat) drained and roughly chopped
- 3 Tbsp. homemade ranch seasoning (see below)
Ranch Seasoning
- 3 Tbsp. dried parsley
- 1 Tbsp. dried dill
- 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp. onion powder
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. fresh cracked pepper
- 1 Tbsp. dried chives optional
Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1.5 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 3/4 cup low-fat 2% milk 180 ml
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 40 g
- 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a large 9×13 inch casserole dish. The casserole will be filled to the brim, so make sure to use a large enough dish.
- Place the raw chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes until fully cooked through and no longer pink. Once cooked through shred with two forks or a hand mixer.
- While the chicken cooks, saute the onions and garlic in cooking spray until the onions are slightly translucent and fragrant. Place in a large mixing bowl.
- In the same pan you cooked the onions and garlic, make the homemade cream of chicken soup substitute. Add the chicken broth, milk, flour, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper to the pan. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat and whisk it continuously until it thickens. This happens quickly, in minutes! Once it’s thickened and resembles canned cream of chicken soup, remove it from the heat and add to the large mixing bowl with the onion mixture.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the ranch seasoning ingredients and mix to combine.
- To the same large mixing bowl as the onions and soup mixture, add the shredded chicken, Greek yogurt, low-fat milk, melted butter, half of the Monterey Jack cheese, uncooked noodles, mixed vegetables, chopped pepperoncini, and 3 Tbsp. of homemade ranch seasoning. Mix until everything is well incorporated.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish, smoothing it out with a spoon. You want to be sure to press the noodles into the mixture so that they cook in the cream of chicken soup. Sprinkle the remaining Monterey Jack cheese on top.
- Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the foil and continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the noodles are tender and the cheese is melted and bubbly. If you’d like a golden top, you can broil it for an additional 2-3 minutes.
- Allow the casserole to rest for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
- The serving size is 299 grams
- Use medium pepperoncini for spicier casserole.
- Make sure to use a large 9 x 13 baking dish as the casserole will be filled to the brim.
- You want to be sure not to overcook the soup so that it reduces, JUST long enough to thicken or you will not have enough liquid to cook the noodles. If you do not have enough liquid to cook the pasta you can add 1/4-1/2 cup chicken broth. Noodles that are not covered with the cream of chicken will come out uncooked.
- Substitute homemade cream of chicken with 1 – 10oz. Can or 2 for extra creamy.
Is this something you can put all together and freeze before cooking? I have a lot of leftover turkey from Friendsgiving and wasn’t sure if it was useable for that?
Sounds absolutely wonderful! I’m new to your site (which is SO highly rated!), how do I know the serving size?? For example—the 299g is equal to maybe 1 cup or so?
The servings are listed in grams since that’s the easiest way for people tracking their macros. In the future I’ll look into adding cups for those not tracking or not as worried about the accuracy! Thanks!!
I made this for my picky family, and everyone loved it. I took the shortcuts, using canned cream of chicken and store bought ranch, to speed everything up. It was still absolutely delicious and I’ll be making it again soon for meal prep.
I only used half of the peppers, because I am a big baby 🙂 But really loved this, it was very filling and so flavorful!
Totally get that! Better to start small when it comes to spicy, right??
Can you freeze cooked or uncooked?
I’ve personally never tried to freeze this, sorry.
I got a little lazy and used cream of chicken soup and ranch seasoning from the pantry. But it was the pepperoncinis that were the hit for my taste buds!!
Agree! They add so much!!
Absolutely delicious and easy to make. Followed the recipe exactly. I’ll make again!
Thank you!!
Absolutely loved this casserole! It had a great homey feel. I also loved that we got to make our own cream of chicken soup and it was insanely easy to do too! I had left the peppers out of the casserole because I’m the only one that likes them in my family and it was still outstanding. I was licking the spoon after I put it in the oven. A perfect meal for weeknights!
Spoon licking good!! Love it haha! Thank you.
A delicious and hardy meal!
Glad you like it!
Very delicious. I cooked the chicken breast in the instant pot on high pressure for 30 mins with chicken broth, ranch seasoning and some pepper juice, then shredded with a hand mixer. I also just used two packets of spicy ranch seasoning and a can of cream of chicken to save time & $$$$.
Yum!! Great and easy swaps!
Made this tonight. Only used half the pepperocinis because I wasn’t sure how my boys would like it. One of my kiddos told me I need to make this again, the other claimed the leftovers for dinner later in the week! (Next time I’ll add all the pepperocinis.) Another winner!!!
I love that!!!! Thank you!
Very yummy! We ate this for several meals through the week. Love having the macros calculated! Next time I won’t use so many peppers- I’m a wimp and couldn’t handle that much spice!
I’m so glad you loved it and can easily swap around the heat level!!
Loved the homemade ranch seasoning and cream of chicken soup. Definitely a staple moving forward!
Thank you!! So easy, right??
My family loved this. Definitely going to be made regularly in my house.
Yay!! So great to hear that!
Just made this for meal prep comfort dinners this week!! Will totally hit the spot!! I used Trader Joes ranch dressing mix instead of making the recipe (only cause I was short on time) used carrots Peas and extra onions. No peppers.. It is delicious!! Thank you!!
I’m so glad you loved it!! Thank you!