Cheesy Chicken Casserole is an easy, cozy dinner with tender pasta, chicken, peppers, and onions in a creamy cheesy sauce. It’s topped with more cheese and baked until hot, melty, and bubbly.
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Why I Love This Chicken Casserole
If you’re looking for a weeknight dinner, cheesy chicken casserole is your answer. It’s super quick to make.
You can use leftovers or rotisserie chicken or make poached chicken breasts (it’s great with baked chicken breasts too)!
Swap out the cream of chicken soup for cream of mushroom or celery in this dish.
This cheesy chicken casserole can be prepped ahead of time and kept in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it meaning you can make it tonight and cook it tomorrow!
Ingredient Notes
This easy chicken casserole can be adapted to use whatever you might have in your fridge:
- Chicken: Swap it for turkey or ham if it’s all you have on hand.
- Pasta: Any medium pasta will work in this recipe. Be sure to cook it al dente (so it’s still a bit firm), it’ll cook more in the oven.
- Vegetables: Cook and/or drain your veggies before adding to this casserole. Mushrooms, diced tomatoes (drained if using canned), leftover Grilled Zucchini or roasted veggies all work well.
- Sauce: Use cream of whatever-you-have-in-your-pantry (or make a homemade condensed mushroom soup). Of course any kind of cheese goes here!
- Topping: Chicken casseroles are a staple basically everywhere, usually topped with cheese. It’s also great with a bread crumb topping. Combine 3 tablespoons panko crumbs with 1 tablespoon melted butter (add a bit of garlic powder, salt & pepper too). Sprinkle overtop and bake as directed.
How To Make a Cheesy Chicken Casserole
The steps to make this chicken casserole are pretty simple:
- Boil pasta al dente.
- Soften onion and peppers in butter.
- Mix the sauce ingredients and cheese. Stir in chicken and pasta.
- Top with cheese and bake until bubbly.
Serve it with your favorite sides and enjoy!
How To Reheat
To reheat it, just pop it back in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes! If the sauce is a creamy sauce like a mac and cheese, I usually add a dash of milk and cover before heating.
If you are using the microwave to reheat the cheesy chicken casserole, add a splash of milk to the dish and stir it half way through cooking to keep it from drying out.
What to Serve with Chicken Casserole
Did you enjoy this Cheesy Chicken Casserole? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups medium shells uncooked
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion finely diced
- ⅓ cup diced red bell pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon seasoned salt
- 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 ⅓ cups milk
- 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided
- ⅓ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 3 cups cooked chopped chicken
- 4 ounces canned mild green chiles
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375°F.
- Cook shells al dente according to package directions.
- In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and red bell pepper and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder and seasoned salt.
- In a large bowl combine soup, onion mixture, milk, 2 cups cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese. Mix well. Stir in chicken, green chiles, and pasta.
- Spread into a 9×13 casserole dish. Top with remaining 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese.
- Bake 30-35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Main Course
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What a fantastic recipe! I really appreciate its adaptability—you can easily switch the soup base, vary the vegetables, or even use different proteins. The tip about cooking the pasta al dente before baking is incredibly helpful as well. This truly feels like a foolproof dinner option!
Unless you really lie the taste of seasoned salt I would leave it out the little bit that’s in there for me overwhelms the dish
Always can find a way to use the food in pantry to make a yummy meal
This is so dang good!! I can always count on you for the yummiest meal!
I was wondering if /how you could make this in the crockpot?
I haven’t tried this in the slow cooker so it’s hard to say, please let us know how it goes for you!
How spicy are green chili’s ?
Mild green chiles are not spicy.
This was so good I ate 4 servings. I ate white rice with it.
So good!!
I made this with a few modifications and it is easily one of my favorite meal preps, making it again this week!
I used quinoa noodles, added more peppers, spinach, zucchini, and garlic.
I subbed fake cheddar and Parmesan, used oatmilk instead of milk. Also added tumeric.
Boiled chicken breast and then shredded it.
So freaking delicious!
This casserole recipe is easy to make and tasty, but too salty. I would suggest eliminating the salt called for in the recipe and using low sodium soup.
Absolutely delicious. Love the little tang the chili powder and mild chilies give this dish.
This looks delicious! Would it freeze well?
I have not frozen this recipe but other readers have frozen it with good results.
Where do the mild chiles come in? It does not seem to be outlined in the recipe instructions.
Hi Flavia, the mild greens are stirred into the casserole in step 4.