Chicken Noodle Casserole Recipe – A Delicious & Easy To Make Family Dinner Recipe

If you are looking for a delicious and comforting recipe to feed the family then you will love this Chicken Noodle Casserole Recipe. A creamy casserole that resembles the filling of a chicken pot pie but instead of it being topped with a pie crust it is mixed together with cooked egg noodles.

Then to make it even better the the mixture is placed in a casserole dish and topped with buttery Panko breadcrumbs. While the casserole bakes it will get nice and crispy on top and hot and bubbly in the center.

It is an easy dinner recipe to prepare and the entire family will walk away from the dinner table feeling full and satisfied. Best of all the entire casserole takes only minutes to assemble when you prepare a couple of ingredients ahead of time.

For instance, this recipe calls for cooked and shredded chicken as one of the primary ingredients. Although you could cook a whole chicken or a few chicken breasts or thighs and shred the meat, there are a couple of quicker options.

The first option is to purchase a rotisserie chicken from your local grocery or wholesale club. An average size of a rotisserie chicken will yield approximately 4 cups of shredded chicken.

Then you will have enough leftover meat to make Chicken and Potato Casserole or Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels. It is a great way to get a good amount of cooked chicken at a low cost.

However, you could also purchase a can of cooked and chunked chicken. Although this will be more expensive, it is a great pantry item that you can stock on your shelves for months.

Make Ahead Options

1. Chicken

As mentioned above you can purchase a rotisserie chicken to make this chicken noodle casserole recipe. However, you will need to pull the meat off the bone and shred it prior to it being mixed with the other ingredients.

It is best (and easiest) to do this when the chicken is still warm, but cool enough to handle. Simply pull the skin off and discard it.

Then use your hands or two forks to pull the meat off the bone. Once the meat has been removed, tear the chicken into small shreds.

You may want to cut any long strands in half for ease of eating. Then measure the 3 cups of shredded chicken and place in a covered dish and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble this recipe.

Or if you have fresh chicken breasts that you want to use simply cook and shred the meat up to 3 days in advance of making this recipe. My favorite way to cook fresh chicken breast for this recipe is by making Air Fryer Chicken Breasts.

I do this every Sunday and use the chicken for various meals throughout the week. It is a huge time saver and it helps me eat healthier when I have little time to prepare meals on busy weekdays.

As a guideline 1 pound of chicken breast will yield approximately 3 cups of shredded chicken.

2. Egg Noodles

In order to be called a casserole dish, it must contain a starch. And for this chicken noodle casserole recipe the starch comes from cooked and drained egg noodles.

The egg noodles are wide enough to support the other ingredients without falling apart during the baking process. Although they only take 7-8 minutes to cook to al’ dente consistency, it may take up to 20 minutes to get the noodles ready for the casserole.

This is because it can take as much as 10-12 minutes to get a large pot of water to boil. Therefore, if you want to prepare this meal quickly, it is best to cook the noodles in advance.

You can cook the noodles up to 3 days in advance. Then drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on top of the noodles and toss.

Then put them in a closed container and store them in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the casserole.

3. Diced Onions

Although it doesn’t seem like a huge time saver, dicing your onions ahead of time will save you more time than you realize. First, there is no need to spend time dicing onion every time a recipe calls for it.

Instead, dice an entire onion and place the pieces in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Then whenever you want to add a little onion to your Crispy Home Fries, omelet, or a batch of homemade soup, they are cut and ready to go!

1 medium onion yields approximately 1 cup diced. Therefore, for this recipe, you would use 1/2 cup diced onion.

Not only are you saving time by having the onion already cut, it is also a huge time saver when it comes to doing the dishes. Instead of having to wash the cutting board and knife each time a recipe calls for diced onions you only have to wash and dry it a fraction of the time.

It may sound minimal, however any time that I can eliminate time washing dishes it is worth it to me!

Chicken Noodle Casserole Recipe

*Specific measurements and complete recipe instructions are located in a printable recipe card at the bottom of this article. However, be sure to continue to read the tips and tricks to making this recipe below.

INGREDIENTS

• 12 ounce package egg noodles, cooked and drained
• 3 cups of shredded or diced cooked chicken
• 2 (10 ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas and carrots
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F (190°C). Then spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Set it aside.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked and shredded or diced chicken, diced onion, cream of chicken soup, mayonnaise, milk, shredded cheese, frozen peas and carrots, salt and pepper. This is the filling for your chicken noodle casserole.

Stir the mixture until well combined. Then gently stir in the cooked and drained egg noodles.

Next, pour the noodle mixture in the prepared baking dish. Be sure to spread it out evenly in the dish and set it aside while you prepare the topping.

Place the melted butter in a medium size bowl. Stir in the Panko breadcrumbs until the butter is absorbed and the breadcrumbs are moist. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the casserole.

Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes. Cook until the edges are bubbly and the top is light golden brown in color.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy! Mary

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