EASY Chicken and Potato Casserole Recipe (Perfect For Busy Weeknights)

This easy chicken potato casserole recipe combines tender chicken breasts with baby potatoes, crispy bits of bacon, warm melty cheesy, and a creamy sauce that's to die for. It's comfort food at its finest, and it takes just 5 minutes to prep, then the oven takes care of the rest. Plus, just 6 basic ingredients are all you'll need to put this chicken potato casserole together.

The Best Chicken Potato Casserole

If you love hearty casseroles, then I guarantee this cheesy chicken potato casserole recipe is about to become one of your favorites! It's jam-packed with juicy chicken, tender potatoes, and crispy bacon, then all of that gets topped with some ranch dressing and melty shredded cheese. 

I mean, how delicious does that sound?

Plus, this potato and chicken casserole is super simple to make too. The entire recipe is pretty much just letting the casserole bake in the oven. All you're really responsible for is adding the ingredients to your casserole dish. Honestly, the hardest part about this recipe is just waiting for it to finish cooking! 

By the way, while it's cooking, you'll have plenty of time to whip up some sides to go with it. I love making some veggies and this air fryer garlic bread since the oven will be in use.

Ingredients

As I mentioned earlier, this chicken and potato casserole is made with only a handful of ingredients. And, since they're all so basic, you might already have them at home! 

Anyway, here's everything you'll need to make it:

• 1 pound baby gold potatoes, diced
• ½ pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1-inch cubes)
• ½ cup prepared ranch dressing, divided use
• 1 cup Mexican cheese blend (or cheddar cheese)
• ½ cup cooked and crumbled bacon
• ½ cup diced green onion
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Simple stuff, right?

By the way, if you have leftover potatoes and bacon, you can use them for lunch the next day in this hearty and delicious 4 Ingredient potato soup recipe. 

Ingredient Substitutions and Suggestions

While I recommend making this chicken and potato casserole with the ingredients listed above, there are a few ways that you can change up this casserole, and make it turn out just as delicious.

First off, you can use different kinds of chicken. This potato chicken casserole recipe calls for chicken breasts, but you can also use boneless skinless chicken thighs, cooked rotisserie chicken, or shredded chicken leftovers you may have from previous nights. With that said, if you use cooked chicken, you can skip the part of the recipe where you have to cook the chicken. 

As for the creamy base, if you want to turn it into more of a sauce, you can mix half a cup of mushroom soup - or cream of chicken soup - into the ranch dressing.

Another option you have to level-up the creamy base is to add a few tablespoons of some cream cheese or sour cream to it. I'm a big fan of adding cream cheese to it. It just takes the creaminess up to level 1000.

Finally, a really simple way to enhance the flavor is by adding some extra seasonings. Garlic powder, ranch seasoning, fresh garlic, and yellow onion can all give your casserole a boost of tasty tastiness.

How To Make Chicken Potato Casserole

As far as easy chicken casserole recipes go, this one might be the easiest ever.

Basically, all you have to do is cook the potatoes and the chicken. Then, you just layer them, along with the rest of the ingredients, in a small casserole dish and bake. Sounds pretty easy, right?

Anyway, let's not waste any more time and get cooking!

Step 1: Cook The Potatoes

First, before we get into the recipe, you'll need to preheat your oven to 400°F (200ºC) and spray a 9x9 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Now, once you have that out of the way, you can work on the potatoes since they will take longer to cook than the chicken. 

So, in a large bowl, you can mix the diced potatoes, salt and pepper, and ¼ cup of ranch dressing.

Once the potatoes are completely covered with the seasonings, you can pour them into the prepared baking tray and spread them out evenly. Then, in the preheated oven, you can bake the potatoes for 30 minutes, stirring 'em every 10 minutes, until they're almost cooked through and tender. 

Step 2: Cook The Chicken

While the potatoes are baking, it's time to start marinating the chicken.

So, you'll want to add the cubed chicken to the bowl you used for the potatoes and then add salt, pepper, and the remaining ¼ cup ranch dressing to it. Now you can give all of these ingredients a good mix and wait for the potatoes to finish cooking.

When the potatoes are done baking, you can remove the casserole dish from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 350°F (180ºC). Then, you can top the cooked potatoes evenly with the raw marinated chicken and cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil.

Place the casserole dish back in the oven and let it cook for 20 minutes.

Step 3: Add The Toppings

After 20 minutes is up,  you can take the baking dish out of the oven.

At this point, the chicken should be mostly cooked, and the potatoes should be fork-tender. So, now at this point, you can top your casserole with the shredded cheese, bacon, and diced green onion. Then, after you've done that, you can put the casserole dish back in the oven for 8-10 more minutes or until the cheddar cheese is completely melted and bubbly.

Finally, you can serve this delicious hearty casserole warm and enjoy!

How To Store Chicken Potato Casserole

This recipe for chicken potato casserole makes about 4-6 servings.

This means it makes the perfect amount for a big family dinner, and if you're lucky, you might even have some leftovers!

Speaking of leftovers, they store really, really well. So, to store whatever's left of your chicken and potato casserole, just allow it to cool to room temperature and then transfer it to the fridge in an airtight container. Stored this way, you're chicken casserole will last for about 3-4 days. 

Alternatively, to store it even longer, you can freeze it in a freezer-safe container. It should last in the freezer for about 3 months if you store it like this.

How To Reheat Chicken Casserole

Once you're ready to enjoy this delicious casserole again, it's definitely best reheated.

So, to reheat your potato and chicken casserole, simply add it to a casserole dish with a little broth and pop it back in the oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes.

Alternatively, to warm it up even quicker, you can reheat your casserole in the microwave in 1-minute intervals until it reaches your desired temperature.

If you froze the entire casserole (precooked), just let it thaw in the fridge overnight. Then, reheat it in the oven at 350°F for about 15 minutes or until it's completely warmed through.

Wrapping It Up

Well, that's how to make chicken potato casserole in just a few simple steps!

I don't know if it's the combination of chicken, bacon, and ranch, the cheesiness throughout, or the tender bits of potatoes in each bite, I just know that I can't get enough of this recipe!

It's been my go-to comfort food meal recently, and it's been a weekly dinner option at the Cunningham household. My family seriously loves it, and I have a feeling your family is going to love it too.

Anyway, I hope you like this casserole as much as I/we do.

As always, if you give it a try, be sure to leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts! 

More Casserole Recipes

If you're looking for some more easy casserole recipes, we have a bunch on the blog that you can try out next! 

Here are some reader favorites:

• Million dollar spaghetti casserole
• Cowboy casserole
• Loaded baked potato casserole
• French onion chicken casserole
  
• Chicken mushroom casserole

Oh, and be sure to check us out on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram! We post new recipes on them every day.

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