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Homemade Chicken Noodle Casserole. Swapping the canned goods once used in this recipe, and making my family’s favorite chicken noodle casserole just a little healthier, plus so much tastier! Think of this casserole as a creamy baked version of chicken noodle soup, with shredded chicken, vegetables, noodles and topped with salty, crunchy Kettle Brand Potato Chips. Comfort food at its best, this recipe is sure to become a family favorite.
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There are a few foods I ate a lot of while growing up, chicken and rice, pasta with butter, pot roast, tacos, and chicken noodle casserole. Typical kid friendly foods, typical midwest foods, Gerard classics. You’ve probably noticed, but I don’t really share that kind of food here on HBH. Yes, plenty of chicken and rice, ok, pasta and tacos too, but the casseroles are not something I dive into all that much. That said, I still make these foods every so often, especially when a brother comes into town…because they are family favorites.
With the official start of fall coming next week, and my older brother’s recent visit, I thought it was the perfect time to take one of his favorite recipes and make it 100% from scratch. If you’ve ever made chicken noodle casserole, then you know it’s typically filled with a lot of canned soup and processed ingredients. I’m really not a fan of using canned soup (and definitely don’t like using processed ingredients). So I ditched the cans and made a completely homemade version of our longtime family favorite, chicken noodle casserole. This recipe is simple to make, healthier, and so comforting.
My goal when I set out to make this casserole was to make it as close to the original as possible, but without using any weird ingredients, and also to bump up the vegetable content.
Here’s all the nitty-gritty details.
Basically we’re making chicken noodle soup, so the recipe starts with the usual onion, garlic, and carrot combo. You’ll season everything with fresh herbs and sprinkle in a little bit of flour to help thicken the soup base. To make things creamy, but not too rich, I stirred in whole milk instead of heavy cream.
The key to making this dish delicious is the noodles, chicken, and bread ratios. You’ll want lots of egg noodles, some chicken, and good bread to make the flavors and textures spot on, and just like the classic casserole I grew up eating. Also, if you wanted to add in more veggies, I would recommend stirring in frozen peas or chopped broccoli florets.
So that’s the base of the dish, chicken noodle soup, thickened up and made creamy. Delicious.
But, no casserole is complete without a crunchy topping. Enter in the Kettle Brand potato chips. Oh my gosh. If you’ve never used potato chips as a crunchy topping for baked casseroles like mac and cheese, potatoes, and of course chicken noodle casserole, you are totally missing out.
Side Note: you can really see my midwest roots shining through in today’s recipe. I kind of love it.
I’ve been crunching up potato chips and using them in place of breadcrumbs for years. They just make baked casseroles that much better and give them a whole new, deliciously salty finish. SO GOOD. I use Kettle Brand chips because they’re perfectly salted (this is very important). They’re also sturdy enough to hold up to oven baking.
I’ve made this several times since first testing the recipe. It is now safe to say that all of my family (and friends) love this homemade chicken noodle casserole soo much. Therefore, I’ve decided that going back to my mom and dad’s outdated “retro” recipe is just not an option.
As I always like to say, homemade is best.
Excited to have this recipe in my back pocket for cozy fall and winter dinners to come. Best part? I can make it ahead of time and then just bake before dinner, AND, this recipe works perfectly to freeze and bake later as well!
You see, perfection.
Watch the How To Video:
If you make these homemade chicken noodle casserole, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Homemade Chicken Noodle Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 of a yellow onion, chopped
- kosher salt and pepper
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 3 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 3 cups cubed whole grain bread
- 2 cups uncooked egg noodles
- 1 1/2 cups cooked shredded or cubed chicken
- 1 cup crushed Kettle Brand potato chips
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9×13 inch baking dish or large round baker.2. Add the olive oil to a large skillet set over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and cook until softened and slightly caramelized, about 5 minutes, season with salt + pepper. Add the butter, carrots and garlic and continue to cook another 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme and cayenne. 3. Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and cook, stirring to incorporate, for another minute. Slowly pour in the chicken broth and milk, season with salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a low boil and then reduce the heat to medium, simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat, stir in the parsley. Let cool until no longer hot to touch, then stir in the eggs.4. Add the cubed bread, noodles, and chicken, tossing to combine. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top evenly with Kettle Chips. Transfer to the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the filling is bubbling and the the top is golden. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
{This post is sponsored by Kettle Brand. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep Half Baked Harvest cooking!!}
This was so good! I’m definitely saving this recipe. It was so easy to put together, I already had all of the ingredients in my pantry, and my entire family loved it! Thank you so much
Thank you Mary! I am so glad this turned out perfectly for you!
Family winner!! We subbed full fat coconut milk because of a dairy allergy and earth butter. Still amazing and huge hit with whole family. Cozy comfort food winner 🙂 Thank-you
Thank you so much Katie! I am so glad you and your family loved this!
Made this for a Sunday dinner and it was great! Perfect fall dish and had enough leftovers to take to lunch the next day. Will definitely be adding this into the rotation of fall dishes.
I am so glad you enjoyed this Neha! Thank you!
Thanks for the delicious recipe! I made it tonight and we all really enjoyed it! My sauce never thickened on the stove, but the casserole wasn’t soggy so it must have done the trick. Thanks for giving us a new cool-weather favorite recipe!
Thank you so much Sarah! I am so glad you loved this!
This recipe looks amazing and I’m hoping to prepare a double batch in moments. Do you think ground chicken would work as well as the shredded/cubed chicken? Thanks, I can’t wait!!
HI! I am sure ground chicken will be great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan
Fantastic! We loved it. I love reading your blog. Your photos are beautiful. You are inspiring! Thank you.
Thank you DeeDee!
This sound wonderful. Usually, a recipe like this will call for a can of condensed soup. Thank you for keeping it real.
Thank you Lucia!
This was AMAZING! Absolutely delicious and highly recommended!!! Thank you for a perfect recipe!
Thank you so much Lexi!! So happy you liked it.
This was outstanding! I love all of your recipes. They are staples in my house. Will definitely be making this again!
Ah I love hearing that thank you so much Melissa!
Just made this today and it is delicious! I was initially confused (like some other commenters) about the inclusion of the bread, but as I was making it, i realized what this reminded me of, and the bread made more sense. This comes out a bit like a thanksgiving stuffing in texture, and who ever said they didn’t like stuffing!?! So basically, think of this like a chicken noodle stuffing casserole and use the bread, it is delicious. I added some celery (since i had it on hand and like it in soup/stuffing). I was also nervous about the noodles cooking through so I covered it for the first 20 minutes or so, then uncovered and poked down any noodles that were sticking out and looked uncooked. Then i added the potato chip crumbs and finished baking. Huge success!
I am so glad you loved this Melanie! Thank you so much!!
I made this last week and we loved it! It was almost like a chicken noodle soup bread pudding. I used no fat milk instead of whole but it didn’t seem to make a difference. It’s too time consuming to make after work and I had a LOT of measuring cups, spoons, bowls, etc. to wash after the casserole went in the oven but it was still so worth it!
Thank you so much Sandy!
How thick should the sauce get before removing from heat- like a chicken pot pie sauce or should it still be fairly runny?
Hi! The sauce should be pretty thin. More like soup. See the photo within the post for reference. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan
I am getting ready to try this but should the noodles be cooked before I add them to the casserole??
Hey Jay, there is no need to cook the noodles before adding to the casserole. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan
I try this recipe at home, Our all family members love it. It is a very good experience for us. We all love it to cook this recipe again & again.
Thank you so much Stephanie!
Hi Tieghan!
What would you recommend to make this dairy free? Unfortunately, my hubby can’t have milk but I wanna try this recipe so bad!
HI!! I would use canned coconut milk or even just chicken broth. I think that will work great!! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan