Chicken Noodle Casserole

Brrr! The freezing cold “arctic blast” hit our region with a vengeance last night. Temperatures plunged from a high of 59 at 12:01am to a low, low, low of 10 degrees by the evening. The worst part is the wind…oh god, the wind. That makes the temperature feel like negative digits. Noooo thank you.

Our work Christmas party was supposed to be last night, but it was cancelled because of the winter weather. Since it was cancelled, I did not leave my house at all this weekend. I watched as the insides of my windows frosted up, but other than that, I have not ventured out to experience the merciless cold.

I’m okay with that. I had Christmas gifts I needed to make, and hearty dinners I needed to cook to sustain my life force. I started the cold weekend off with making this chicken noodle casserole…and it sure did hit the spot.

This casserole is like a chicken pot pie and a chicken noodle soup combined. I don’t like chicken noodle soup, but chicken noodle casserole is pretty darn good. This casserole also cleared out valuable real estate in my freezer, where I had a couple of bags of random frozen vegetables hanging around. I still had some carrots frozen that were leftover from Thanksgiving, so I got to polish those off in this casserole.

I was weirded out at first that the casserole called for frozen  vegetables and not thawed vegetables, but it ended up working well. No frozen nuggets in the center here! If you’re not a fan of condensed, canned soups, you can easily substitute for a quick bechamel with some chopped mushrooms and chicken broth. I’m a slave to Campbell’s, so I can’t drag myself away from good ole’ fashioned cream of mushroom soup.

Chicken Noodle Casserole

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 40 mins
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

A hearty chicken casserole made up of egg noodles, mixed veggies, and a creamy sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked egg noodles
• 1 lb. chicken breast
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup frozen carrots
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (10 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
• 1 (10 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
• salt and pepper
• 1 TBS. dried minced onion
• 1 tsp. garlic powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, cook chicken breast until no longer pink (you can boil, saute in oil, or poach the chicken). Transfer chicken to a bowl and using two forks, shred chicken. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, cook egg noodles according to package instructions. In a large bowl, combine chicken, peas, carrots, corn, milk, both soups, minced onion and garlic powder. Stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add noodles to bowl and stir until mixture is well combined. Pour into a well greased 13×9″ baking dish. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, cook chicken until no longer pink (either saute in oil, boil, or poach). Transfer to a bowl and shred using two forks. Set aside.

Cook egg noodles according to package instructions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the chicken, corn, peas, carrots, minced onion, milk, garlic powder, and both cans of soup. Stir well.

Add cooked noodles to bowl and stir until well combined. Pour mixture into a well-greased 13×9″ baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

You could really throw in whatever frozen vegetables you have in the freezer, or whatever canned vegetables you may have in your pantry. This recipe is really versatile, and should be used to clean out your kitchen in preparation for the holidays! Enjoy!