Easy-to-make Italian-flavored chicken casserole will become a delicious hit with the family!

I’m sure there’s plenty of people who may find this recipe vaguely familiar–and you’d be right! It’s an old crockpot standby called Italian chicken. It also happens to be one dish I absolutely hate made in the crock pot. Reason is, the chicken comes out way too dry.

So what I decided to do was convert this recipe to a conventional one and the best part is, you can serve it right from the skillet and omit the casserole part.

I prefer the casserole version mainly because I like how the pasta on top gets a little bit of crunch from being baked. Plus I was dying to use this new casserole dish it was made in!

When I think of it, my version of Italian chicken is much easier than it’s slow cooker cousin. Even in the slow cooker, it’s not a “dump-and-go” recipe. You have to cook the chicken before adding the cream sauce–where you have to saute the onions and garlic before dumping in the sauce.

With my stovetop/casserole version, you just have to cook the pasta. Everything else cooks in one pan.

The slow cooker recipe also has more butter and cream cheese. I’ve reduced that here with no loss in flavor. In fact, I think this sauce has more flavor. I also added some red bell pepper not only for a pop of color, but for the great flavor it gives this chicken casserole.

This is also a great way to use up leftover chicken and turkey and makes this a really quick meal even faster to make.

Baking dish is part of the colombino collection from Ceramiche Tapinassi available from Allorashop.com

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Italian Chicken Casserole

Easy-to-make Italian-flavored chicken casserole will become a delicious hit with the family!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Chicken, Comfort Foods, pasta

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: chicken casserole recipes, italian chicken

Servings: 4 -6

Calories: 767kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/4 cup red bell peppers diced
• 10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup milk or half and half
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 4 oz cream cheese cubed
• 1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix for my EU readers who can't get this, here's a good copycat you can make yourself--Italian Dressing Mix. Use 2 tbs of the mix.
• 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese divided
• 8 oz uncooked bowtie, farfalle pasta -OR- your choice of shaped pasta

Instructions

• Cook pasta per package directions, except cook for about 2-3 minutes LESS than recommended if making the casserole version. If you don't plan to bake in the oven, then cook pasta the recommended amount of time suggested on the package. Drain and set aside.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken cubes.
• Add the onion, garlic and bell pepper and saute until onion is translucent; about 3 minutes.
• To the same pan, add the soup, the milk and the stock. Whisk until smooth
• Add the cubed cream cheese and stir until it's melted and well blended into sauce.
• Then add 2 tbs of the Parmesan cheese and the dressing mix. Stir until well blended.
• Add the cooked pasta and toss to coat well with the sauce and heat through. May be served at this point with no additional cooking.
• FOR CASSEROLE:
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 2-quart casserole (round, square or oblong--11 x 7-and 9 x 9-inch are good).
• Turn chicken/pasta mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tbs of Parmesan cheese.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and pasta is getting golden brown on the top.

Notes

Leftover cooked chicken may be substituted. The browning step is eliminated if using cooked chicken.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 767kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 64g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 208mg | Sodium: 1124mg | Potassium: 1214mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1188IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 181mg | Iron: 3mg

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Just 3 simple ingredients make this delectable and easy chicken dinner.

Want a really no-fuss dinner where you need nothing special in the way of ingredients and that has almost zero prep work? Oh and most importantly, that it’s awesomely delicious? Then here’s the recipe.

I saw this kicking around Pinterest. It wasn’t from a website or recipe page, simply somebody who took a pic with their phone and put the recipe & method in the description. This gal is my kind of cook! I looked but she didn’t have anything else of her own in her profile.

There was nothing else but the chicken in the recipe. I tossed in some orphaned mushrooms I had in the crisper–naturally I overbought again on a sale.

Now if you want to make this a truly “one-dish” complete meal, I’d suggest tossing in some fresh or frozen whole green beans. The green beans will get a lovely flavor not just from roasting them, but from the chicken coating–which all that amounts to is brown sugar and dry Italian salad dressing mix.

I know I say this ALL the time, but it still amazes me at how very few simple ingredients can produce the most tasty meals. Again, this is another one of those meals. Most of us have brown sugar on hand and I would venture a guess that many also have a packet of Italian dressing mix in the cupboard too.

You can use either boneless skinless breasts or thighs in this. Either will work, and I used thighs here. OK, mine had bone in them, but I did remove the skin. Unless they are on sale, boneless skinless thighs are pricy. My store had regular thighs on sale for 88 cents per pound and that’s what’s in the pictures. I guess I could have de-boned them myself, but I’ve gotten way too lazy for that!! The juice from this is just lovely–not greasy nor fatty because the skin and most of the fat is removed from the chicken. It makes a great dipping sauce!

If you want a more zesty flavor, then I would suggest using a bolder variety of Italian dressing. I know you can get “zesty” and there’s even a garlic-lover’s variety. Those would work SO well here. Next I’m going to try it with ranch dressing mix–but before I do, I will mix some of it with brown sugar and see how it tastes. If the sugar/dry seasoning tastes good, so will the chicken.

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The Recipe

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3-Ingredient Italian Chicken

Just 3 simple ingredients make this delectable and easy chicken dinner.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course: Chicken, Everyday Meals

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: chicken recipe, italian chicken

Servings: 4 -6

Calories: 493kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 3-4 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts -OR-thighs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Mix brown sugar and salad dressing mix in a small bowl.
• Dredge chicken in the sugar mixture well.
• Place in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
• Sprinkle any leftover sugar mixture over chicken.
• Bake for 45-60 minutes; baste occasionally with the juice that forms in the pan.

Notes

To make a complete meal in the pan, add 1 lb fresh or frozen whole green beans to bake along with the chicken.

You can toss in some mushrooms to like I did (if you like them)

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 493kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 72g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 218mg | Sodium: 429mg | Potassium: 1295mg | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 102IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 1mg

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