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I’ve been making this casserole for probably eight years and I still don’t measure the pepper. I just shake it until it feels right, which drives my sister crazy when she tries to recreate it. The recipe came from a church cookbook my mother-in-law gave me when we got married — her handwritten note in the margin said “add more butter than it says” and honestly that’s the best cooking advice I’ve ever gotten.
This is a Sunday afternoon kind of meal. Not because it’s complicated, it’s actually dead simple, but because it takes two hours in the oven and you need to be home for that. I’ve made it on Tuesday nights when I planned ahead and it works fine. But there’s something about putting it in at 3pm and having the house smell like that by 5 that feels like the day is going right.
Serve it with green beans or broccoli, something that isn’t beige. The casserole itself is very beige. A little color on the plate helps. My kids will eat it with applesauce on the side which sounds wrong but I stopped questioning it years ago. Mashed potatoes alongside is excessive given the stuffing situation, but my father-in-law requests it every time he visits and I stopped fighting that too. Frozen mixed veggies thrown in a pan with some olive oil. That’s dinner.
Slow Baked Chicken and Stuffing Casserole
Servings: 6
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the oven to 300°F. Not 325, not 350. 300. Low and slow is the whole point here.
Grease your 9×13 baking dish. Butter works better than cooking spray for this one, in my opinion.
Grab a medium bowl and whisk together both cans of soup, 1 cup of the broth, the milk, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, parsley, and however much salt and pepper you’re going with. Whisk until it’s actually smooth — cream of mushroom has a tendency to stay lumpy if you rush it.
Scatter the vegetables across the bottom of the dish if you’re using them. Lay the chicken on top in a single layer. If you’ve got thick pieces, slice them in half horizontally. They’ll cook more evenly and you won’t end up with one overdone end and a raw middle. Pour the soup mixture over everything. Make sure each piece gets coated. Tilt the dish around a little so the sauce finds its way into all the gaps.
Now the stuffing. In a separate bowl, dump in the dry stuffing mix. Add the remaining 1/2 cup broth and the melted butter. Stir it — not a lot, just enough that everything is moistened. You want it to look rough and a little clumpy, not smooth. Smooth stuffing bakes into a weird dense layer. Spread it over the top of the chicken and sauce as evenly as you can.
Cover the whole dish tight with foil. Really seal the edges. Put it in the oven and leave it alone for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, take off the foil. The chicken should be at 165°F in the thickest part. The stuffing might look wet still, and if it does, put the dish back in uncovered for 10 or 15 minutes. It’ll crisp up. Let everything rest for at least 5 minutes before you serve it — the sauce thickens a little as it sits and it’s easier to scoop.
Parsley on top. Serve big portions.
A few things worth knowing
The vegetables can come out if you’ve got someone who picks around them. Just serve them on the side. No big deal, the casserole doesn’t need them structurally.
Some kids have texture things about chunks of chicken in sauce. Cutting the chicken into bite-sized pieces before it goes in fixes that — the whole thing becomes more of a scoop and less of a piece-of-chicken-in-sauce situation. If mushrooms are a flat no, two cans of cream of chicken soup works fine. I’ve done it both ways.
Cheese. If you want it, put shredded cheddar over the sauce layer before you add the stuffing. Or put it on top of the stuffing in the last 10 minutes of uncovered baking. Both are good. The first way gets gooey and melted into everything; the second way gets a little browned on top.
You can use chicken thighs instead of breasts. Thighs are actually harder to mess up because the fat keeps them moist. Trim off what you can and use the same timing.
To make it ahead, put the whole thing together the night before, cover it, refrigerate it. In the morning or whenever you’re ready, take it out while the oven heats up. Bake the same way but give it an extra 10 or 15 minutes since it’s starting cold. It keeps in the fridge for three or four days after baking, though the stuffing gets softer by day two. Still tastes good. My husband prefers the leftovers, which I find a little insulting but fine.
Slow Baked Chicken and Stuffing Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts about 4–6 pieces
- 1 box (6 oz) stuffing mix chicken or savory herb flavor
- 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of chicken soup
- 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup or cream of celery soup
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth divided
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme optional
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley optional
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups mixed vegetables frozen, thawed and drained (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C) and lightly grease a 9x13-inch casserole dish.
- In a bowl, whisk together the cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom (or celery) soup, 1 cup of chicken broth, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper until smooth.
- Spread the thawed mixed vegetables evenly across the bottom of the prepared casserole dish.
- Place the chicken breasts on top of the vegetables in a single layer.
- Pour the soup mixture evenly over the chicken and vegetables.
- In another bowl, mix the stuffing mix with the remaining 1/2 cup chicken broth and melted butter until moistened.
- Sprinkle the prepared stuffing evenly over the casserole.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake for 2 hours until the chicken is very tender.
- Remove the foil and bake an additional 10–15 minutes if needed to lightly crisp the stuffing.
- Let the casserole rest for 5–10 minutes before serving and garnish with parsley if desired.