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This creamy, savory Casserole is one of those recipes that sounds too simple to be good — and then you make it and suddenly it’s the thing everyone asks about. Uncooked egg Noodles go straight into the dish, a rich French onion soup and sour cream mixture gets poured right over the top, and the oven does the rest. Comfort food doesn’t get much easier than this.
Why You’ll Love It
No boiling required — dry noodles go straight into the casserole dish and cook right in the sauce
Only 4 ingredients — pantry staples you likely already have on hand
Deep, savory flavor — the French onion soup does all the heavy lifting, no seasoning fuss needed
Hands-off cooking — ten minutes of prep, then the oven takes over
Endlessly versatile — works as a side dish or stir in some shredded Chicken to make it a full meal
A Few Notes on the Ingredients
The egg noodles need to be wide. Not the medium ones, not the fine ones — wide. I’ve used both and the wide ones just hold up better to the baking. I use the Mueller’s brand usually but I don’t think it matters much.
French onion soup — I use the Campbell’s, the condensed kind. Both cans. Don’t add water; you’re using it straight from the can. There are fancier options at the store but honestly I’ve never noticed a difference that justified the extra cost.
Sour cream is what makes it creamy and a little tangy, which balances out the saltiness of the soup. I use the full-fat kind. I’ve tried light and it works, it’s just a little thinner. Greek yogurt works fine that way too, though I haven’t done it myself.
For cheese, Swiss is traditional — or what I think of as traditional, which might just mean it’s what I’ve always used. But mozzarella melts beautifully and is a little milder. I’ve done provolone once and it was good. I’d stay away from sharp cheddar; it sort of takes over the whole flavor.
Ingredients
12 oz wide egg noodles, dry
2 cans (10.5 oz each) condensed French onion soup — don’t dilute it
1½ cups sour cream, full-fat if you have it
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese, loosely packed (or mozzarella, or provolone — whatever’s in the fridge)
How to Make It
Preheat your oven to 350°F. While it’s heating, grease a 9×13 casserole dish — I use butter, just a little, rubbed around the bottom and sides with a paper towel. You can use cooking spray. Whatever.
Spread the dry egg noodles in the dish. Give it a shake so they’re roughly even. Don’t stress about this.
In a bowl — a medium one is fine — whisk together the condensed soup and the sour cream. It’ll be a loose mixture, almost pourable, and that’s exactly right. It needs to be liquidy enough to soak down into all those noodles. If it looks too thick to me I sometimes add a splash of milk, maybe a quarter cup, but that’s just me and it’s not strictly necessary.
Pour the mixture over the noodles and use a spoon to press things down gently so the noodles start to absorb the liquid. Don’t go crazy; they’ll sort themselves out in the oven.
Scatter the cheese over the top. Don’t press it down. Just let it sit there.
Cover the dish tightly with foil — this is important, please don’t skip it — and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready for the next step when the noodles are tender when you poke a fork through the foil. If they’re still firm, give it another five minutes.
Pull off the foil carefully. There will be steam. Every single time I do this I forget and get a little steam burn on my wrist. You’d think I’d learn.
Put it back in the oven, uncovered, for another ten to fifteen minutes until the cheese is golden and a little spotted on top. Let it sit for about five minutes before you serve it. Ten is better. The sauce thickens up as it rests.
Variations and What I’ve Tried
Stirring in a couple cups of shredded rotisserie Chicken before adding the soup mixture makes it a full meal. Leftover diced ham works too — a little salty, very satisfying.
If you want more crunch on top, you can sprinkle on some French-fried onions or crushed butter crackers in the last ten minutes of baking. The fried onions are wonderful.
To stretch it for a bigger group, you can add a half cup of milk or cream to the soup mixture. Just add maybe five extra minutes of covered baking time and check the noodles before uncovering.
Leftovers
These reheat really well, which not everything does. I store them in the casserole dish, covered with plastic wrap, for up to three days in the fridge. When I reheat, I add a small splash of milk or broth over the top — maybe two tablespoons — and cover it with foil before I put it in a 325°F oven for about fifteen to twenty minutes. You can microwave it too. It’ll be a little less creamy but still good.
Don’t leave it on the counter overnight. I did that once. Don’t do that.