15 Comforting Casserole Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why does Anna always make chicken casserole? ›

"But to connect with someone, you have to be willing to peel back those layers and show them what's really inside." The casserole effectively helps to take down Hilary's walls, giving Anna some useful information about Neil's family. But the dish remains unfinished and Anna takes the leftovers back home with her.

According to food blog High Heeled Homemaker, your basic casserole requires five ingredients: a protein, starch, vegetable, sauce, and cheese. If you have those five ingredients in your casserole dish, congratulations; you just made a casserole, whether it's a beloved recipe or a concoction of your own creation.

To prevent a soupy casserole, be sure to fully thaw any frozen vegetables in a colander over a bowl, and pat dry, squeeze excess moisture out of greens like spinach or chard, and quickly precook watery fresh vegetables like onions, mushrooms or squashes just until they release their moisture.

Macaroni and cheese is the oldest written casserole recipe found in 1250.

Five casseroles are cooked over the series' three and a half hours, all in identical casserole dishes, creating a sort of Groundhog's Day repetition. Yet, while Anna's casserole making is undoubtedly part of the parody, the casseroles also serve as a clue to deeper things going on in The Woman in the House…

Uncovering the foods promotes browning and crisping, and reduces the amount of liquid in the finished dish. If a casserole looks soupy when it's ready to bake, bake it uncovered unless the ingredients include pasta or rice, which absorb liquid.

Try different herbs for added flavour: sage or lemon thyme work wonderfully well. For a meatier casserole, add chopped sausage or pancetta when cooking the chicken. Stir wholegrain mustard through the casserole at the end of cooking (to taste); this is especially good if you have sausage in the casserole.

In the United States, a casserole or hot dish is typically a baked food with three main components: pieces of meat (such as chicken or ground meat) or fish (such as tuna) or other protein (such as beans or tofu), various chopped or canned vegetables (such as green beans or peas), and a starchy binder (such as flour, ...

What is a 9 by 13 casserole dish? ›

The average 9x13 rectangular baking dish holds 3.5 to 4 quarts. However, the number of quarts varies based on how deep the dish is—some of our deeper recommendations hold up to 5 quarts. Recipes that cook in a 3-quart dish or Dutch oven can be cooked interchangeably in a 9x13-inch baking dish.

The binder, a liquid that holds the other ingredients together. – Fat-free milk, broth, fruit juice, soup, eggs, or a thickened Béchamel/White sauce.

Using Fresh Vegetables: Fresh vegetables should be steamed or cooked until softened before adding them in. (Not too cooked through, but about 90% of the way.) Crispy Fried Onions make a great alternative topping option as well!

Make-ahead meals (especially baked casseroles) are terrific because you can completely assemble them in advance and bake them just before serving. They're the ultimate comfort food as they come bubbling hot and delicious straight from the oven to the table to the delight of family and friends.

If your food is too rich...

Add an acid such as lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar, or pickled vegetables (such as jalapeños).

History. Baked dishes have existed for thousands of years. Early casserole recipes consisted of rice that was pounded, pressed, and filled with a savoury mixture of meats such as chicken or sweetbread. Sometime around the 1870s the casserole seems to have taken on its current definition.

This chicken casserole was inspired by its ubiquitous presence in the Netflix show, The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window. It's an easy, simple casserole reminiscent of a ground chicken meatloaf and topped with crispy buttered bread crumbs!

Rise of the All-American Casserole

With the advent of convenience foods, such as Campbell's soup, in the late 19th century, home cooks began to craft dishes made entirely of easy-to-combine ingredients added directly to the glass casserole dish in which they were baked.

“Many of the ingredients and inspiration behind these casseroles came from our European ancestors who settled in the Midwest, such as noodle casseroles from Germany, potato gratins from France, and shepherds' pies and pot pies from England.”