Easy Weeknight Chicken Parmesan Casserole
Need a quick dinner idea that the whole family will love? Try my easy Chicken Parmesan Casserole to put a smile on everyone’s faces.
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Comfort Food on a Weeknight
I am a huge fan of comfort food. Something about it is just always going to make me happier. I don’t know if it’s the satisfaction of knowing how much my family likes my cooking or the smell of my kitchen as I cook, but it’s comforting to me.
Knowing that I can make something delicious, but without a lot of time involved helps make meal planning easier. I know on even the busiest night I can toss a few ingredients in a casserole dish and still have everyone have full bellies.
Homemade Food Fills My Body AND My Soul
While this isn’t truly going to be fully homemade for most people, it can be if you start making more homemade things.
I use homemade bread to make croutons and store them in Foodsaver bags in the pantry. My Homemade Marinara sauce is usually all canned up in the canning cabinet waiting for us to pop open a jar too.
But don’t get caught up in that. Especially if you are new to cooking at home. It’s cheap and easy to add these items to your grocery list and make a great tasting casserole at home.
Cheap and Easy to Assemble
Just a few staple ingredients go into making this amazing casserole. Marinara sauce, chicken, croutons, and cheeses…. how often do we not have these laying around.
The hardest part of this dish is chopping the chicken. Everything else is just dump and go. With such an easy meal in your arsenal, you’ll be ready to feed your family at a moment’s notice.
Chicken Parmesan Freezer Meal?
This is actually a great casserole to have in your freezer. With all the work already done, it’s just a matter of grabbing and baking. Just cook it from frozen in your oven for 60 minutes.
It’s amazing to know that you can just grab a meal from your freezer and pop it in the oven. It’s still homemade, just more convenient on a busy weeknight.
I love using disposable aluminum pans to make my freezer casseroles. I typically get these with lids. Use a layer of plastic wrap to seal before putting on the lid, just to avoid freezer burn. You can write directly onto the lid with a Sharpie too, that way you can use the lid to cover it in the oven. (Using a freezer label would be a fire hazard to put in the oven.)
Chicken Parmesan Casserole
This Chicken Parmesan Casserole makes me happy. I love Chicken Parm and order it on date night a lot. But it’s time-consuming and a little above the allotted time I want to spend on dinner some nights. Because I still want a great meal but without the time and cost, I came up with this easy way to make chicken parmesan.
Using seasoned croutons works best. I love the New York brand ones. I typically buy these to keep in the pantry for this wonderful dish. Any seasoned crouton will work. Please do not grab the Ceasar ones though, as the flavors of that seasoning do not mix well in this dish.
Now, don’t be afraid to make a Ceasar salad to serve with this. That is one of my favorite salads ever, but make sure you have extra croutons on hand to make your salad. The Chicken Parmesan casserole required one whole bag.
Searing the chicken pieces in a skillet until just browned helps add to the overall flavor. I like to use olive oil and some basil and oregano to season it as it cooks.
Having this quick casserole option is a life-saver. From start to finish, it takes less than an hour to make. With only 5 ingredients, even the most non-kitchen person can make this.
Chicken Parmesan Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken (I use breast, but thighs work also) cut into 1-2" cubes
- 1 15 oz. can marinara sauce
- 1 bag seasoned croutons
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Cut chicken into cubes.
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil. Brown cut chicken in the hot oil, until cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Drain.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked chicken, croutons, and marinara sauce. Stir to coat evenly.
- Evenly spread chicken mixture into a 13×9" baking dish.
- Top evenly with mozzerella cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese across top of Mozzerella.
- Cover in aluminum foil and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Uncover casserole and return to oven.
- Broil top of casserole to melt and slightly brown cheese.
- Serve and enjoy!
Want more dinner ideas? Check out all of my Main Dishes Recipes here!
Need help with meal planning? Don’t forget to grab our FREE Week’s Meal Plan here. It’s a full week’s dinner already done for you. It also includes 2 freezer meal options, recipes, and a full grocery list. What could be easier?
That does sound tasty and easy! I prefer to cook something myself rather than turn to take out too. Pinned.