French Onion Chicken Casserole

An easy, creamy casserole with chicken, noodles and French onion soup, topped with toasty buttered bread cubes and crispy fried onions.

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I’m laughing at myself and kicking myself all at the same time over this one.

After making my Chicken & Noodles last week, I was thinking about how good it is to be such a simple and easy recipe. I spent some time thinking of other recipes I could make with the same ingredients and maybe even change it up a bit. Lean toward another flavor or make it a casserole or something.

Then I thought of condensed French Onion soup and wondered why nobody uses it like Cream of Something soups in pasta casseroles and such. I use it in my Pork Chop & Rice Casserole and LOVE it but it’s used to actually cook the rice in so I wasn’t sure how using it for a sauce would go.

So then I came up with this amazing idea (really, so, SO clever!) to make a French Onion casserole with egg noodles and chicken. I mean, that’s brilliant right?! 

I made it – really just adding ingredients until everything tasted great and I liked the consistency – and it was delicious! Like, surprisingly delicious!!

OH MY BLOG!! I’m so good at this! I should do this for a living!! Wait, I already do, but still, this is great and I invented it and I am so special and talented!!

I sat down to write up the recipe and wondered what to call it. So I started googling name ideas to make sure I didn’t pick a name that already went with something else and…

This is already a thing. 

[heavy sigh]

I am not special.

Or clever.

So, evidently, there’s already a casserole similar to this. I can’t track it down to the origin because it looks like a bunch of sites just copied the same recipe over and over. Mine’s not exactly the same but clearly I’m not the first one to think of this concept. Boo.

I do think this is pretty scrumptious though and some things I do differently than most other recipes are what makes it so good!

WHY THIS VERSION IS EXTRA DELICIOUS

• Chicken broth is used to cook both the chicken AND THEN the same broth is used to cook the noodles (OK, that’s pretty clever, right?).
• This has condensed French Onion Soup and other recipes don't (which I think gives the dish an actual “french onion” taste and breaks up the monotony of the Cream of Chicken a bit).
• The added thyme and garlic is more traditional to the classic French Onion soup.
• I use a combo of buttered bread cubes and crispy fried onions for the topping. One reason is my FAVORITE casserole is topped with the buttered bread cubes and it is insanely good but also to mimic the bread on top of a bowl of traditional French Onion soup.

So, anyway, here’s my stupid casserole.

That’s not unique.

Whatever. 

JK, I’m still super excited about how good it was, and I will 1000% be adding this to our regular supper rotation! 

Love the flavors of French Onion soup?? Check out these recipes too!

• French Onion Soup Casserole - An easy side dish recipe with toasted, crusty bread dipped in a thick French Onion Soup base topped with gooey, buttery melted cheese.
• French Onion Potatoes - A super easy 5-ingredient casserole recipe with tender potato pieces cooked in a savory, buttery onion soup base topped with cheese.

Recipe for French Onion Chicken Casserole

French Onion Chicken Casserole

Yield: 8 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 10 M

An easy, creamy chicken noodle casserole with French onion soup, topped with toasty butter bread cubes and crispy fried onions.

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 12-oz bag egg noodles
• 2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 can French Onion soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 4 cups bread cubes
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 6-oz carton crispy fried onions

Instructions

1. Add chicken and chicken broth to a medium-sized saucepan then heat until broth just starts to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low then simmer chicken for 30 minutes.
2. Remove chicken from broth to cool. Replace lid on pan and leave broth on the stove (we’ll cook the noodles in the broth in just a bit).
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
4. Combine soups (do not prepare first), sour cream and spices in a large mixing bowl then whisk together until smooth.
5. Heat reserved broth until boiling then add noodles. Cook noodles, covered, 1-2 minutes less than package directions (we want them to be a tad undercooked).
6. Drain noodles well then add to bowl with soup mixture.
7. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces then gently fold chicken and noodles into soup mixture. Once combined, spread into a greased 13x9 baking dish.
8. Cut bread into small cubes then toss with melted butter in a medium bowl. Add crispy fried onions then toss to combine. Spread bread cubes and onions evenly over dish.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through, covering loosely with tented aluminum foil about halfway through (once bread cubes are starting to get toasty and browned).

Notes

• The noodles should cook fine in the reserved broth even though they won't be submerged. Just stir occasionally and leave the lid on to trap in steam.
• Feel free to stir in shredded cheese (provolone, white american or swiss would be great!) when mixing everything together if you'd like.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2021/10/french-onion-chicken-casserole.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2021

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