20 Easy Casserole Recipes for Any Day of the Week

Written by Michael Matthews

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I think we can all agree that casseroles are as delicious as they are comforting.

But even though they’re awesome, casseroles can be intimidating for anyone with limited kitchen experience.

That’s where these simple recipes come in. They prove that anyone—even the most amateur home cook—can make their own succulent, savory, ooey-gooey casseroles.

Some of these recipes use familiar ingredients like tuna, ham, potatoes, and broccoli. Some of them spice things up a notch with more unusual add-ins like jalapeno, pork loin, squash, and tzatziki sauce.

And if you get sick of eating casseroles for lunch and dinner, there are even a few breakfast recipes in the mix too (Blueberry French Toast Casserole, anyone?).

So it’s time to do away with the idea that casseroles are a special occasion food. In fact, they’re perfect for just about any occasion, from cold days, to dinner parties, to refueling after a workout.

And with these easy recipes, you can savor casseroles any day of the week.

Enjoy!

Easy Healthy Casserole with a Fried Egg

This is baked oatmeal like you’ve never had it before. Instead of using just milk and eggs, this recipe makes a savory breakfast with mushrooms, onion, and squash.

he whole thing has to bake in the oven for just 15 minutes, so if you sauté the vegetable the day before and stash them in the fridge, it’s quick and easy to get this oatmeal casserole together in the morning. Stir everything together, and transfer to a baking dish.

Then you just have to fry the egg for a minute or two while the oatmeal casserole finishes baking.

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Chicken Cauliflower Casserole

Not all chicken casseroles start with a can of soup.

This one is made from only whole foods like spinach, cauliflower, and eggs – and luckily it doesn’t require too many of them. You’ll need just five ingredients for this, as well as true pantry staples like olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

This is a great way to reuse leftover chicken, but if you don’t have any, you’ll only need about 15 minutes to bake a couple chicken breasts in the oven.

To ensure they’re tender, take another 15 minutes to brine them beforehand in a bowl of warm salt water. Rinse, pat dry, and brush with olive oil before they go in the oven.

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Deconstructed Pizza Casserole

You don’t need crust to satisfy pizza cravings. A combo of tomatoes, Italian sausage, and mozzarella cheese can be transformed into a low-carb pizza casserole.

What really brings it home are the pepperonis layered on top, so when you see this piping hot dinner come out of the oven, it can only mean one thing: pizza.

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Cashew Chicken Bake

With this casserole, you can enjoy chicken and rice while only dirtying a casserole dish.

What helps the brown rice cook in the oven is layering it at the bottom of the pan under celery, bell peppers, and chicken. The liquid will drip down and ensure the rice gets perfectly tender in the oven.

This method is a hassle-free way to add brown rice to your meal plan since it takes about as long to cook on the stove as it does to make this entire chicken casserole.

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Pork Loin, Sweet Potato & Brussels Sprouts Casserole

Not every sweet potato casserole has to be sweet. When you ditch the marshmallows, you can do so much more in terms of flavor and nutrition.

This one is full of protein thanks to a pound of pork loin, and it features fragrant spices like cumin, cardamom, coriander, and dried red chile peppers – all commonly found in the South Asian seasoning blend known as garam masala.

The casserole also includes several kinds of vegetables. If you can’t find rutabaga, carrots will work instead.

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Healthy Ham & Broccoli Egg Bake

Ham and eggs are a breakfast classic, but this casserole also has the macros of a killer dinner. It has cottage cheese for extra protein, as well as to create extra fluffy eggs.

Not only is this recipe easy to throw together – especially if you opt for frozen broccoli which is pre-cooked and can be used in a recipe without having to worry about steaming it first – but the casserole freezes well too.

Slice it into servings, and they can be individually reheated as needed, preferably in a toaster oven.

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Jalapeno Cornbread & Chicken Verde Bake

When you’re craving cornbread, you don’t have to bake a whole pan to have that one square with dinner. Bake it right on top of your casserole so everything’s prepared in one dish, and each bite will have just the right cornbread-to-chicken verde ratio.

Use a premade mix to save time, or make your favorite cornbread batter to pour over the top before the whole pan goes in the oven.

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Protein-Packed Breakfast Casserole

Make this egg casserole on Sunday, and hopefully you’ll have leftovers to enjoy another home-cooked breakfast on Monday. But that’s not the only way to have this high-protein casserole on a weekday morning before you head off to work.

The sweet potatoes can be roasted the night before, and to save even more prep time, you can pre-cook the sausage too. When you wake up, all that’s left to do is beat the eggs, add the meat plus any veggies you like, and get this breakfast casserole in the oven.

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One-Pot Beef Burrito Bowls

Forget about making the trek to Chipotle on your lunch break.

This Southwestern beef casserole is just as filling as a burrito bowl, requires just one pan to cook, and makes for awesome leftovers to take to work the next day. It tastes delicious, and because you’re making it from scratch, it’s even more customizable than takeout.

The best part may just be the price. You’ll get at least twice as many servings by making this at home instead of ordering at a restaurant.

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Green Chile Cheddar Corn Casserole

Since just about anything made in a casserole dish can be called a casserole, they’re hardly limited to one-pan dinners.

A traditional corn casserole, for example, is almost like cornbread. The difference is that it’s denser but not at all dry. To achieve that, this recipe uses a ton of Greek yogurt to make the batter, and then it’s loaded with lots of delicious stuff: corn kernels, diced green chiles, and cheddar cheese.

Corn casserole can be made in a square baking dish, or for a rustic look, bake and serve it in a cast iron skillet.

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Mac & Cheeseburger Casserole

For an all-American casserole that’s both wholesome and comforting, add lean hamburger.

This is one step up from the kitchen skills it takes to make cheesy mac from a box, but the effort is worth it. You’ll be in the kitchen no more than 20 minutes, and then this hamburger casserole spends hardly any time in the oven before dinner is ready to eat.

Ingredients

Butternut Squash Enchilada Casserole

Greasy takeout has given enchiladas a bad rap when they can be a made from a healthy mix of tortillas, veggies, and of course the rich, slightly spicy sauce.

If you want to make a homemade enchilada sauce rather than using the canned kind, it only takes about fifteen minutes. The process is similar to making a roux or white gravy.

Start by heating oil in a skillet, and then stir in flour until it thickens. Only for the enchilada sauce, you’ll also blend in chili powder. Then to give it rich flavor, add tomato sauce and seasonings like cumin and garlic powder, and simmer until the mixture thickens up.

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Turkish Potato Casserole (Patates Bastisi)

If you think potato casserole has to be full of cheese and butter, this recipe is a must-try.

The tasty casserole is full of Turkish spices and topped with tzatziki, so it’s a great way to introduce new flavors to your meat-and-potatoes meal. You won’t need to pick up any unusual spices, just cumin, paprika, cayenne, and oregano.

Black olives and tomatoes are also in the mix, making this perfect to go with Mediterranean baked chicken or fish.

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From-Scratch Tuna Casserole

With fresh mushrooms, white wine, and gruyere cheese, this tuna casserole has way more going on than a run-of-the-mill recipe that uses a can of soup.

It takes a little more effort to assemble, but after cooking pasta and sautéing the veggies, everything gets stirred together in a casserole dish and shoved in the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals has more great ideas for weeknight meals, like Chicken-Chorizo Burritos and Smoked Paprika Chicken with Egg Noodles and Buttered Warm Radishes.

The best part about this cookbook is the expert shopping tips and grocery checklists that make meal planning and prep easier than ever.

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Healthy Spinach & Potato Casserole

For healthy mashed potatoes, try this five-ingredient casserole. Not only does it include spinach for greater nutrition, but this recipe doesn’t require any butter or milk to make. But don’t worry – there’s nothing bland about this side dish.

It uses a touch of olive oil to make the potatoes rich and creamy, plus vegetable stock to add even more flavor than dairy. A sprinkle of bread crumbs on top are the finishing touch, which help this lightened-up potato casserole look appealing even for those wary about the spinach.

Ingredients

Healthy Green Bean Casserole

Believe it or not, you don’t need a can of mushroom soup to make a mean green bean casserole. This one offers a major upgrade with fresh mushrooms and Greek yogurt, but the dish takes about the same amount of time from start to finish.

The only real difference is needing to dice and sauté the onion and mushrooms, which takes just a handful of minutes but gives you the satisfaction of making a from-scratch meal.

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Healthy Summer Squash Casserole

If someone in your family doesn’t like zucchini, this is the recipe to convert them.

The mild flavor of summer squash becomes rich and comforting in this quinoa casserole, which uses fresh oregano and basil plus two kinds of cheese to make a low-fat but robust version of this Southern dish.

This recipe also includes Greek yogurt to replace the butter usually used in a squash casserole, and to make it even leaner, simply use a little less mozzarella and Parmesan.

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Oven-Cooked Rice Casserole with Chorizo

This Spanish casserole stars chorizo, a pork sausage with the distinctive flavor of smoked paprika.

And it couldn’t be easier to assemble. Dry rice goes on the bottom of the dish so it’ll cook under the chorizo, carrots, tomato, bell pepper, olives, and other delicious ingredients.

This recipe is adaptable to use up other veggies too. Pour the vegetable stock on top, and then the chorizo casserole goes in the oven for an hour. When it’s done, you’ll have a ton of rice per serving, so to lower the carbs simply reserve some to enjoy a one-pan meal now and a flavorful side dish later.

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Clean-Eating Blueberry French Toast Casserole

French toast is a breakfast favorite, but when you’re exhausted or rushed in the morning, it gets cumbersome to whisk the eggs, dip and soak the bread, and then prepare it in a skillet or on the griddle. Then there’s all those dirty dishes in the sink.

By turning French toast into a casserole, there’s less work overall, so you can enjoy this brunch standard to kick off a busy day.

The bread needs a half hour to soak up the egg whites, honey, and vanilla extract, making it extra delicious. Or you can assemble everything, cover with plastic wrap, and leave it in the fridge overnight.

In the morning it just has to go in the oven, so breakfast will be cooking while you prepare to head out the door.

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Loaded Cauliflower Casserole with Bacon & Caramelized Onions

It’s a lot harder to say no to mashed potatoes than to steamed cauliflower. So why not combine the two and enjoy the best of both?

When cauliflower is prepared like fully loaded mashed potatoes – with bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, and creamy yogurt – no one will know the difference. But there’s a notable effect on the macros for sure.

Cauliflower has a quarter of the calories of potatoes, which also means way fewer carbs. Yet both veggies have similar amounts of plant-based protein per cup.

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