Ok, I’m well aware that casseroles aren’t the prettiest food but they have a lot of other things going for them! Like they taste awesome, can be made ahead of time, and are an easy meal to take to someone.
I grew up eating this casserole and I always enjoyed it but I did a little tweaking to make it more to my liking. I think you’ll like it too! It’s loaded with bell peppers (I doubled the amount and used red, yellow, and orange ones), has tons of chicken (my husband loved that I didn’t skimp on that), and it’s got a salty crunchy top (who doesn’t love crunchy toppings?).
If you don’t like everything being crammed into one dish you actually could forgo putting it all in a casserole dish and instead serve the rice and chicken filling separately. Just place the filling on the rice as you dish up and sprinkle the cashews and chow mein noodles on each individual portion. The sauce will be more runny but hey, you cut down on the cooking time by 20 minutes!
Cashew Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 1/2 cup celery, diced
- 2 cups peppers, chopped (I prefer red, orange, and yellow any color combo works just fine)
- 2 10 ounce cans cream of mushroom soup*
- 2/3 cup chicken broth
- 4 cups cooked chicken, cubed (~12 chicken tenders)
- 1 cup mushrooms, quartered*
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 6 drops hot sauce
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup chow mein noodles
- 2/3 cup cashews, halves
Instructions
- In a large skillet, melt butter and saute onions and celery until onions are tender. Add peppers, soup, and chicken broth and simmer 5 minutes. Mix in the chicken, mushrooms, soy sauce, and hot sauce and simmer 5 more minutes.
- Grease a 2.5 quart dish (or 9x13 inch) and press cooked rice into the bottom of the dish. Pour the chicken mixture on top. Sprinkle chow mein noodles and cashews on top.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Notes
Found this on Pinterest. I made it for 2 families in my home tonight. Everyone loved it. There were zero leftovers. I served it with a sesame ginger Asian salad and baked vegetable spring roles. HUGE HIT for parents and kids.
Sarah, I’m happy to hear it was such a hit! And baked vegetable spring roles sound amazing! I’ll have to try making those soon.
I always love a good casserole! And there are so many things in this one that I love too. Yum!