Chicken potato casserole is comfort food at its finest! This simple, lightened up version features perfectly roasted chicken breast, tender potatoes, red pepper, spices, and a layer of melted cheddar cheese. Full of flavor and quick to prep, this dish is easy to toss in the oven for a low-effort weeknight meal!
This one dish chicken potato bake is simplicity at it’s finest. No cream of soup or other preservative laden ingredients here, just wholesome veggies, tender chicken, spices and cheese that come together in a flavorful, easy to prep dinner.
If you’re into easy recipes with chicken breast like this, my 5-minute prep crockpot shredded chicken tacos will be your next favorite meal! You can also check out my complete list of quick and easy dinner recipes for more simple meal ideas!
Plus, this simple casserole is kid friendly and perfect for the whole family! Modify with your family’s favorite veggies, leave off the parsley and serve with ketchup and/or sour cream for picky eaters.
Featured Comment
“…The results were AMAZING! My kids even liked it!! So good!!!!…”
-Amber
Since this hearty casserole doesn’t have any kind of sauce or runny starch to tie it together, it isn’t like your standard creamy midwest casserole. It’s more of a delicious, savory paprika potato bake that gets it’s casserole name from being baked and smothered with melty cheese. A complete meal in one dish.
It comes together so well even without (especially without?) the filler! The cheese gives it both flavor and a touch of creaminess, with juicy chicken, seared veggies, roasted garlic and so much tastiness.
I had to test this cheesy chicken recipe multiple times to get the chopping sizes, ingredient amounts and seasonings just right. That being said, as long as you stick to the basic chopping sizes and seasoning amounts, you can play with the flavor profiles to really make it your own!
How to Make It
This chicken dinner casserole is easy as can be with just one dish dirty! Yup, no separate mixing, all can be done in the dish you bake it in. So how do you do it?
- Preheat the oven and rub your casserole dish with oil.
- Rub any excess moisture off of the veggies and meat. This helps the potatoes get crisp edges instead of steaming.
- Toss the raw chicken, potatoes, red pepper, onion and garlic into your baking dish and drizzle with oil.
- Add spices like paprika, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and toss it all together.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring once at the half way point.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle with cheese and broil for a couple minutes until golden brown to melt the cheese. Add parsley or even sliced green onions as a garnish (or skip it!) and serve right away.
Recipe Tips
- Pay attention to the chopping sizes! The reason this chicken potato bake works so well all comes down to size. This is where size really matters. Chicken and peppers are going to cook faster than potatoes of the same size so you have to cut the potatoes much smaller. e
- Watch the cook time. The meat may cook faster or slower if you use a different sized baking dish or if you cut the vegetables or meat different sizes. While the veggies are more forgiving, you can check the chicken for doneness to make sure it doesn’t get over cooked.
- In the mood for other flavors? Switch up the spices. Use a mix of cumin and chili powder instead for SW flair or curry powder and turmeric for an Indian flavor profile. Swap half with sweet potatoes, use russet potatoes or whatever you’ve got. Add broccoli or whatever veggies you prefer to turn it into one of your family favorites.
Storage and Reheating
This recipe is perfect for leftovers since it reheats great. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat each serving individually in the microwave or you can cover the dish with aluminum foil and reheat it in the oven at 350° F (175°C) for 15-20 minutes.
I do NOT recommend freezing leftovers. The potatoes will get mushy and watery and it will not reconstitute well.
Chicken Potato Casserole Bake with Red Peppers
Equipment
- 1 Baking dish mine was 7" x 11" (18x28cm) but any similar sized dish will work
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts cut into 1" cubes (chicken thighs work too)
- 1 1/2 lbs. yellow potatoes cut into 1/2" pieces
- 2 red peppers seeds removed and cut into 1" pieces
- 1 cup onion cut into 1" pieces, use outer, larger rings of onion for this
- 1 head garlic cloves separated and skin removed, cut larger cloves in half*
- 3 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese or gruyere or other favorite cheese
- 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F (218° C). Spray baking dish with cooking spray or rub with additional oil.
- Use a kitchen towel or paper towels to dry chicken and vegetables off and absorb excess moisture.
- Place chicken, potatoes, red pepper, onion slices, and garlic into prepared baking dish and drizzle with 3 Tbsp. oil.1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts, 1 1/2 lbs. yellow potatoes, 2 red peppers, 1 cup onion, 1 head garlic cloves, 3 Tablespoon olive oil
- Add paprika, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and rub in with hands to coat evenly.1 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Place in preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring once half way through.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Return pan to oven and turn to broil and cook for 2-3 minutes until cheese is melted, watching carefully to avoid burning. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.1 cup grated cheddar cheese, 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
Notes
Nutrition
did you make this recipe?
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** This recipe was inspired and adapted from Life in the Loft House’s Loaded Chicken Potato Casserole recipe.
Comments & Reviews
I had to cook it way longer because the potatoes weren’t done. (total: 1 hr 30 minutes) If I pre-cook the potatoes for an hour, then toss in everything else it may come out on time. I will also admit, I accidentally grabbed russets.
And I found the recipe gets way better with some sour cream (low fat or course) and salsa.
Sorry to hear it took longer than expected! You definitely have to cut the potatoes smaller than everything else so that it will be done at the same time but it definitely shouldn’t have taken that long to bake. Serving with sour cream and salsa sound perfect though!
Going to make this tonight! Do you think ground deer would work or stick with chicken??
Hi there! I think venison would work great in chunks but I’m worried that with ground meat (of any kind), it would cook way faster than the potatoes and other ingredients and get too firm and overcooked.
I made this today using Yukon Gold potatoes and ground chicken. This is delicious!
Oh I’m so happy to hear you liked it!!
Fabulous corona virus food. I added green and yellow squash and white wine but it is great regardless. Just enough spice!
Right? Perfect dish for being short on fresh ingredients.
Can you use Russets instead of yellow?
Thanks!
I don’t see why not! 🙂
I googled a recipe for chicken, potatoes , peppers and onions, because I had veggies I needed to use and chicken, & I came across your recipe.
So I used chicken, red skin potatoes, green onions, orange peppers, carrots, celery, and regular onions chopped.
For the seasonings I used what I had in the cabinet. Salt, pepper, cilantro, minced garlic, cayenne pepper and chili powder., and oil. Then melted the cheese for the last 2 Minuets.
The results were AMAZING! My kids even liked it!! So good!!!!
Of course my eight year old dipped her potatoes and chicken in ketchup, but I’m like hey whatever it takes to get the veggies in! I could not believe they both liked it with all these veggies in it. Thank you so much for this recipe. Have a blessed day!
Hi Christy – this recipe looks great, especially if I can tweak some of the veggies. Do you know if I could bake it and then freeze it in individual portions? I’m cooking for someone who is a shut-in, and individual servings work best for meal preparation. Thanks so much! Looking forward to making this!!
I have never had luck freezing potatoes unfortunately. They always seem to get water logged and mealy. 🙁 Soups and non=potato based casseroles work well frozen though! Good luck!
Thank you for the recipe! I was looking for a casserole full of vegetable goodness, and this fit the bill! The first time I made it, I followed the instructions exactly, adding only some broccoli. Everyone agreed that the flavor was excellent, but that it was a little dry, and that the feeling of the dish was more along the lines of “roasted chicken and veggies” than “casserole.”
The second time I made it, I added more types of veggies (broccoli, carrot, pumpkin), but only used one bell pepper. I sauteed the chicken and onions in butter and garlic. Then I sauteed the other veggies in butter and garlic and simmered them in 2 cups of chicken broth until the potatoes were somewhat tender. Then I poured everything, including the residual broth, into the 3 qt casserole dish and stirred until it was throughly mixed. I added and mixed in the olive oil and spices — minus the garlic, since I’d used it to saute. I did increase the spices and oil slightly because of the overall increase of ingredients. Then I baked, stirred, and added cheese according to the recipe.
The result was *amazing.* Everyone raved about it. I realize the added butter makes it a bit less healthy, but the added vegetables make up for that, right? <__>
Thank you for this recipe. It may seem like I made a lot of changes, but it’s still your recipe at the heart of it, and it’s *so good.*
Note: Since our budget is dieting more than we are right now, I served this with steamed rice to make it stretch. It would also have gone well with brown rice or with biscuits.
Note 2: Rating is 4 stars for recipe as written, 5 stars with alterations.
Happy you found a version that works for you! This recipe is truly a base that’s meant to be tweaked to fit your preferences and I can’t wait to try it your way. 🙂
Hi Christy, I made this dish today w/ modifications. Used up some vegetables that needed to be used. Also, diced up extra onions & put in extra garlic, added tomatoes, spinach, broccoli but no peppers. Tossed it all in olive oil, fresh basil & fresh cilantro. Made this for myself, meal prepping so to speak lol so if I want to add cheese I can later. Thanks for the idea.
✌☺
Here a link to the photo.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjVMovvHsCb/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=cistixxgiep9
Sounds delicious! Using up random veggies in the fridge is where I come up with the best recipe ideas. 🙂
This was a very flavorful dish! My chicken was a little dry. Perhaps I should have left the chicken in bigger pieces or used a little more oil (I didn’t measure the oil, but I doubt I used 3 Tbsp.) Thank you for the recipe.
The first time I made it I tried to skimp on the oil to make it healthier but kept running into dry chicken and potatoes too. Its a bummer to have to add so much but its pretty necessary in this dish. Maybe I’ll try a version with chicken thighs next time and see if the natural fat in them keeps it more juicy. You’re giving me ideas now! 😉
I don’t have any red peppers, so I’m going to try this with other veggies, probably broccoli. Large family to feed so I may add additional veg. Hope it works out because this sounds so yummy .
That should work! Broccoli cooks fast so I’d make the pieces a little bit bigger. As long as you cut the veggies and chicken the right size so that they are done at the same time, it should work just fine. If I’m feeding kiddies with this recipe, sometimes I add more cheese just to make sure it goes over well. 🙂