Casserole Recipes & Ideas

I must confess that weeknight dinners can be a major struggle in my house, which probably seems contradictory coming from someone who writes about food! It’s true that my refrigerator is often filled with an eclectic group of ingredients—most of which cannot be transformed into any sort of suitable meal. I often find myself scavenging the pantry for anything I can pass off as adequate, and trust me when I tell you that a starving girl + Nutella does not equal dinner.

This time of year can be a tricky one for inspired breakfasts. Oatmeal is my go-to on weekdays, and on the weekends we often flail for something a bit more interesting but no more complex. With this morning tart, flail no more! I call this a morning tart instead of a quiche because I tend to think of quiche as more major, perhaps even towering.

Summer may be over according to the school and holiday calendars, but my kitchen counters continue to overflow with bowls of sweet cherry tomatoes that I associate with picnic season. In fact, it was a picnic that inspired this recipe for a polenta and roasted cherry tomato tart, and it’s just right for carrying to your local park. Of course, if you can’t squeeze in time for a picnic these days, the tart is just as delightful on a dinner table or in a lunch box.

This is the time of year when I start craving savory tarts. This vegetarian tart has vinegar-roasted onions, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese, making it a great appetizer for a group, or a dinner for two when served with a side salad. Why not? It’s getting cold out there and sometimes you just need a dinner that feels like the food equivalent of sliding on a cashmere sweater: decadent and yet perfectly functional.

During our month devoted to the glory of vegetables, we wanted to call out a few common yet perhaps under-appreciated vegetables and show a fresh, diverse set of ways to enjoy them. Last week, it was radishes; this week, lettuce. As Jill argued passionately yesterday, lettuce is not just the background to a decent salad. It’s not a bland way to shovel in your vegetables. Lettuce has a sweetness and a flavor all its own — and it deserves to be appreciated on its own terms.

This savory tart is a stunner — there’s no denying that. Blossoms made of butternut squash ribbons, sage- and garlic-flecked ricotta, and a tender olive oil crust make for a dish that’s 100 percent worthy of any and all Thanksgiving dinners. But the best part? Your guests will appreciate just how fancy it looks, but they’ll never know just how easy it is to make.

And it has a smart tip to avoid a soggy bottom.

Turn juicy tomatoes into this loaded cheesy tomato tart.

What's not to love about a buttery, flaky tart crowned with roasted asparagus, diced ham, and a cheesy egg custard?

It's my go-to for all occasions.

Throw that perfect trifecta of summer vegetables — tomatoes, eggplant, and summer squash — into a hot skillet, then scoop a thyme-scented drop biscuit dough right on top.

Comfort food is an overused phrase, no doubt. But when I’m cooking for a large crew, I make a beeline to the cabbages and the butcher’s counter. As a kid, I ate my grandmother’s stuffed cabbage almost weekly. It was the sweet-and-sour Jewish-esque version, and I loved it. I’ve had Polish versions and Russian versions, and frankly there’s something synergistically wondrous about cabbage and beef or veal; they support and showcase each other.

This casserole is tater tots living their best life.

This old fashioned version of a cheesecake has been a staple in my family for as long as I’ve been alive. The filling is less sweet than most cheesecakes, but the sugared graham cracker crust makes up for it. However, when I finally looked my old family recipe up in a cookbook, I was surprised at what I found.The first time I attempted my grandmother’s infamous cheese torte, I was astonished her recipe card actually yielded an edible product.

Toasted golden bread baked with cascades of juicy blueberries and deep, rich swirls of cream cheese — oh yes, this is what you crave for Saturday brunch.

You'll never go back to standard pie crust again.

The cheesiest taco casserole ever — and you can make it two days ahead. Touchdown!

This mash-up of baked potato skins and baked potatoes comes together to create one dreamy, creamy, crowd-pleasing casserole.

Do yourself a favor.

We’ve been fans of cheese-stuffed pasta shells our whole lives. It’s one of the first baked casserole dishes we can remember eating – and liking! – and it remains a favorite today. Don’t let the fact that this is a “lighter” version turn you off. It’s still cheesy and delicious, but now it’s just a little better for us! This recipe employs one of our favorite ways to lighten up a recipe: simply adding more vegetables.

Let's be honest: Everything tastes better with Buffalo sauce.

The comfort food classic gets an update that's heavy on veggies.

Fragrant rice, shrimp, and broccoli, all finished with a honey-garlic-soy drizzle.

And it comes with a seriously smart tip for the crust.

Spoiler: We love it, too.

Prep it the night before — then let breakfast make itself.

Even Queen Ina can falter.

It's basically dessert for breakfast.

It's pure joy in a baking dish.

The winner might surprise you.

It’s also a perfect, gluten-free, keto-friendly meal.

Easy prep and even easier cleanup.

Ann Taylor Pittman of Birmingham, Alabama, has strong feelings about cornbread dressing. "If someone brings cornbread dressing to Thanksgiving dinner and it’s made with sweetened cornbread, I can’t even look at it." Here's the recipe that gets it right.

Why didn't we think of this earlier?

It was a close battle between Ina, Ree, Sunny, and Alton.

This cheesy casserole will be a go-to all season long.

Plus a tip for faster-cooking caramelized onions.

Trust us — everyone will be going back for seconds.

If this is your first go-around with from-scratch mac, the recipe as written is sort of setting you up for failure.

I'd never made mac and cheese like this before.

It definitely doesn't hold back in the cheese department.

Was it worthy of its five-star rating?

Some say you've haven't truly tasted green bean casserole until you've made Alton's version. I wanted to find out if that was true.

Get that garlic bread ready!

These melt-in-your-mouth potatoes are what dreams are made of.

It's the one dish Chrissy says everyone should make from her cookbook. But did it live up to the hype?

It's so simple, yet so brilliant.

This was not the cozy, comforting casserole I had hoped for.

Cauliflower wins again.

And again.

WIN.

Like queerness, love lies at the core of these potatoes.

We're all a little obsessed.

There's just one extra step (but an important one!) for the best potato casserole you've ever tasted.

If you’ve never met a loaded baked potato you didn’t like, you’re about to meet your new favorite dinner casserole. It’s inspired by loaded potatoes, but calls for roasted cauliflower as the base. The florets are drenched in a creamy cheddar cheese sauce, mixed with plenty of crispy bacon bits and chopped scallions, and baked until bubbly and golden. Decadent isn’t often a word used to describe vegetables, but the rules change when cheese sauce gets involved.

A casserole for dinner always sounds like a good idea given its throw-together construction and its ability to feed many mouths, but it often takes much longer to bake — not so helpful on those busy weeknights. Cooking it for well over an hour sort of negates the convenience factor a little, no?

We love a good chicken casserole. In all its many forms, this dish brings easy, comforting home cooking to any meal plan. On weeknights it’s the one-pan meal that comes to the table with a little something for everyone. For a low-key Sunday night dinner you can have classic chicken and biscuits cooked all in one dish. Here are 15 of our favorite ways to bring the comfort of a chicken casserole to the dinner table.

To my mind, brown betties belong to that same class of obscure and creatively-named Early American fruit desserts as crisps, cobblers, and pandowdies. But the key ingredient in the case of a brown betty is not flaky pie crust or rich cake or even dollops of biscuit. No, for a brown betty, you need plain old sandwich bread.Traditionally, brown betties are made with buttered breadcrumbs, and traditionally, they’re mixed with fall apples or fresh applesauce.

This simple Italian-American pasta casserole comes together with a handful of basic ingredients and feeds a crowd.

At Kitchn, our editors develop and debut brand-new recipes on the site every single week. But at home, we also have our own tried-and-true dishes that we make over and over again — because quite simply? We love them. And we decided to start sharing some of our absolute favorites with you. Here’s a peek into what we’re cooking and eating in our own kitchens.

Kitchn’s Delicious Links column highlights recipes we’re excited about from the bloggers we love. Follow along every weekday as we post our favorites. A packet of ranch dressing seasoning has been the secret ingredient in countless dips and casseroles across the Midwest, and this creamy, cheesy, chicken bacon ranch casserole is a great example of the form.

Skip the frying, lose the fuss, and you've got a winning weeknight meal.

Yes, it's possible to have a not-too-rich casserole.

Hands-down, the ultimate way to indulge in caprese.