This hot chicken salad casserole is comfort food at its finest! Made with a super creamy dressing and topped with potato chips and fried onions. Enjoy!
The BEST Hot Chicken Salad Casserole
This hot chicken salad casserole is the best of both worlds! Everything you love about chicken salad and and a hot casserole come together for this comfort food favorite.
Why you’ll love it!
Ready in under an hour: that is right! From start to finish, you’ll have this chicken salad casserole on the table in 50 minutes, making it a great weeknight meal.
Serves a crowd: looking to serve a crowd or a big family? This is your meal!
Featured Ingredients
For the casserole
- Shredded chicken
- Mayonnaise
- Sour cream
- Cream cheese
- Yellow onion
- Celery
- Red bell pepper
- Shredded cheddar cheese
For the topping
- Kettle potato chips
- Crispy fried onions
How to soften cream cheese
Looking for a quick method to soften cream cheese? Check out our post – How to Soften Cream Cheese – 4 Ways! Here you’ll learn 4 unique (and quick!) methods to softening cream cheese the perfect amount for baking and cooking.
How to Make Hot Chicken Salad Casserole
Prepare dressing ingredients
Preheat the oven to 350℉ and spray a 9×13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray.
Add the mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, salt, pepper, and paprika to a large bowl. Using a hand mixer, combine all ingredients together.
add casserole ingredients
Add all of the ingredients minus the potato chips and crispy fried onions to the dressing. Mix until everything is completely covered with the dressing.
add toppings
Transfer the chicken mixture into the casserole dish, and top with the potato chips and crispy fried onions.
bake & serve
Bake for 30 minutes, and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Our Favorite
Casserole Dish
This le creuset casserole dish is our all time favorite casserole dish! The white color rocks, it has a cover, and it’s great for so many dishes.
Top Tips for Perfect Hot Chicken Salad Casserole
Use rotisserie chicken: we love using shredded rotisserie chicken for this casserole because it makes things oh so easy.
Serve it hot or cold: this casserole is delicious served hot or cold! Simply stop at step 4 and skip the bake time and serve as a cold chicken salad casserole.
Storage
After the chicken salad casserole is baked, let cool completely before placing in an airtight container. Store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To reheat the hot chicken salad casserole let it come to room temperature and then reheat covered in the oven at 350ºF until the cheese melts and the middle of the casserole is warm.
To Freeze Chicken Salad Casserole
If you’re planning to freeze this casserole, wait to add the potato chips and fried onions until you thaw it. Let the casserole cool completely before covering the entire dish with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil. Place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To reheat the chicken salad casserole, let the dish come to room temperature and then top with potato chips and fried onions. Reheat covered in the oven at 350ºF until the cheese melts and the middle is warm.
Hot Chicken Salad Casserole
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- 8 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 lb. cooked shredded chicken
- ½ medium yellow onion diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 1 large red bell pepper seeded and diced
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 cups kettle potato chips lightly crushed
- 1 cup crispy fried onions we used store-bought
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ and spray a 9×13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray.
- Add the mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, salt, pepper, and paprika to a large bowl. Using a hand mixer, combine all ingredients together.
- Add all of the ingredients minus the potato chips and crispy fried onions to the dressing. Mix until everything is completely covered with the dressing.
- Transfer the chicken mixture into the casserole dish. Top with the potato chips and crispy fried onions.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
Tips & Notes
- You could stop at step 4 and serve this as a cold chicken salad.
Made this for dinner last night and it was delicious. Now that it’s dark at 4:30 pm and all I want to do is lay on my side, eat brown food, and not leave the house, this little pick-me-up brought me hope. It’s hope in a pan, really. Hope in a pan with chicken. You’ll probably like it, too. Easy to make, easy to eat, and clean-up’s a breeze!
So happy to hear it, Justine!