Main Dish Casserole Recipes - Keeping Casseroles Interesting

Are you tired of the same old casserole, over and over? In my house, casseroles are comfort food, and my family can't get enough of them. I rarely hear complaints. But it's me! I get tired of the same ones day in and day out. So I hit an epiphany a couple days ago on repetitive casserole syndrome. I decided to share with you my main dish casserole recipes, and how to modify them so you're not serving the same-old-same-old. So here's what I do, and I hope you can get some good information from it.

Corn Dog Casserole

I got this casserole recipe a few years ago. My husband and I just bought a business, far from our home town. We were living behind the building in our 40' fifth wheel camper while working the business. I needed cheap meals that could be made preferably in one dish. So I got this casserole recipe book from Campbells. This recipe was one of our favorites.

The recipe is basically your favorite chili, home made or canned, with cut up hot dogs mixed in, and a prepared corn muffin mix, half on the bottom of the pan, and half on the top. Put cheese over it and bake 30 minutes.

Until recently I had never modified the casserole. Then it dawned on me. Surely there were other dishes that would be great baked into that cornbread shell! What goes great with cornbread? So I came up with these variations which I think you will love. Instead of chili and hot dogs, use these as your base:

• Ham and Beans
• BBQ Baked Beans and Polish Sausages
• Pulled Pork
• Chicken or Turkey with stuffing vegetables and gravy (you basically make your cornbread stuffing recipe, minus the cornbread, put cooked chicken or turkey in it, pour some gravy over it, then do the cornbread bottom and top, and don't forget the cheese!)
• Sausage Gravy
• Tex-Mex Taco Filling

So try all of these variations. They are GREAT!

Deep Dish Pizza Casserole

I got this recipe off of Pinterest, and it has become a favorite. You take a Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust (we always called them Pop-n-Fresh), lay it out in a cooking-sprayed 9x13 pan, then put sauce and pizza toppings on it, and bake for 20 minutes. Easy-Peasy

So here's the yummy modifications I've done on this concept:

• Sloppy Joe Pizza Casserole, your favorite ground beef Sloppy Joe recipe, or just Manwich, covered with cheese.
• Philly Cheese Steak, ground beef, sauteed bell peppers and onions, and Swiss cheese or cheese sauce.
• BBQ Pulled Pork.
• Breakfast Pizza, sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, crumbled bacon, and cheese.
• Nacho toppings and cheese,
• Chicken Alfredo or Pesto, chopped rotisserie chicken, Alfredo or Pesto sauce, steamed broccoli florets, and Parmesan.

Great modifications! And don't be afraid to modify the modifications! Change out sauces, vegetables, types of cheese, whatever tickles your fancy at the time.

Chicken Pot Pie with Crescent Dough Crust

You can make a pretty easy chicken pot pie with rotisserie chicken, chicken gravy or cream of chicken soup, and frozen mixed vegetables. Just mix together and pour into a cooking-sprayed 9x13, cover with the crescent dough, add cheese if you like, and bake for 20-30 minutes. Here are my mods on that casserole variation:

• Kraut Burger Casserole (Ever had a Runza in Nebraska?) (Saute a package of Cole slaw mix with browned hamburger. Lay that in your prepared 9x13, cover with cheddar cheese, then lay on your crescent dough and bake 20-30 minutes. Mmm!
• Taco Pie, same deal, taco ingredients with the crescent dough over the top.
• Chili Pot Pie.
• Breakfast Bake, pick a breakfast meat, or use several, scrambled eggs, sauteed peppers and onions, sausage gravy, you know the drill!
• Any of your favorite sandwich fixings. Reuben Sandwiches, Monte Cristo, Muffaletta, Italian sub, Turkey-bacon-club, Philly Cheese Steak, etc. Put those sandwich fillings layered into your prepared 9x13, cover with white sauce or cheese sauce, slap on your crescent dough, and bake for 30 minutes. Yummy!

French Bread Pizza

I crave French Bread pizza on occasion. You make it by getting a fresh French loaf from your bakery, and slice that in half lengthwise. Top with pizza sauce, your favorite pizza toppings, and cheese. Bake for 15 minutes until cheese is melted.

• Again, Sloppy Joe!
• Philly Cheese Steak.
• Buffalo Chicken.
• BBQ Pulled Pork.

Again, add cheese to your heart's content and enjoy!

Sheppard's Pie

Your basic sheppard's pie is a beef or lamb stew, topped with mashed potatoes, and baked. I make an easy version, with browned hamburger, prepared brown gravy packet, and thawed frozen mixed vegetables. And I make a killer garlic mashed potato with instant mashed potatoes, butter, a half cup of sour cream, salt and pepper to taste, and a half tablespoon of chopped garlic.

Here's your modifications:

• Chicken Pot Pie, using the ingredients from the crescent dough pot pie recipe, only use mashed potatoes instead of crust.
• Turkey, Turkey gravy, and stuffing topped with mashed potatoes.
• BBQ pulled pork.
• Sausage such as Kielbasa or Polish Sausage, brown gravy, peppers and onions.
• The KFC Famous Bowl Copy Cat, popcorn chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, topped with cheese.
• Sloppy Joe
• Meatloaf. Make your favorite meatloaf recipe baked all the way through, then add potatoes on top and bake another 15 minutes to brown and crisp the potato topping.

Tater Tot Casserole

Traditional tater tot casserole is made with browned ground beef, green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and cheese, topped with a tater tot "crust". My family loves it and asks for it a lot. Here are my modifications:

• Taco Tot Casserole, basically all your favorite taco fillings. I like black beans, corn, rice, tomatoes, green chiles and cheese, mixed with a binding of sour cream mixed with taco seasoning and salsa. Top with the tots and bake 30 minutes.
• Chili Tot
• Philly Tot, with a cheese sauce or a white sauce as your binding agent
• Sloppy Joe Tot
• Cowboy Tater Tot Casserole. Use traditional recipe, but put in corn instead of green beans.
• Breakfast Tater Tot Casserole, with sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, and cheese.
• Chicken Pot Pie Tater Tot Casserole.

These Are Just A Few

I have a few more casserole tricks up my sleeve, but these will get you started on your journey into casserole Nirvana. Try these variations with your family tonight and see what adding variety will do to your casserole repertoire. Please leave your comments and questions below, and thank you so much for reading!