French Onion Chicken Casserole – 🧅🙌🏻🧀 This chicken casserole is creamy, cheesy, and sprinkled with crispy French fried onions on top! Just 5 minutes of prep time is all you need for this EASY comfort food chicken casserole. Timesaving Bonus: Use leftover shredded chicken or store bought rotisserie chicken for a fuss-free busy weeknight dinner!
Easy French Onion Chicken Casserole Recipe
If you like French onion dip, you’re going to love this French onion chicken casserole.
- There’s chunks of shredded chicken and tender broccoli in every bite with a creamy, cheesy sauce that coats the chicken and broccoli so perfectly.
- It’s made with just a handful of easy-to-find and relatively inexpensive ingredients.
- I really like that it takes advantage of leftover chicken and you can even use frozen broccoli. I bet you could use leftover turkey too from Thanksgiving or Christmas. And if you have crispy fried onions on hand from the holidays, even better!
- This is truly a stir-it-and-bake-it recipe. With just 5 minutes of prep time and 40 minutes to bake, this is a simple casserole recipe that perfect for busy weeknights and ready in 45 minutes total time.
- You don’t actually need to saute onions in a skillet with butter. The French onion flavor is coming from a French onion soup mix seasoning packet as well as crunchy French fried onions on top.
- No actual caramelized onions needed, but please check out these three French onion recipes linked below that do capitalize on caramelizing onions. So good!
more french onion recipes
Ingredients in French Onion Casserole with Chicken
- For creaminess – Cream of chicken soup and sour cream. You could likely sub thick Greek yogurt for the sour cream although I haven’t personally tested it.
- For flavor – Onion soup mix, garlic powder (or very finely minced cloves garlic), kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper.
- Chicken – Previously cooked and shredded chicken is what you want. I use white meat from chicken breasts but it’s up to you. See the FAQs below for my chicken recommendations.
- Broccoli florets – You can use fresh broccoli or frozen broccoli florets. Fresh broccoli will stay crisper. If you want a softer texture, either blanch and parboil the broccoli first, or use frozen broccoli. Defrost it first and drain the water. I’ve also got this Chicken Broccoli Casserole with Rice and this Chicken Noodle Casserole with Broccoli in case you’re looking for more ways to use your leftover chicken + broccoli.
- Shredded cheese – Sharp cheddar cheese is my favorite hear but most any kind of shredded cheese blend is fine. Mozzarella cheese, provolone, Swiss cheese, gruyere cheese, will also work if you want more of a gooey cheesy effect.
- Crispy fried onions – These aren’t just for topping your favorite green beans casserole! They add excellent crunch and texture to an otherwise softer dish and shouldn’t be missed.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
Instructions To Make Chicken French Onion Casserole
- Preheat your oven and spray a 9×13-inch baking dish or casserole dish with cooking spray.
- To a large bowl, add the condensed soup, sour cream, soup mix, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and stir to combine.
- Add the shredded chicken, broccoli, cheese, and stir to combine.
- Turn the chicken mixture out into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with the crispy French fried onions.
- Bake for about 30 minutes covered with aluminum foil, and another 5-10 minutes uncovered, or as desired, cool, and serve.
what to serve with French onion casserole
Storage
In the Refrigerator: Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Freezing: This recipe will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw before reheating.
To Reheat: I use my microwave for quickness and ease and reheat my leftovers for about 30 seconds on high, or as needed.
Recipe FAQs
You’ll want about 4 cups of cooked and shredded chicken (or cubed) for this recipe. Options include a store-bought rotisserie chicken, making a sheet pan whole roasted chicken, Crockpot whole chicken, poached chicken, or another type of leftover chicken you have on hand.
This recipe was developed using a can of condensed soup for convenience. I use cream of chicken but you could likely sub with cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup if that’s what you have on hand.
I have another recipe for Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole which is very similar and does not use any condensed soup and I recommend that one instead for you. I also have a Chicken Noodle Casserole that’s free from soup.
Perhaps there is but I recommend picking up a packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix or Knorr French Onion Mix for best results. It’s what will really bring home the flavor in this French onion soup chicken casserole because the packets have seasonings, salt, and things in them to help thicken the sauce and I haven’t tried making this recipe without it.
I suggest my Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole recipe if you’re interested in avoiding convenience products or if they’re not available in your area. I also have a Chicken Noodle Casserole that’s free from seasoning mix.
French Onion Chicken Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 10.5 ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 ½ cups sour cream, I do not recommend lite sour cream
- 1 packet dry Lipton Onion Recipe Soup and Dip Mix, or Knorr French Onion Recipe Mix
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 4 cups shredded cooked chicken, see FAQs in blog post for ideas, but leftover chicken from a whole roasted chicken or store bought rotisserie chicken are my go-to options
- 2 cups broccoli florets, if you prefer a crisper texture use fresh broccoli, if you prefer softer broccoli use previously frozen broccoli that you thaw
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup crispy French fried onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 9×13-inch baking dish or similar-sized casserole dish with cooking spray; set aside momentarily.
- To a large bowl, add the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, French onion soup mix packet, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and stir to combine. Tip – You can likely use thick Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream, although I haven't tested it.
- Add the shredded chicken, broccoli, shredded cheese, and stir to combine.
- Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Evenly sprinkle the French fried onions over the top.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake covered for about 30 minutes, or until everything is warmed through and the broccoli is as soft as desired.
- Remove the foil, and bake uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the top is as lightly golden browned as desired.
- Allow the casserole to cool momentarily before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Sounds amazing I can’t wait to make it”)
That’s wonderful and hope you love it, Deb!
We made this recipe once a long while ago and it was so tasty but we forgot to save it. Have looked so long for it lol finally found it and DEFFF bookmarking this time! So delicious and easy, thank you!
Thanks for the five star review, Lina, and I’m glad you found the recipe again and that you booked marked it! Good job 👍🏻
I followed the recipe as close as I could but I found it to be way too salty. Next time I will use low sodium soup and not add any extra salt. Overall it has a great flavor.
Thanks for trying the recipe and yes, adjust the salt to your preferences. In general, canned soup of any kind is pretty salty and depending on the chicken you used if it was a rotisserie chicken, that could also be contributing. Glad it had a great flavor overall!