Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

I don’t know about you, but I love stuffing! I can’t wait a whole year just to have it on Thanksgiving so I make stuffing as a side dish throughout the year. And… I make chicken and stuffing casserole! If you can’t wait for Thanksgiving, make this easy and delicious casserole and serve it with cranberry sauce. (You can make it even easier by purchasing a roasted chicken from the deli and using canned or boxed chicken stock instead of using the stock resulting from boiling a chicken as directed in the recipe.)

Before I share the recipe, I want to tell you about a recipe book that a friend of mine put together. Since ya’ll are “foodies” I thought you might like to check it out. Nicole O’Dell gathered favorite recipes from several of her author friends (and me ) and put them together in the book, “Novel Morsels.” There are tons of great recipes from great authors (some I’m honored to call my friend). Here’s the link if you want to check it out:

Novel Morsels

When you finish looking through all the awesome recipes in Novel Morsels you will be hungry. Very hungry. You will probably want some comfort food. I’m pretty sure you will want chicken and stuffing casserole with cranberry sauce on the side

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

Ingredients:

• Whole chicken
• 1 stick butter, divided (1/2 cup)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• Reserved stock from boiling chicken
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 14 ounce package cornbread or herb stuffing mix

Place chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from stock and set aside to cool. Continue to simmer stock until reduced to only 3 to 4 cups.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and bones and shred chicken into bite-size pieces.

In a large skillet, melt 6 tablespoons of the butter. Add onion, celery and mushrooms and saute until vegetables are tender. Add sage and 1 cup chicken stock. Remove from heat.

Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the stuffing mix. Add remaining stuffing to the onion mixture. If dry, add more stock. You do not want the stuffing to be mushy, just moist.

Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place stuffing mixture in bottom of baking dish.

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the stock with the two cans of soup. Stir in the chicken. Pour mixture over the layer of stuffing.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and mix into the reserved 1 1/2 cups of stuffing. Sprinkle over the top.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden and casserole is hot and bubbly.

Sweetest Blessings,
LeAnn