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Satisfy your hungry family’s appetites and warm their souls with this Cowboy Casserole with Cornbread and Chicken! Full of down-home ingredients, it’s an easy one dish dinner that’s perfect for potlucks, freezer meals, and weeknight suppers!
The “cowboy” moniker is a great way to describe hearty stick-to-your-ribs meals that utilize a few simple ingredients for easy and delicious dinners! These are the suppers that my active boys and my hardworking husband love to see on the table at the end of the day…total comfort food!
With chicken, cornbread, cheese, bell peppers, and onion baked together in a creamy sauce, this Cowboy Casserole recipe is a crowd-pleasing one dish dinner that your family will adore!
How to Make Cowboy Casserole:
Since this is a Cowboy Casserole with Cornbread, we’ll start with the cornbread! You’ll need about 4 cups of coarsely crumbled cooked cornbread, so you can either purchase cornbread or corn muffins at the bakery for a shortcut OR you can use a small box of cornbread mix and prepare it yourself at home (this only takes a few minutes to stir together).
If you’re using a small box like this Jiffy mix, you’ll need about 3/4 of the prepared pan for this recipe.
You’ll also need some veggies!
In a large bowl, combine crumbled cornbread, onion, bell pepper, celery, and grated cheddar cheese.
Spread half of the cornbread mixture in the bottom of a baking dish and top with the chicken.
Next, the sauce! The simple creamy sauce for this Cowboy Casserole is made with just two ingredients: chicken broth and condensed Cream of Chicken soup.
Whisk together the broth and the condensed soup…
and pour the sauce over the chicken.
Finally, spread the remaining cornbread mixture over the top. Use your fingers to gently press down the mixture to form a crust.
Bake the Cowboy Casserole in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes, or just until the top turns golden brown and the inside is hot and bubbly. Perfect!
Can you freeze Cowboy Casserole?
Absolutely! This is Cowboy Casserole recipe is the perfect make ahead dinner!
You assemble the casserole in advance (on the weekend, in the morning, during afternoon naps…whenever it suits your schedule) and either keep it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours until you’re ready to bake it, or wrap it tightly and pop it in the freezer.
The Cowboy Casserole will stay fresh in the freezer for up to 2 months. Really, is there anything better than a freezer meal waiting for you on a crazy busy day when you just don’t have the time or energy to cook? I think not.
COOK’S TIPS AND RECIPE VARIATIONS:
- I use about 3/4 of a prepared pan of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix for this recipe (which totals about 4 cups crumbled). For a shortcut, purchase a pan of cornbread or a batch of corn muffins from the bakery at your grocery store.
- This casserole calls for cooked, diced chicken, but you can substitute with an equal amount of cooked ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken.
- I use Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup, but you can substitute with Cream of Celery or Cream of Mushroom soup instead.
What to serve with Cowboy Casserole:
I love that casseroles are basically an entire meal in one dish. With vegetables, protein and carbs, there’s no pressure to come up with any elaborate sides!
That said, if you want to fill out your plate with even more fresh vegetables or sides in addition to your Cowboy Casserole, try these:
- Slow Cooker Southern Green Beans
- Cowboy Baked Beans
- Garlic Roasted Broccoli
- Perfect Oven Roasted Asparagus
- Or just a simple green salad with plenty of crisp, fresh vegetables!
You might also like these easy casserole recipes:
- Dump-and-Bake Chicken Wild Rice Casserole
- Chicken, Broccoli and Rice Casserole
- 5-Ingredient Dump-and-Bake Beefaroni
- Johnny Marzetti Casserole
Cowboy Casserole with Cornbread and Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 cups coarsely crumbled cornbread I used about ¾ of the cornbread that was baked in an 8-inch square pan
- ¼ cup diced green bell pepper
- ½ cup diced onion
- ¼ cup diced celery
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cups cooked, diced chicken (I used about half of the meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken)
- 1 (10.5 ounce) can cream of chicken soup (NOT diluted)
- 1 cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 2-quart baking dish (about 8 or 9-inch square) with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine cornbread, green bell pepper, onion, celery, and cheese.
- Place half of the cornbread mixture in the prepared baking dish.
- Spread chicken in an even layer over the cornbread mixture.
- Whisk together soup and broth until completely combined. Pour soup mixture over the chicken. Spread remaining cornbread mixture over the chicken and gently press down to form a top crust.
- Bake, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, or until hot, bubbly, and golden brown on top.
Notes
- I use about 3/4 of a prepared pan of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix for this recipe (which totals about 4 cups crumbled). For a shortcut, purchase a pan of cornbread or a batch of corn muffins from the bakery at your grocery store.
- This casserole calls for cooked, diced chicken, but you can substitute with an equal amount of cooked ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken.
- I use Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup, but you can substitute with Cream of Celery or Cream of Mushroom soup instead.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in November, 2015. It was updated in December, 2018.
I made this up tonight to bake tomorrow. I changed it up a bit to have a little kick. I make a spicy creamed corn with roasted chilies in it and use that in my cornbread. I also used a nice southwest dry rub to the chicken before I cooked it. So the whole thing should have a nice little heat to it. Looks great. Anxious to try it tomorrow.
Thanks, Kelly! Your spicy version sounds delicious. I hope you enjoy!
SO GOOD. I added 1/4 cup corn from a can and half a small can of mild green chiles. Definitely added another level of flavor.
Sounds great! Glad that you enjoyed it, Julie!
So happy to have found this recipe. Made it last night with leftover rotisserie chicken and cornbread we had from a few days ago. Used red bell peppers and homemade substitute cream of chicken soup as that was what we had on hand. We loved it ! I would say we got 6-ish servings . I’m keeping to make again and sharing!
That’s awesome, Lisa! Thank you for letting me know. I need to make this one again soon! 🙂
We made this tonight and weren’t fans. I followed it to a T, but it was mushy and a tad bit too sweet (we just used regular Jiffy cornbread mix). I did, however, put half the onion in just because I had only a quarter of an onion left and I felt the onion still overpowered the dish. I’m a huge fan of a lot of your recipes, but this was a miss for us.
I’m a casserole lover, so this recipe was a great find for me and my husband. I substituted jalapeno peppers for the green bell pepper and made a thick white sauce (10 oz.) to substitute for the canned creamed soup. I spiced the sauce with garlic powder and a pinch of oregano. It was delicious! I loved the crunch of the fresh veggies and the jalapeno wasn’t spicy at all (I did remove most of the seeds).We served it with collard greens. I can’t wait to try the leftovers after the cornbread has absorbed more of that creamy sauce. Thank you!
Your version sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing those tips — I’m so glad that you enjoyed the casserole!
I had some leftover cornbread I needed to use up and found this recipe. I had high hopes since it was so easy. The only thing I substituted was red pepper for the green and I used cream of celery soup. I found this dish to be quite bland. It needed some spices for sure. I also found the onion to be overpowering and crunchy. My advice would be to add spices, and sautee the onion and celery first until they were translucent. Maybe pepper jack cheese to jazz it up. Overall, I was very disappointed.
I made this casserole yesterday with some leftover Alber’s corn bread. I thought I had a half deli chicken in the freezer but I didn’t so I used a pound and a quarter of hamburger cooked and seasoned with Fiesta Brand Hamburger Deluxe seasoning. Instead of broth I used Knorr Caldo de Res beef bouillon with a cup of water. Everything else was as per your recipe. Truly, truly this was delicious and delightful to eat. My husband and I are both having it for breakfast also. I will make this recipe again and again for sure. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Sounds perfect, Marsha! I love the idea of using the hamburger instead. I’ll have to try that! Thanks for your note. 🙂
This recipe is my favorite use for leftover cornbread, after I make a meal with cornbread. I have made this several times. I did a couple of tweaks, though. It definitely needs some salt and pepper, and about a tablespoon of sage to make it taste more like dressing (I’m from the South). The onions and peppers still turned out a little too crunchy for us. So I set the oven to 400, also add about 1-2 tbsp of melted butter and pour over the top. Cover it, and bake 45 minutes. Take the foil off for the last 10 minutes to brown the top. Or, sauté the onions and peppers first on the stove to soften them up. I love this recipe!
Thanks, Alison!
Very good. Liking spicy foods, I seasoned Perdue short cuts with Penzeys chicken taco seasoning and Arizona seasoning. I also added 1/4 cup canned green chilies and used red bell pepper as no green bell peppers in the house. My cornbread was homemade. I would make this again and try cooked ground beef for a change.
Sounds great, Donni. Thank you!
For me, what was used is what was handy..mixed peas and carrots, fresh cheddar broccoli soup, and a thawed half round of cornbread from the freezer, crumbled right in the bag! After i shredded the chicken breast I garnished with the Shredded cheese before I placed it in the oven..quite an easy dish to prepare. Thank you for sharing!!
Sounds perfect, Gen. Thank you!
This is great for leftover cornbread (don’t make your cornbread sweet, if wanting to use in this recipe). It has become a main staple for us. We always look forward to fresh baked cornbread for breakfast, then Cowboy Casserole a day or two later (IF, I can keep hubby out of the cornbread). Love that it’s also versatile with different meats.
We’re so happy to hear this, Victoria! We’re so glad you enjoy it.