Loaded Potato & Chicken Bake – A Cheesy Taste of Comfort

There are those days when your taste buds scream – give me comfort. Or those days when you’ve got just a short time to whip up something hearty for extra guests, yet you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen or dirty a ton of pots and pans. This Loaded Potato & Chicken Bake is just the ticket. It’s loaded with all the things you love, and it’s full of flavor and nutrition. The inspiration comes from those tasty restaurant baked potatoes, you know the ones – with butter, sour cream, bacon, cheese and green onions.  With this yummy chicken casserole those calories are spread around and shared with others, plus you now have the added benefit of some extra and much needed protein.

I whipped up this yummy bake when I needed to take a hot dish to friends, and all they needed to do was pop it in the microwave for a bit to reheat.  Or you can even have this prepped a day ahead and leave the last bit of cooking with the added cheese for just before serving. It looked so tasty when I took it to my friends, that I decided to double up the recipe – which is what you’ll find here, and make it for family coming for Sunday dinner. It amply fed mom, dad, 4 kids, grandma (me) and grandpa with enough leftover for lunch the next day.  I prepped it all in the morning, covered it with foil and placed it in the preset oven to cook for an hour – just before we came home from church, then I removed the foil when I got home, and did the remaining cooking time. It was a big hit! I didn’t have any sour cream on hand, so I used the plain greek yogurt I did have. The yogurt did curdle a bit when baked, but there was no difference in taste from sour cream. 

Laurel

Loaded Potato & Chicken Bake

A hearty casserole with potatoes, cheese, bacon and chicken breast.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 6 - 8 medium russet potatoes washed and cubed
• 3 large boneless chicken breasts cubed into 1" pieces
• 8 slices bacon cooked crisp and crumbled
• 2 - 2 1/2 cups shredded cheese cheddar, colby jack, or mexi blend
• 6 green onions sliced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 cup or more sour cream I used plain greek yogurt, because that's what I had
• 1 cup 1/2 & 1/2 or heavy cream
• 4 Tbs butter cut into small pieces

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9 X 13" baking dish with cooking spray. Cook the bacon and set aside to cool and crumble.
2. Dice the potatoes and place half of them in the bottom of the baking dish. Now layer on all the diced, uncooked chicken. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with paprika. Dollop the sour cream on top and lightly spread it to cover the potatoes. Sprinkle on half of the crumbled bacon and about 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Top with half of the green onions.
3. Now layer on the remaining diced potatoes, sprinkle on remaining seasonings and remaining bacon. Top with another cup of the cheese, then sprinkle remaining green onions. Pour over the 1/2 & 1/2 and dot with butter. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour at 350° Uncover and bake another 30 min. In the last few minutes of baking, sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of cheese over the top and bake until melted. Serve warm with a crusty bread and green salad.

Notes

Check for potatoes for doneness with a fork. You may want to spear a piece of chicken from the middle to make sure all pinkness is gone. I placed the casserole in the preset oven for a delay start and 1 hour cooking time, so it would be ready to uncover and finish cooking when we got home from church. so nice to come home to a prepared dinner.