The Secret to Making ALL Your Casserole Recipes Better
I mentioned in my other article this week that I made the best funeral potatoes for our annual family dinner to celebrate when we bought our home. I feel like I have just learned the secret to making any casserole dish taste so much better than the norm and make it stand out above your run-of-the-mill casserole.
My husband’s mom used to make a couple of really g delicious casserole dishes that I make on occasion for some comfort food that tastes like home for him and just the other day, between you and I ;) , he said, “How does your version taste better than my mom’s?!” I explained to him that it must be because I make the cream of chicken soup from scratch, whereas she always uses the Campbell’s kind. It really makes SUCH a difference, and while he would never tell his mom, I think this casserole tastes just a little bit better because there’s none of the weird aftertaste or preservatives in the homemade version and it only takes like 5 minutes more to make it from scratch!
There’s just one thing you might come across when making this and I will be honest with you, almost every time I make this, I think it must be that I am not cooking it, low enough, and not stirring constantly enough, but It always seems to end up with lumps in it. However, this has never seemed to cause any problems in the outcomes of any of the casseroles or other ways. I have used this homemade cream of chicken soup. The lumps always seem to sort themselves out with mixing the other ingredients to make any casserole, and I have never noticed any lumps in my final dishes. So don’t be too worried if it turns out a little bit lumpy.
Most recipes I use this for end up only needing about half of it, so I can get two casseroles worth from this one batch of homemade cream of chicken soup. It is so versatile that it can be used for anything from a chicken and broccoli cheesy casserole, sausage gravy, chicken pot pie, to a slow cooker recipe for stroganoff.
It truly makes every dish taste like a million bucks! Or you can put leftovers in zip top baggies and freeze portion size to unthaw and use when needed. This is an old recipe originally posted in 2012 so there are tons of comments and several that say that freezing the leftovers this way works beautifully.
It is well worth the extra 5 to 10 minutes it takes to make this and you will always have the simple ingredients on hand to do so. And of course you know exactly what ingredients you were putting into this dish. It doesn’t have weird preservatives or other questionable ingredients you can’t pronounce like the typical canned soup in the store does.
I would challenge you to make your favorite go-to casserole recipe that calls for a can or two of cream of chicken soup and use this instead and see if you think it’s worth making from scratch. I started doing this probably five years ago and haven’t gone back!
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used 2 cans)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon seasoning mix (I typically use roughly ½ tsp onion powder, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp black pepper, 1 tsp salt, ¼ tsp parsley, ¼ tsp oregano, ¼ tsp marjoram, ¼ tsp basil)
Directions:
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My husband’s mom used to make a couple of really g delicious casserole dishes that I make on occasion for some comfort food that tastes like home for him and just the other day, between you and I ;) , he said, “How does your version taste better than my mom’s?!” I explained to him that it must be because I make the cream of chicken soup from scratch, whereas she always uses the Campbell’s kind. It really makes SUCH a difference, and while he would never tell his mom, I think this casserole tastes just a little bit better because there’s none of the weird aftertaste or preservatives in the homemade version and it only takes like 5 minutes more to make it from scratch!
There’s just one thing you might come across when making this and I will be honest with you, almost every time I make this, I think it must be that I am not cooking it, low enough, and not stirring constantly enough, but It always seems to end up with lumps in it. However, this has never seemed to cause any problems in the outcomes of any of the casseroles or other ways. I have used this homemade cream of chicken soup. The lumps always seem to sort themselves out with mixing the other ingredients to make any casserole, and I have never noticed any lumps in my final dishes. So don’t be too worried if it turns out a little bit lumpy.
Most recipes I use this for end up only needing about half of it, so I can get two casseroles worth from this one batch of homemade cream of chicken soup. It is so versatile that it can be used for anything from a chicken and broccoli cheesy casserole, sausage gravy, chicken pot pie, to a slow cooker recipe for stroganoff.
It truly makes every dish taste like a million bucks! Or you can put leftovers in zip top baggies and freeze portion size to unthaw and use when needed. This is an old recipe originally posted in 2012 so there are tons of comments and several that say that freezing the leftovers this way works beautifully.
It is well worth the extra 5 to 10 minutes it takes to make this and you will always have the simple ingredients on hand to do so. And of course you know exactly what ingredients you were putting into this dish. It doesn’t have weird preservatives or other questionable ingredients you can’t pronounce like the typical canned soup in the store does.
I would challenge you to make your favorite go-to casserole recipe that calls for a can or two of cream of chicken soup and use this instead and see if you think it’s worth making from scratch. I started doing this probably five years ago and haven’t gone back!
Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup Recipe - Pinch of Yum
This is a super easy recipe for making your own homemade cream of chicken soup. Just four ingredients and so delicious! Author: Author: Pinch of Yum
Serving size: 3
Calories per serving: 173
Ingredients:
Calories per serving: 173
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used 2 cans)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon seasoning mix (I typically use roughly ½ tsp onion powder, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp black pepper, 1 tsp salt, ¼ tsp parsley, ¼ tsp oregano, ¼ tsp marjoram, ¼ tsp basil)
Directions:
1. Combine the chicken broth and ½ cup of the milk in a large saucepan. Bring to a low boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the flour and seasonings into the remaining 1 cup milk untiil a smooth, thick mixture forms.
3. Pour the flour and milk mixture into the saucepan with the broth mixture over low heat and stir continuously, whisking as the mixture simmers. Continue to simmer and stir/whisk until the mixture is smooth and thick, 5-10 minutes. The mixture will thicken a bit as it cools.
Source: pinchofyum.com
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the flour and seasonings into the remaining 1 cup milk untiil a smooth, thick mixture forms.
3. Pour the flour and milk mixture into the saucepan with the broth mixture over low heat and stir continuously, whisking as the mixture simmers. Continue to simmer and stir/whisk until the mixture is smooth and thick, 5-10 minutes. The mixture will thicken a bit as it cools.
Source: pinchofyum.com
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Mary Richardson
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
Email the author! mary@dvo.com
