I have had the one of THOSE weeks. You know what I’m talking about. Those weeks where it seems like you can’t possibly make it through all the work you have to do and you spend every waking minute working on something. My brain just wouldn’t shut off each night, and I’d find myself planning, calculating, and working (even if just in my head) until well past my bedtime.
I did it to myself, of course. I’ve never been one to get anything done ahead of time. I guess you could say that procrastination is my strong point. We waited until the last possible minute to do our taxes, and I spent the whole week preparing receipts and spreadsheets for our appointment. At my “real” job–I’m a middle school history teacher–I had progress report grades due, which meant I stayed in my classroom until 5pm each afternoon to input the scores for the last few weeks. On top of all that, I’m the yearbook adviser for our school, and our book is due on Monday. That means scrambling to finish 48 pages and leading twenty 13 year-old girls through the process too.
Needless to say, dinner (and blogging) got pushed to the side for the most part this week. I definitely was not thinking about meal-planning–I probably could have eaten a stale piece of pizza and wouldn’t have even noticed. Luckily, I found this recipe for Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Casserole, and it totally hit the spot. It’s easy to throw together in just minutes with just a few simple ingredients, but it has a big flavor payoff. It was so tasty, I could probably eat it every day and be very, very happy. It was the perfect comfort food for a very stressful week.
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I made a few adjustments to the original recipe to suit my tastes, but that’s the great thing about this recipe–you can throw in whatever you have on hand (or leave out whatever you don’t like), and it will still taste amazing! I cut down the amount of hot sauce from the original recipe and omitted the bacon (we didn’t have any on hand), and it still had a lot of flavor. It reminded me of those huge stuffed potatoes packed full of toppings like you’d get at a restaurant like BJ’s or Yard House or Claim Jumper. So good.
If you’re having a stressful week and need a quick go-to recipe, this one is perfect.
Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 3-4 chicken breasts cubed
- 8 russet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 4 tablespoons hot sauce we like Louisiana hot sauce
- 3 cups shredded cheese we like a four cheese Mexican blend, but you can use cheddar if that’s not your thing
- 1 cup scallions sliced
- sour cream for serving
- Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole 1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 glass baking dish by spraying with nonstick cooking spray.
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and hot sauce.
- Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole 3. Add the potatoes to the bowl and toss with a spoon to coat potatoes with the sauce. Transfer the potatoes to the prepared baking dish, allowing the excess sauce to stay behind in the bowl.
- Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole
- Bake the potatoes in the oven for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so.
- Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole
- While the potatoes are baking, place the chicken in the remaining sauce in the bowl and toss to coat. If needed, added a few more dashes of hot sauce and a little extra salt and pepper. Let the chicken sit in the bowl to marinate while the potatoes cook.
- Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole
- In a separate bowl, combine the green onions and shredded cheese and set aside.
- Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole
- When the potatoes are finished baking, remove the pan from the oven. Top with the chicken, then cover with the cheese and onion mixture.
- Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole
- Bake the casserole in the oven for an additional 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and the cheese is bubbly and melted.
- Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole
- Serve with extra scallions on top with a dollop of sour cream.
- Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole
- Enjoy!
