39 Casserole Recipes Worth Giving A Shot (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to make a casserole ahead of time? ›

Make-ahead meals (especially baked casseroles) are terrific because you can completely assemble them in advance and bake them just before serving. They're the ultimate comfort food as they come bubbling hot and delicious straight from the oven to the table to the delight of family and friends.

Let It Rest

Allow the casserole to cool on the counter for 15 minutes after it comes out of the oven. Doing this means "the boiling juices have time to settle, and your casserole won't be served as a drippy soup," says LaClair.

In general, you'll want to bake a casserole covered with aluminum foil for most of the cooking time. Covering the casserole helps lock in moisture and prevents it from drying out. If you don't cover the casserole or uncover it too soon, the casserole will dry out.

Nuts. Naturally crunchy and unlikely to get soggy like the other foods on this list, nuts make a delicious choice for casserole topping. Good, neutral options include chopped walnuts or almond slivers. For bolder flavor and color, opt for pistachios, or make it an extra rich dish with a sprinkling of toasted cashews.

Just because your casserole is starting to look a bit soupy doesn't mean it's beyond saving. In fact, all you need to do is add some pasta noodles or grains to your base. This trick works for the simple reason that both types of ingredients soak up water as they cook.

Top tips for casseroles

Cut your ingredients, such as meat, potatoes and parsnips, into similar-sized pieces to ensure they cook evenly. Add any ingredients that cook quickly, such as broad beans, towards the end of cooking. To save time – and washing up – use a flameproof, ovenproof casserole dish.

Soft vegetables like broccoli can be quickly par-cooked (aka blanched). If you are using hard vegetables like potatoes or carrots or other hardy root vegetables, you'll want to par-cook for longer. Often a quick 2-5 minutes in the microwave will just give them that great head-start.

The time a casserole takes to cook will vary from 2-2½ hours for chuck, blade and thick flank, up to 4 hours for shin, leg and neck. Pork cuts for braising and casseroling normally take 1½ hours, and lamb much the same.

Casseroles should be baked in a moderately hot oven

But too hot, and it won't cook evenly without some parts of it scorching first, according to KitchenSeer. A great rule of thumb, the site states, is to bake a casserole above 300 degrees F and below 400 degrees F: 350 degrees F is a great sweet spot.

Do you have to brown meat before casserole? ›

You should only do this if you want better flavor. It's not necessary in every case. There's a couple slow cooker stew recipes I've used where I think they just boost the aromatics and soy sauce to make up for any lost flavor from the skipped maillard process. Browning meat adds flavor.

If you don't pre cook or unthaw them then you might get them cooked in that time. But add them from the start. If you add frozen/cold vegetables to your stew later you will lower you cooking temperature and also get extra fluid from the frozen part.

What Should I Bake In a Metal Baking Pan? We hate to say it – we've got nothing against glass, we promise! – but metal does an overall better job than glass of baking almost everything except for acidic desserts. It bakes evenly because it heats up so quickly.

The hot water helps keep the temperature surrounding the food more consistent. This is particularly useful for recipes containing eggs, which can be quite temperamental in unmoderated temperatures. Delicate bakes using a custard or something similar (like cheesecake) will benefit greatly from the use of a water bath.

It protects your food from drying out or burning and helps keep in the heat and moisture, ensuring a perfectly cooked meal. Loosely covering your dish with foil can prevent uneven browning while baking.

For example, assemble a vegetable casserole a day in advance, refrigerate and then bake the day of your dinner. Plan 15 to 20 minutes additional heating time for the refrigerated cold casserole. Heat until it's hot and steamy throughout (165 °F as measured by a food thermometer).

TWO HOURS is the MAXIMUM time perishable foods should be at room temperature (ONE HOUR at temperatures 90 degrees F and higher). This INCLUDES the time they're on the table during your meal. Just ONE bacterium, doubling every 20 minutes, can grow to over 2,097,152 bacteria in 7 hours!

The best way to is to cover it and put it into a cold oven. Covering the top will trap the steam in and keep it moist while it reheats. Set the oven temperature to 350°F and heat it to an internal temperature 165°F. Use an instant read thermometer to check that the it has reached a food safe temperature.

Overnight Breakfast Casserole storage

This casserole will last in the refrigerator for about 5 days. If you are using leftover meat or veggies, be sure to take that into consideration when storing for extended time.