Wow.
I was completely unprepared for the attention this received when I posted a picture of the finished casserole on my facebook page. Within a short period of time there were many comments and within a week 12 of my friends had tried this. Everyone loved it. Well, except for the friend who tried to make it low fat. There is not really anything low fat about this recipe - it is good, old-fashioned comfort which is what we need in this depths of winter. IMHO
Note only was this delicious but it was easy to make - requiring very little effort. That makes it even more perfect for the winter so you can save your energy for staying warm!
One of my friends found that the potatoes didn't cook as crispy as she would have liked - a way around that would be to cook them first at a higher heat and then add the chicken. I've added a crispy potato version at the bottom.
Loaded Chicken and Potatoes
1 lb boneless chicken breasts, cubed (1″)
6-8 medium skin on red potatoes, cut in 1/2″ cubes
1/3 c olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp hot sauce (more if you like it HOT)
2 c fiesta blend cheese
1 c crumbled bacon
1 c diced green onion
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9X13″ baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and hot sauce. Add the cubed potatoes and chicken and stir to coat. Carefully scoop the potatoes and chicken into the prepared baking dish..
Bake the potatoes and chicken for 55-60 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes, until cooked through, crispy, and browned on the outside. While the potatoes are cooking, fry your bacon (about half a pound).
Once the potatoes and chicken are fully cooked, remove from the oven. Top the cooked potatoes with the the cheese, bacon, and green onion. Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Preheat oven to 500F (This is NOT a typo, 500F is correct!) In a large bowl mix together the paprika, hot sauce. Add the cubed potatoes and stir to coat. Carefully scoop the potatoes into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, leaving behind as much of the olive oil/hot sauce mix as possible. Bake the potatoes for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes, until cooked through and crispy & browned on the outside. While the potatoes are cooking, add the cubed chicken to the bowl with the leftover olive oil/hot sauce mix and stir to coat. Once the potatoes are fully cooked, remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 400F. Top the cooked potatoes with the raw marinated chicken. In a bowl mix together the cheese, bacon & green onion and top the raw chicken with the cheese mix. Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the topping is bubbly delicious. Serve with extra ranch dressin.
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