Home » Recipes » Casserole » Cajun Chicken Casserole

Cajun Chicken Casserole

This easy Cajun Chicken Casserole is creamy, cheesy and wrapped in a delicious buttery crust! It’s a family favorite for when we need a fun and unique dinner! You can also add crawfish to it, if you have any on hand!

Why You’ll Love This Easy Chicken Casserole Recipe

You don’t need to live in Louisiana to obsess over this cheesy, flavor packed cajun chicken casserole! If you need to spice up your weeknight dinner or impress your friends at a potluck, this cheesy dish has everything you’re looking for. Just one bite and you’ll be dreaming of New Orleans!

  • Those Cajun Spices: Growing up in the South, it’s impossible to not love good ole Cajun cuisine. Our family is from Louisiana and I was born there, so I grew up eating all things cajun. This recipe is toned down a bit to be more family friendly, but you could absolutely add things like cajun sausage or crawfish to the filling for an extra flavor punch!
  • Super Easy: Besides being the most popular dish at the party, this cheesy chicken casserole is also perfect for an easy family dinner! It’s packed with great ingredients like chicken and cheese, and it’s got lots of veggies too. Quick, easy, delicious, and cajun. What’s not to love?
  • Great Make Ahead Dish: We recommend making the filling ahead and popping it into the refrigerator. Then when you are ready to make dinner, you just have to spread the filling in between the crescent dough sheets and pop it into the oven.
Ingredients for Cajun Chicken Casserole.

What You’ll Need

This cheesy chicken casserole comes together with really common ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry or fridge. Scroll down to the recipe card for exact amounts.

  • Chicken: You want to use cooked and shredded/chopped chicken. A rotisserie chicken helps make this a quick dinner!
  • Crescent Sheets: If you happen to purchase the crescent rolls instead, just press the perforated edges together and place them on top of your casserole.
  • Veggies: We’re going to use yellow onion, orange bell pepper, red bell pepper, green onion, and fresh garlic.
  • Cheese: Grab some fresh mozzarella and a block of parmesan and shred them yourself for best results.
  • Cajun Seasoning: We highly recommend our homemade cajun seasoning, but store bought also works great!
A few serving of Cajun Chicken casserole are placed on white plates

How to Make Cheesy Chicken Casserole

This is our dependable go-to casserole when we need a little shake up in the recipe routine. Kids and adults alike just can’t seem to get enough of it. Laissez bon temps rouler! Check out the recipe card for detailed directions.

  • Prep: Preheat oven to 375°F and grease a 9×13 casserole dish with non-stick spray.
  • Saute: Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the onion and bell peppers for 3-5 minutes until they’re tender. Then, add the green onions and garlic and cook for another minute.
  • Make the Sauce: Stir in the heavy cream and bring everything to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes stirring often. Stir in the creole seasoning and the cheeses, mixing together until the sauce is nicely combined. Add the shredded chicken, and check the seasoning to see if it needs any salt or pepper.
  • Assemble: Unroll the crescent rolls and place the first sheet on the bottom of the casserole dish. Pour the chicken mixture over top and cover with the second crescent sheet.
  • Bake: Bake for 25-30 minutes until the crescent rolls are nice and golden brown.
  • Rest: Remove the dish from the oven and let the chicken casserole rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Tips for Best Results

This easy chicken casserole recipe looks and tastes like you slaved away in the kitchen all day. Here are some tips and variation ideas to make it impress everyone from the first bite!

  • Turn Up the Heat: If you want to turn up that cajun heat, add some extra red pepper flakes, a few pinches of cayenne pepper or even a few shakes of Tabasco hot sauce!
  • Add Some Cajun Meats: Want to really amp up the flavor? You can add just about any meat you would like, but you will want it pre-cooked like the chicken. The casserole is not in the oven long enough to cook raw meat inside. Try out cajun sausage, alligator, shrimp, or crawfish!
  • Sub Out the Crescent Rolls: While the crescent sheets are the easiest option, we’ve also successfully used puff pastry and biscuits. If you’re using puff pastry, we recommend only using it only on the top. For biscuits, quarter them and mix them in with the filling before baking. The chicken casserole will turn out like a ‘bubble-up bake’ instead. A little different but still delicious!
A piece of Cajun Chicken casserole is being taken out of the dish

How to Serve Cajun Chicken Casserole

Rule number one of all casseroles – serve it up nice and hot! No one likes a cold casserole. This bad boy is best fresh out of the oven, but it also reheats well! If you’re traveling, just wrap the top in foil and heat it up in the oven when you arrive to your destination. It’ll be just as delicious as when you first made it!

For sides, this cheesy chicken casserole goes well with just about anything! One of our favorite pairings is corn with butter and cajun seasoning. For a base recipe, you can try our skillet fried corn or Mexican corn salad (just sub with cajun spices). However, pretty much any vegetable or side salad compliments this insanely good casserole.

A piece of Cajun Chicken casserole is on a white plate

How to Store and Reheat Leftovers

Whether you make this cajun chicken casserole on a chilly fall night or during Mardi Gras season, it’s going to be a huge hit! Here’s how to handle any leftovers.

  • Refrigerate: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
  • Reheat: While you can reheat leftover cheesy chicken casserole in the microwave, we highly recommend using the oven if you have the time. The crescent roll layers will crisp up again and be super tasty!
  • Freeze: We actually recommend freezing the chicken filing separately rather than freezing the entire casserole. Freeze the chicken filling in a freezer-safe bag and remove as much air as possible. You can store it for up to 3 months. Then, when you’re ready to cook, thaw overnight and pick up the recipe as normal.
A few serving of Cajun Chicken casserole are placed on white plates

More Easy Cajun Recipes

A serving of Cajun Chicken casserole is on a white plate
4.6 from 16 votes
Print Pin Recipe
Yield: 6 servings

Cajun Chicken Casserole

This easy Cajun Chicken Casserole is creamy, cheesy and wrapped in a delicious buttery crust! It's a family favorite for when we need something a little more fun and unique! You can also add crawfish to it, if you have any on hand!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Additional Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion diced
  • 1 orange bell pepper, coarsely chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
  • 1 bunch of green onions, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 4 cloves
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese shredded
  • 2 ½ cups shredded cooked chicken
  • 2 cans crescent sheets, or rolls!

Optional additions:

  • Cajun sausage, cooked and sliced
  • crawfish tails, cooked
  • cayenne pepper or hot sauce, if you like it spicy!

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish with non-stick spray.
  • Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, orange bell pepper and red bell pepper. Cook stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes, until tender. Add green onions and garlic, cook for 1 more minute.
  • Stir in heavy cream and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Stir often.
  • Stir in creole seasoning, followed by the mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese, stirring until cheese is melted and well blended. Add chicken (can also add crawfish or Cajun sausage, if desired, at this point) and continue to stir for 1 minute. Taste filling and add any extra creole seasoning, cayenne pepper or hot sauce until you reach your deserved flavor and spice level. Remove from heat and set aside.
  • Unroll crescent rolls and place the first sheet in the bottom of the greased casserole dish. (If using crescent rolls, press perforations to seal.) Pour the chicken mixture over the top and smooth into an even layer. Cover with the second crescent sheet.
  • Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until crescent roll top is golden brown. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 854kcal, Carbohydrates: 39g, Protein: 32g, Fat: 64g, Saturated Fat: 33g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 25g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 229mg, Sodium: 1266mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 13g

Looking for more easy Cajun recipes?

Being from Louisiana, we obviously love and cook with lots of Cajun influences. Here are some of our favorite recipes:

Let Us Know What You Think!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




5 comments on “Cajun Chicken Casserole”

  1. A great recipe! One suggestion I would make is to partially bake the bottom layer of crescent dough for a few minutes (otherwise the bottom layer of dough will be raw, esp. in the center). Then add the filling and the top layer of dough and continue baking until the top layer of dough is golden brown!

Scroll to Top