The Best Casserole Dinner Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the key to making a good casserole? ›

Add fresh chilli and coriander to a simple casserole to spice it up. Always add hardy, fresh herbs such as bay leaves and rosemary at the beginning of cooking, and throw in lighter herbs, such as parsley and tarragon, at the end so they keep their flavour.

A 9-inch by 13-inch rectangular casserole dish is the most versatile. Recipes that serve six to eight people will likely call for a casserole or baking dish of this size.

According to food blog High Heeled Homemaker, your basic casserole requires five ingredients: a protein, starch, vegetable, sauce, and cheese. If you have those five ingredients in your casserole dish, congratulations; you just made a casserole, whether it's a beloved recipe or a concoction of your own creation.

In the United States, a casserole or hot dish is typically a baked food with three main components: pieces of meat (such as chicken or ground meat) or fish (such as tuna) or other protein (such as beans or tofu), various chopped or canned vegetables (such as green beans or peas), and a starchy binder (such as flour, ...

Not every single casserole has all of them, but as a rule of thumb, here's what to look for: a starch, a binding agent or sauce, and a protein or vegetable. Many casseroles also have both vegetables and proteins, as well as a crunchy element to give some textural contrast, and cheese.

If your food is too rich...

Add an acid such as lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar, or pickled vegetables (such as jalapeños).

Covering a casserole helps the dish cook evenly, stay moist, and prevents burning. Uncovering helps with browning, crisping and allowing for steam to release.

Uncovering the foods promotes browning and crisping, and reduces the amount of liquid in the finished dish. If a casserole looks soupy when it's ready to bake, bake it uncovered unless the ingredients include pasta or rice, which absorb liquid.

Material is an important factor in selecting the best casserole dish. You'll find stainless steel and copper varieties out there – but I found cast iron, the most traditional of all, to be the superior material, simply because of its heat retention.

How many casserole servings in a 9x13 pan? ›

Starchy side dishes and casseroles: a 9 X 13 pan makes about 12 one cup servings. A 2 quart casserole will make 6 to 8 cups. A typical serving size for potatoes, stuffing, and yams is 1 cup.

Fill your casserole dish with all the ingredients so it's about three-quarters full. This ensures the liquid doesn't overflow, but there's still enough liquid so food doesn't dry out.

A perfect casserole needs one or more binders: cheese, eggs, condensed soup, Greek yogurt or noodles, for example.

Starchy Foods: Many casserole are often considered comfort foods, typically because these include starchy foods like potatoes, rice, pasta, and different forms of bread. Cheese: Though cheese isn't always included in a casserole, in many savory versions, it's typically very common.

If you love nothing more than having friends round for dinner parties or hosting big family feasts we recommend a 24-28cm round, 29cm oval or a 30cm shallow dish. These will allow you to cook bigger portions for 4-8 people.

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.

A casserole is prepared containing, among other ingredients, meat pieces. It is cooked for 1 or 2 h until ready. However, it may not be consumed immediately, and because of its bulk and the lack of refrigeration facilities it is left unrefrigerated overnight in a warm kitchen. It is warmed the next day before serving.

Casseroles are deemed great comfort food and has the benefits of being easy to put together as well as filling. More ingredients than required can be cooked in a casserole, and the left overs can be eaten through the subsequent days. When choosing a casserole dish, sizing is an essential consideration.