A Buffalo Chicken Casserole That's *Actually* Healthy
Ready for the easiest recipe of your life?
But, actually.
This recipe is about to become a regular in your busy, middle-of-the-week, “I don’t feel like cooking tonight” repertoire. 🤣 As you guys know, I am passionate about REALISTIC approaches to health and nutrition. And while elaborate, exotic-ingredient, 2793840293-step meals might sooooound delicious, ain’t nobody got the time (or energy) for that on a Tuesday night after a long day of work, ya feel me?
Soooo, my friend, let me introduce you to this busy-night-approved dinner. This recipe takes literally 5-10 minutes to make. Throw it in the oven, and BOOM—you’ve got dinner (and leftovers!) ready 👏 to 👏 go 👏.
Meet: the dump-and-bake Buffalo Chicken & Chickpea Casserole. It’s all-natural, protein-packed, easy to customize, annnnd filling. This is one of those dishes that tastes like cozy, hearty comfort food, but it’s actually just packed with beautiful, natural, nourishing ingredients. I first found the original inspiration and foundation of this recipe from “From My Bowl” by Caitlin Shoemaker, and made some tweaks of my own, and I love love love the end result.
Guilt-free cozy casserole comin’ up! Ya ready?
dump-and-bake buffalo chicken casserole:
ingredients:
3-3.5 cups bone broth of your choice (or you can use regular ol’ chicken broth, beef broth, vegetable broth, etc.)
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup buffalo hot sauce or Frank’s Red Sauce (The amount depends on your spice preference. I would start with 1/2 cup and add more after baking if desired!)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast (optional if you’re in a pinch, but, trust me, adding this TRULY makes a difference in the “texture” of this casserole)
1 teaspoon onion powder (technically optional, but great if you have it)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (technically optional, but great if you have it)
2–3 cloves garlic, minced (or some garlic powder… heck, I ain’t judgin’ ;)
Salt & pepper to taste
2 cups (about 1 can) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 cups cooked chicken (we used rotisserie chicken that was already cooked, but you could substitute any cooked chicken here!)
OR 4 cups of chopped up cauliflower for a meat-free substitution
OR 2 cups chicken/2 cups chopped up cauliflower (this is what I do!)
Basically, just go for 4ish cups of your “protein” here!
1-1.5 cups uncooked rice (could also sub in quinoa here or a grain of your choosing. personally, i often do quinoa for a little extra protein!)
1/2 cup cheese of your choosing (optional)
OPTIONAL TOPPINGS: ranch, greek yogurt, chives, green onions, blue cheese crumbles, goat cheese, avocado, etc.
AS YOU MAY HAVE NOTED… there are a lot of “ranges” of the ingredient amounts and opportunities to “substitute” ingredients with this dish. It REALLY is a forgiving dish so no need to be really perfectionistic with it. Work with the ingredients you have & customize to YOUR tastes and preferences!
directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Put your broth of choice, hot sauce, nutritional yeast, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt & pepper, and garlic together in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
While you are waiting for the sauce to boil, start dumpin’ your solid ingredients into a greased 9×13” pan or casserole dish. Starting with the chickpeas, then sprinkle the chicken/cauliflower evenly over the chickpeas, then add the uncooked brown rice.
Remove the broth from the heat once it comes to a boil, and pour the hot liquid evenly over the casserole dish & the dry ingredients. (heating up the broth and making it hot will help the rice cook)
Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees for about 60 minutes (if you wanted to add cheese on top to melt, I would pull it out with about 5 minutes remaining, add your cheese, and throw it back in the oven for the final few minutes so the cheese melts on top!)
Remove from the oven and add your choice of toppings (green onions, greek yogurt, extra buffalo sauce, etc.)
Serve on its own, mix it with kale for some salad, etc. Enjoy!
Refrigerate leftovers in a sealed container for up to one week. (This makes the BEST leftover salad. Add some kale, some avocado, goat cheese… YUM!)
dude. the leftovers of this casserole are almost as good as the real thing. take the casserole, mix it with some spinach, goat cheese, avocado, and WOW. so good.
enjoy!
Alright, my friend. Take a moment, and add these simple ingredients to your grocery list for the upcoming week & try it out! One taste and you’ll be obsessed, I promise. Dinner and leftovers with only 5 minutes of prep? Sign me up.
If you make it, please let me know! On Instagram I’m at @kate.eskuri, and I loooove seeing you guys make these recipes! Like, truly. It’s so weirdly exciting to see these random recipes of mine being made and enjoyed by other people!?! The internet is a wild, wild, beautiful place—but I’m so glad you’re here, friend.
Enjoy this recipe, and I’ll see ya soon!
XX,
Kate
more (free!) holistic nutrition resources
