Chicken Vegetable Casserole (Dump-and-Bake)
Developed and tested by Robyn Conley Downs
on Jul 6, 2026 
This chicken and vegetable casserole comes together with a quick dump-and-bake method and no canned soup required, making it a healthier take on the classic comfort food! Tender chicken, mixed vegetables, and a creamy sauce baked until bubbly for an easy, family-friendly weeknight dinner.
A Simple Chicken and Vegetable Casserole for Dinner Tonight!
This chicken and vegetable casserole came out of a craving for the cozy comfort food I grew up with, but without the canned cream-of-anything soup most classic versions rely on. My goal was to keep all the warmth, creaminess, and family-friendly familiarity of a chicken casserole while leaning on real-food ingredients and a fast dump-and-bake method (as I do). The result is the kind of dinner everyone at the table actually eats, with five minutes of hands-on time and no special trip to the grocery store required!
A couple of notes to get you started. First, par-baking the chicken for 10 minutes before adding the rest makes a big difference in this one. Skipping that step leaves you with chicken that releases water during the bake and makes the sauce thin and watery. I also tested with both sour cream and full-fat Greek yogurt and both work beautifully, though Greek yogurt is what I reach for most often since it has more protein and adds the same creamy tang, but feel free to use what you like and what you have on hand.
Serve this chicken and vegetable casserole on its own (my preference!) or over rice, mashed potatoes, or buttered noodles to round things out. Leftovers reheat beautifully in a covered dish for up to 4 days, and the whole casserole freezes unbaked for up to 3 months. And on that note, my spinach artichoke chicken casserole I make on regular rotation uses the same dump-and-bake method with a different flavor angle, and for another easy chicken dinner with creamy, family-friendly flavors, my baked chicken orzo is definitely the next stop!
Welcome to My Kitchen, Let’s Bake a Chicken and Vegetable Casserole!
Robyn’s Testing Tips for Dump-and-Bake Chicken Veggie Casserole
- Pat the thawed mixed vegetables really dry with paper towels before adding them to the casserole. Frozen vegetables hold a surprising amount of water, and skipping this step is the difference between a creamy, cohesive sauce and a thin, watery one pooling at the bottom of the dish.
- Cut the chicken pieces to a uniform 1-inch size for even cooking! Mixing in larger and smaller pieces means some bites finish cooked-through while others stay underdone, and even sizing also helps the pieces brown evenly during the par-bake.
- Cover the dish tightly with foil for the first 10 minutes of the second bake, then uncover for the last 5-10 minutes. The covered phase keeps the sauce smooth and prevents the cheese from over-browning, while the uncovered finish gives you that bubbly, golden top everyone wants on a casserole.
Chicken Vegetable Casserole (Healthy)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic, divided
- 1 teaspoon onion powder, divided
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme, divided
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper, divided
- 1 cup sour cream (or plain full-fat Greek yogurt)
- 1 (12-ounce) bag frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, green beans), thawed and patted dry
- 1 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat and Prep: Preheat the oven to 375°F and lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Par-Bake the Chicken: Toss the chicken pieces with the olive oil, ½ teaspoon of the granulated garlic, ½ teaspoon of the onion powder, ½ teaspoon of the thyme, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and ⅛ teaspoon of the pepper until evenly coated.
- Spread in a single layer in the prepared baking dish. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes until the chicken is lightly golden at the edges and just beginning to cook through.
- Make the Sauce: To the par-baked chicken, add the sour cream or Greek yogurt, mixed vegetables, ½ teaspoon of granulated garlic, ½ teaspoon of onion powder, ½ teaspoon of thyme, ¼ teaspoon of salt, ⅛ teaspoon of pepper, and 1 cup of the cheddar.
- Stir gently until everything is well combined, smoothing the chicken vegetable mix into an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of cheddar evenly over the top.
- Bake: Cover tightly with foil and bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake uncovered for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling around the sides.
- Serve: Let rest for 5 minutes before serving, as the sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.
Notes
- Patting the thawed vegetables dry before adding them is important as the excess moisture will make the sauce watery.
- For a shortcut, swap the raw chicken for 3 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken, and skip the par-bake step.
- Greek yogurt and sour cream both work well here; full-fat versions produce the creamiest results and are less likely to separate during baking.
Recently my wife beat breast cancer and at the advice of her doctor she (we) have began a much cleaner diet. This recipe sounds like it might taste like we’re cheating.a little. But so happy it isn’t. I read this recipe this morning, I will be serving it tonight. Im hoping it ends up in our rotation. Thank-you so much
Michael, oh, I hope so too! I’m always trying to create healthier recipes that still taste, as you say, “like cheating a little,” and I hope this one fits the bill for you and your wife. Cheers!
I have loads of extra green beans from the garden…think I could swap chopped up fresh green beans for some or all the veggies?
Sarah, yes, I do! It really depends on how cooked you like your green beans. You might want to add them along with the chicken to give them a bit of extra time to cook, since the frozen green beans are already blanched before they go in. But definitely a great use for lots of garden green beans! If you give this one a try let me know how it turns out!
Wondering if you could use cottage cheese instead of sour cream or yogurt?
Hi Bridget, I haven’t tested it, so I can’t say for sure. If you don’t mind the texture I think it could be fine… just know that low-fat and fat-free has a tendency to separate when cooked, so keep that in mind. If you give it a try let me know how it turns out!