This Creamy Chicken Casserole is the low carb version of a cross between chicken pot pie and shepherd’s pie! It has a rich and creamy chicken and vegetable filling, and is topped with cheesy mashed cauliflower.
Recently I've been on the lookout for two types of recipes: 1) recipes that use pantry, freezer, and fridge staples, and 2) recipes that freeze well so I can restock my stash of freezer friendly meals.
This Creamy Chicken Casserole fits the bill in both ways! And not to mention, it's healthy comfort food that the whole family will love.
It includes vegetables like carrots, celery, onion, and garlic that you might already have on hand because they keep well for a few weeks in the fridge.
For the chicken, use whatever you have on hand as long as the chicken is cooked before you add it. Rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken, or even canned chicken all work well!
No worries if you don't have cauliflower on hand to make the topping. There are a ton of variations for this recipe.
Pro Tip: If you don't want to make this casserole with a topping, just make the filling at eat it as stew! Or serve it on top of mashed potatoes, rice, noodles, or toast.
And bonus, this Creamy Chicken Casserole freezes well! You can portion it out into individual servings, or freeze it in a casserole dish.
Easy Variations of Creamy Chicken Casserole
One of the best things about this Creamy Chicken Casserole is how versatile it is. It's very easy to adapt to suit your tastes, or to use what you have on hand.
Creamy Chicken Casserole with Noodles
There are three ways of making this dish with noodles:
- Put the cooked noodles on the bottom of the casserole dish and then the filling on top. Brown it under the broiler.
- Mix the cooked noodles in with the filling and serve. There's no need to bake the casserole!
- Serve the chicken and vegetable filling on top of a bed of noodles.
Chicken Casserole with Rice
If rice is your favorite, it's easy to incorporate rice into this meal!
Just like with noodles, there are three ways of using rice here:
- Put the cooked rice on the bottom of the casserole dish and then the filling on top. Brown it under the broiler.
- Mix the cooked rice in with the filling and serve. There's no need to bake the casserole!
- Serve the chicken and vegetable filling on top of a bed of rice.
Creamy Chicken Casserole with Stuffing
Stuffed (aka dressing) is also delicious with Creamy Chicken Casserole! And if you a box of stuffing in your pantry leftover from the holidays, this is a great way to use it.
There are two ways you could incorporate stuffing into this recipe:
- Put the cooked stuffing on the bottom of the casserole dish and then the filling on top. Brown it under the broiler.
- Serve the chicken and vegetable filling on top of a bed of stuffing.
Mashed Potato Chicken Casserole
Similar to stuffing, there are two ways you could serve this casserole with mashed potatoes.
- Put the mashed potatoes on the bottom of the casserole dish and then the filling on top. Brown it under the broiler. (Similar to this Chicken Pot Pie Topped with Garlic and Herb Potato Mash.)
- Serve the chicken and vegetable filling on top of a bed of mashed potatoes.
Low Carb Chicken Casserole
The two biggest sources of carbs in this dish would normally come from the filling and the topping.
The filling is typically thickened with flour or cornstarch. And the topping is usually mashed potatoes or a pie crust.
However, with a couple easy tweaks this recipe is easy to make low carb:
- I use cream cheese to thicken the chicken and vegetable filling.
- Cheesy mashed cauliflower is a delicious low carb topping.
More Casserole Recipes with Chicken:
- Cheesy Chicken Casserole with Poblano Peppers (Low Carb)
- Easy Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole (Keto)
- Chicken Parmesan Casserole
- One Pan Greek Baked Chicken Dinner (Low Carb)
- 4 Ingredient Chicken Rice Casserole
- Leftover Turkey or Chicken Jalapeno Popper Casserole (Low Carb)
Did you make this recipe? Please rate it and leave a comment below because I love hearing from you! You can also tag @anediblemosaic on social media. To stay up-to-date FOLLOW ME on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Xoxo, Faith
Creamy Chicken Casserole with Cheesy Cauliflower Mash (Low Carb)
Ingredients
Filling:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 large stalks celery diced
- 1 medium carrot diced
- 3 large cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 3 cups cooked chopped or shredded chicken leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken work great
Topping:
- 1 ⅔ cups mashed cauliflower
- 4 ounces shredded white cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- For the filling, melt the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrot, and cook until starting to soften, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more, stirring constantly.
- Stir in the chicken stock, thyme, salt, and black pepper, and bring up to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer and cook 10 minutes (uncovered), stirring occasionally.
- Whisk in the cream cheese until completely incorporated, and then stir in the chicken.
- Cook until the chicken is warmed, about 5 minutes.
- Carefully pour the filling mixture into a 2-quart casserole dish.
- For the topping, stir together the mashed cauliflower and cheese in a medium bowl. Spread this mixture on top of the filling in the casserole dish.
- Bake until the casserole is warm and bubbling, about 20 minutes, and then broil it briefly to brown the top (stay with it, this can take less than a minute!).
- Serve.
Faith's Tips
- Net Carbs: 8g per serving
- Instead of leftover chicken, canned chicken also works well here.
- Feel free to use regular mashed potatoes as the topping instead of the cheesy mashed cauliflower.
- You could skip the topping and serve the creamy chicken and vegetable filling on a bed of mashed potatoes, rice, noodles, toast, or stuffing (dressing).
- To make mashed cauliflower, chop up a head of cauliflower. Boil it until tender, and then mash the cauliflower the same way you'd make mashed potatoes.
Nutrition
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