Fill Your Casseroles With This Frozen Staple And You'll Never Go Back

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Casserole recipes are touted for providing a well-rounded meal in one convenient oven-baked dish. Despite containing multiple ingredients to assemble in tasty layers, most casseroles offer shortcuts in the form of canned or frozen goods to save you prep time. Frozen chicken nuggets are the staple that should be at the top of your casserole ingredients list.

Frozen chicken nuggets are pre-cooked, boneless, and bite-sized treats that you can easily add to a casserole right out of the bag. Their tender, white meat and crunchy breaded crust are a decadent, savory upgrade that will pair with any flavor profile or cuisine. Whether you're swapping them for chicken breasts or adding them to a veggie casserole for extra protein, frozen nuggets will save you time and effort while bringing an indulgent textural contrast and savory taste.

The easiest way to incorporate chicken nuggets into a casserole is to add them frozen, right out of the bag. Layer them over the top of a casserole for a crispy breaded topping. Stir frozen nuggets into a saucy or scrambled egg mixture before pouring the contents into a casserole dish. You can also cook them before adding them to the casserole if you want to shred them or cut them into pieces. Most casserole dishes require a fairly long cooking time at between 350 and 375 degrees Fahrenheit, which is plenty of time to thaw, heat, and crisp frozen chicken nuggets, whether they're whole or cut.

Not only will chicken nuggets upgrade a casserole, but a casserole will also add flavor to frozen chicken nuggets. And we have plenty of recipes to fulfill this mutually beneficial culinary arrangement, starting with chicken-centric casseroles. Swap raw chicken breasts with chicken nuggets in this classic chicken casserole with egg noodles and canned cream of chicken soup. Pre-bake the chicken nuggets to shred into this King Ranch Chicken casserole. Frozen chicken nuggets are often accompanied by frozen tater tots, and you can combine these two staples into a nostalgic casserole dish. You can replace frozen hash browns with frozen tots and add chopped chicken nuggets to this cheesy hash brown casserole.

Since chicken nuggets are breaded and fried, they're essentially miniature fried cutlets. Chicken parmesan is one such dish that can be transformed into a baked pasta casserole; Toss chicken nuggets with your favorite brand of store-bought marinara sauce and boiled rigatoni, top with a hearty layer of shredded mozzarella, and bake! For that matter, we have numerous baked pasta dishes that would benefit from the swap or addition of frozen chicken nuggets. You can make a savory cobbler out of chicken nuggets, biscuit mix, cream of chicken soup, and frozen peas and carrots for the easiest dump-it casserole recipe ever! If you're looking for the tastiest brand of frozen chicken nuggets, we ranked Ian's breaded chicken nuggets as our top pick.