Chicken and Baked Bean Casserole - fall off the bone meat, tender pieces of chicken with delicious vegetables of carrots and new potatoes in a rich baked bean and tomato sauce.
Warming Hearty Chicken Casserole
The summer holidays are over, kids are back to school and it's time to dig out the slow cookers and casserole pots as we slowly move into Fall.
I love the Fall season - soups, stews, casseroles, all those yummy comforting plates of food. There is nothing nicer than digging into a hearty bowl of stew or casserole on a cold fall or winters day, and this casserole with pieces of chicken, delicious chunks of new potatoes, baby carrots and then that rice sauce made with baked beans and tomatoes ticks every box.
Best Cut of Chicken For Casseroles
While it can be tempting to use chicken breast for casseroles when we are trying to be healthier and reduce our calories in take, breast meat just doesn't yield the same delicious result when it comes to a casserole that's been cooking in the crockpot all day or slow cooked in a cast iron pot or oven.
Chicken Thighs or Meat on the bone is always the best choice in my opinion, and you can make it a leaner cut of meat by removing the skin and any visible fat.
If you have ever made homemade chicken broth or stock you will know that the best flavoured stock comes from cuts of meat that are on the bone. It just releases more flavour from the natural juices and the bones add body and richness to the sauce/gravy. You just will not ever get that result with boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Boneless skinless chicken thighs are a great option when you are not keen on chicken on the bone, they still flavour a casserole beautifully, while remaining tender pieces of meat.
Instant Pot Chicken and Baked Bean Casserole
During the summer, there was an awesome deal for an Instant Pot. I have had my eye on these for a while, but hadn't jumped in and ordered one. However, I just couldn't resist the Amazon prime day deal and so I hit add to basket and well you know the rest.
If you haven't heard of an Instant Pot you are seriously missing out. It is the best kitchen gadget I have purchased. I would even put it above my actifry and that's saying something.
It is basically a 7in1 cooker, and it slow cooks, pressure cooks, sautes, has settings for soup, chilli, rice, porridge and even makes yoghurt (I haven't tried that yet).
Sides for Chicken and Baked Bean Casserole
Really you could dig into a bowl of this just as it is, it's got vegetables, potatoes and casseroles. But for me I love to add an additional vegetable side, just to bulk out my bowl to a healthy balanced plate of food.
My favourite side to any casserole like this is cooked cabbage with plenty of black pepper.
But there are plenty of other vegetables sides that would pair well with this such as:
- Cauliflower
- Kale
- Spinach
- Roasted Peppers and Onions
- Roasted Green Beans
More Chicken Recipes
Looking for some other chicken recipes to try? Check out these:
- CHICKEN DUPIAZA WITH PILAU RICE
- PEACH BARBECUE CHICKEN TRAY BAKE
- LEMON CHILLI CHICKEN
- JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN WITH RICE AND PEAS
- BLACK PEPPER CHICKEN TRAYBAKE
- MOROCCAN CHICKEN WITH ROASTED SWEET POTATO TRAYBAKE
or head on over to my Full Recipe Index with over 900 delicious Slimming Eats and Weight Watchers friendly recipes all fully searchable by meal type, ingredients etc
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Recipe Card
Chicken and Baked Bean Casserole
Chicken and Baked Bean Casserole!!! – a recipe that will have the entire family clearing their bowls.
Ingredients
- 800g (28oz) skinless boneless chicken thighs (or can use drumsticks), raw and trimmed of an visible fat
- 1 onion, finely sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 400g (14oz) of baby carrots
- 400g (14oz) of baby potatoes in skins, halved
- 1 tin of baked beans
- 1.5 cups (360ml) of chicken stock (use just 1 cup for slow cooker or Instant Pot method)
- 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon of dried basil
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- salt and black pepper
- fresh chopped Italian parsley to decorate
Instructions
Stove Top:
- Spray a deep saucepan over a medium high heat with cooking oil spray, add the onion and fry until translucent.
- Add the garlic and fry for a further few mins.
- Add in all other ingredients (except the parsley) and a pinch of salt and black pepper bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add in more stock if needed if sauce becomes too thick.
- Stir in some freshly chopped parsley, taste and season as needed with salt and black pepper.
- Serve with your choice of sides.
Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker:
- Select Saute mode on Instant Pot
- Spray with cooking oil spray
- Saute the onion and garlic to soften.
- Add all other ingredients and stir to combine, season with a pinch of salt and black pepper.
- Add lid and set valve to sealing if it is not a self sealing pressure cooker.
- Pressure cook on manual, high pressure for 10 minutes.
- When the Instant Pot beeps to signal it has finished cooking, allow it to sit for 10 minutes (natural pressure release). After 10 minutes, you can then carefully turn the steam release handle to the 'venting' position to release any remaining pressure.
- If you want to reduce the sauce down further, you can switch to saute mode and bubble for a few minutes.
- Stir in some fresh parsley, taste and season as need with salt and black pepper.
- Serve with your choice of sides.
Slow Cooker:
- Brown the onion and garlic, then add to the slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients
- Add all ingredients to a slow cooker (you can brown the onion and garlic first if you prefer), season with a pinch of salt and black pepper.
- Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
- Stir in some fresh chopped parsley once ready.
- Taste and season as needed with salt and black peppepr
- Serve with your choice of sides.
Notes
Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:
- Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
- WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1 SERVINGAmount Per Serving Calories 368Total Fat 7.5gSaturated Fat 1.8gCholesterol 148mgSodium 950mgCarbohydrates 36.8gFiber 5.4gSugar 7.4gProtein 41.4g
Helen Reeve says
Excellent recipe. So easy & delicious! I used my slow cooker so it was super quick & easy to prepare. Would deffo make it again
Julie Clement says
Made in the Instant Pot and worked great, though we ended up eating an hour later than planned and it therefore got a little watery. Would definitely make again though
Sandra Webster says
My whole family enjoyed this, it was great with your syn free mashed potatoes for mopping up that yummy sauce.
Kay says
Quick but very tasty stew. A hit with my children too and
freezes so well.
Kathleen Margaret says
I have made this incredibly delicious dish many times and it's on the stove in my cast iron skillet now! This is my husbands favorite meal and he requested it today. Thanks for the great recipe! Kathleen
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
ahh thank you Kathleen, so glad you enjoy the recipe.
Linda says
Can l make this with chicken breasts? as my husband will not eat chicken thighs or drumsticks....If so do l need to alter the cooking time?.
I really want to try this recipe as it looks so yummy and warming on these cold autumn evenings
Thanks
Lin
Sandra spencer says
Hi linda,
I use chicken breast for all the recipes as we don't like thigh or leg and i just follow the recipe as it is and it turns out lovely.
Sandra.
Pamela Pritcgard says
Can I just ask. I love so many of your recipes. Do you have a cookbook?
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
Hi Pamela, I don't have any plans for a cookbook at present, but all my recipes are here on my blog 🙂
Caz Berry says
Made this tonight but didn’t use thighs, just used chopped chicken, was incredible and I would definitely make this again. Made in the stove. 1 hour and completely filling
Sonya Main says
Absolutely delicious. I will definitely make this again. I used thighs and decided to cook on stove top in the end and it was very easy.
Rakel says
Me and my partner made this for our tea (dinner) tonight and it was a hit, got enough left over for tomorrow, used thighs and cooked in my Dutch oven, so easy and tasty, I´m not following special slimming recepi´s but I like yours because they taste darn good, so we had fresh crusty bread from the bakery to mop up all the gravy, super nice and I´m printing out another copy for friends.
Thank you for sharing x