MyDogGoldi/Reddit.com
If the ’70s held America together, it wasn’t disco — it was the country’s devotion to comfort food. And nothing screams comfort food like a bubbling casserole, straight from the oven and heavy with cheese, soup, and whatever else was in the pantry. Casseroles reigned in middle-class kitchens, showing up at potlucks, church suppers, weeknight dinners — anywhere people gathered to eat.
Here are 12 casseroles that defined home cooking in the ’70s.
Born in the lean postwar years, this casserole had worked its way so deeply into the middle-class kitchen that by the 1970s it barely needed an introduction. It’s easy to see why, as it relies on ingredients that could survive in a suburban cabinet for months — egg noodles, cream of mushroom soup, and canned tuna, as well as a topping of crumbs, cornflakes, or potato chips gave it crunch as it baked. Today, it’s still one of those recipes that every family makes the way their mom did.
Recipe: Allrecipes
When General Mills launched Hamburger Helper in 1971, it was pitched as a stovetop solution for stretching a single pound of ground beef. But it didn’t take long for home cooks to realize the mix worked just as well in the oven. By the mid-’70s, families were turning stroganoff, cheeseburger, and beef noodle versions into full-blown casseroles — baked in a 9×13 dish, topped with extra cheese, and made to feed a crowd.
Recipe: Salt and Lavender
Green Bean was invented in a Campbell’s test kitchen in 1955, and by the ’70s, it had broken free from its Thanksgiving-only reputation. The combination of green beans, cream-of-mushroom soup, and crispy fried onions became a year-round fixture at potlucks and buffet lines. It still remains a casserole you could count on to disappear fast.
Recipe: Campbell's
In the late ’70s, Bisquick started printing “Impossible Pie” recipes on their boxes — the concept: pour batter over the filling, and it magically forms its own crust as it bakes. That first recipe wasn’t savory but sweet — a coconut pie — and launched the whole series of “Impossible” recipes. Betty Crocker leaned into it with the “Impossibly Easy Pie” branding, and the cheeseburger version quickly became a hit.
Ground beef, onions, and cheese were added to the pie plate, and the Bisquick mix formed a soft, bready edge as it baked. Dinner was ready in under an hour.
Recipe: Eat Move Make
Texans did not invent this at the famous ranch — nobody from King Ranch claims it — but the name stuck, probably because it sounds Texan. The real origin is fuzzy, but the casserole clearly got its legs in the post–World War II era, when canned soups and convenience cooking were taking over.
It likely originated in Texas community cookbooks in the 1950s and 60s, then swept through Junior League collections and church potlucks.It’s built for the way people cooked back then — using what came in a can or a bag. Corn tortillas are layered with shredded chicken, Rotel tomatoes, cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, and a heavy hand of cheese.
Recipe: The Pioneer Woman
This dish with a somewhat depressing name came out of Mormon community gatherings in Utah, where it was a fixture at post-service luncheons, but by the 1970s it had spread far beyond church basements. Frozen hash browns were mixed with sour cream, cream soup, and shredded cheddar, then topped with a buttery layer of crushed cornflakes for crunch.
Recipe: Tastes Better From Scratch
Chicken Divan started at the Divan Parisien restaurant in New York, where it was a fancy chicken-and-broccoli gratin topped with Mornay sauce. The chef never shared the exact recipe, which meant home cooks had to improvise. By the 1970s, the recipe was tweaked to a bit less “Park Avenue” and more potluck. The restaurant sauce was swapped for mayonnaise and canned cream soup, the cheese got heavier, and the whole thing became easier to throw together on a Tuesday night.
Recipe: Allrecipes
Tetrazzini takes its name from Italian opera star Luisa Tetrazzini, but it’s as American as a Campbell’s label. The dish showed up in hotel dining rooms in the early 1900s as a buttery, sherry-scented pasta bake with mushrooms and parmesan. By the 1970s, it had morphed into the ultimate leftover makeover, especially after Thanksgiving. Home cooks swapped the delicate sauces for canned cream soup, skipped the fresh pasta in favor of boxed spaghetti, and baked it all under a blanket of cheese.
Recipe: Allrecipes
This was textbook minimal effort cooking. A layer of uncooked rice, chicken pieces on top, and a can of condensed soup poured over the whole thing. Pop it in the oven and walk away — by the time you were done with errands or a phone call, dinner was ready.
Recipe: Food.com
If the goal was to get kids to eat broccoli, this was the way to do it. This sneaky recipe took broccoli — still seen as a “special” vegetable in many homes — and made it palatable by melting it into a pool of processed cheese and folding it through soft, cooked rice. Velveeta was a common choice, often mixed with a can of cream soup for added creaminess, and frozen broccoli allowed for year-round preparation.
Recipe: Sweet Life Bake
Seven-Layer Casserole is as much about presentation as it is about convenience. The ingredients are added raw — usually rice on the bottom, followed by ground beef, tomato sauce, onions, bell peppers, celery, and a final layer of bacon. As it bakes, the flavors mingle and the rice absorbs all the juices from the meat and vegetables, so by the time it comes out of the oven, you have a full meal in one dish.
Recipe: Food.com
The origin story is a little muddy, but the name comes from a recipe the Duke contributed to a 1979 charity cookbook. His version was heavy on eggs, cream, cheese, and green chiles — pure comfort food. Over time, home cooks reworked it into the Tex-Mex casserole most people know today, layering seasoned beef, tomatoes, peppers, and a biscuit-like crust under a mountain of melted cheese.
Recipe: Enjoy Magazine
For more vintage recipes, sign up for our free newsletters.
