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It's hard to beat the comforting qualities of a casserole made with canned cream soup. When Campbell's invented condensed soup in 1897, they may not have imagined that one day it would be eaten more often as an ingredient in casseroles than as a soup. But home cooks soon recognized the ease, nostalgia, and creaminess that canned soup brings to these classic casserole recipes.
A blast from the past, this is the simplest version of the retro chicken divan casserole. You don't even have to mix the whole thing: Just put the broccoli and chicken into a pie plate, then top with the sauce and breadcrumbs. Serve it as-is for a low-carb meal or pair with rice.
Recipe: Campbell's
Related: 15 Old-School Dishes Making a Comeback at Restaurants
This classic casserole recipe is dump-and-bake, meaning there's only two steps to the entire thing. You just mix cream of broccoli soup, rice, water, and broccoli in a 9x13 baking dish, then lay chicken breast on top. It bakes up into a true one-pot meal.
Recipe: Campbell's
Related: 28 Delicious Dump-and-Bake Casseroles That Can Be Prepared in Minutes
Need a quick vegetable side dish? This one cooks up like a cross between cornbread and pudding, with Parmesan cheese and French-fried onions giving it a savory spin. Though it calls for cream of chicken soup, you can use cream of mushroom or celery for a vegetarian version.
Recipe: Campbell's
Related: Jell-O Salad and Other Old-School Summer Recipes We Secretly Love
This creamy dish is a great way to use up leftover turkey, but you can substitute cubed cooked chicken if you like. Water chestnuts, almonds, and a generous topping of crushed, buttery Ritz crackers give it plenty of texture.
Recipe: Taste of Home
Related: 27 Retro Dishes Guaranteed to Class Up Your Holiday Dinner
King Ranch casserole is a Texas speciality named after one of the biggest ranches in the state. It's a Tex-Mex dish that's full of chicken, peppers, onions, and cheese in a rich sauce with tomatoes. Corn tortillas are layered inside of it for a casserole take on enchiladas.
Recipe: The Seasoned Mom
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Chicken spaghetti has been a hit on the internet for years now, so it should be part of your meal roster. It starts with a sauce made with cream of mushroom soup along with a can of Rotel tomatoes and Velveeta cheese. Feel free to add red peppers, mushrooms, or any other additions your family might like.
Recipe: Southern Bite
Though it's got a base of cream of mushroom soup, this chicken Florentine casserole also has lots of Swiss cheese and fresh basil for punches of flavor. The recipe calls for elbow macaroni, but you can use penne or any other short pasta you like.
Recipe: Taste of Home
Chicken pot pie can be a complicated affair unless you use this shortcut recipe. Cream of potato soup acts as the sauce, bringing together cubed chicken and frozen mixed vegetables. A tube of refrigerated biscuits makes for a much easier — and more filling — topping than pie crust.
Recipe: Campbell's
We all know and love the classic green bean casserole for the holidays, so why not make it the rest of the year? Besides green beans, this dish includes corn, onions, cream of celery soup, and cheddar cheese. Crushed cheese crackers give it an extra cheesy flavor.
Recipe: Julie's Eats & Treats
Meat and potato lovers will be happy with this casserole. It combines cheesy potatoes — sometimes called funeral potatoes — with diced, cooked chicken or turkey and bacon for a heartier dish that serves as a main course.
Recipe: Campbell's
This Cajun-inspired seafood casserole includes the holy trinity of vegetables — onion, celery, and bell pepper — along with shrimp and crabmeat in a cream sauce made with cream cheese and cream of mushroom soup. Add some Cajun seasoning if you want to punch up the flavor.
Recipe: Taste of Home
Casseroles aren't just for dinner — they make easy work of breakfast or brunch, too. Italian sausage, red bell pepper, cubed bread, and cheese combine with eggs and cream of mushroom soup for a savory bread pudding. Add whatever other vegetables you have languishing in your produce drawer.
Recipe: Campbell's
Related: 26 Easy Breakfast Casseroles to Start Your Morning Right
A Southern classic, poppy seed chicken mixes cooked chicken chunks into a creamy sauce made with cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and poppy seeds under a layer of crunchy Ritz cracker crumbs. Don't skip the lemon zest, as it cuts through the rich sauce. Serve with buttered egg noodles or rice and a salad.
Recipe: Delish
Creamy chicken enchiladas are a homemade Tex-Mex favorite, but rolling them is a pain. This bake layers the mild, creamy filling with tortillas like a lasagna so there's very little prep work involved. A thick layer of shredded cheese on top is a must.
Recipe: Taste of Home
Branch out from the typical green beans with this Brussels sprouts casserole. It starts with the step of cooking bacon in an ovenproof skillet — you'll be baking it in that skillet to save on dishes — then cooking onions and Brussels sprouts in the bacon fat before mixing it all with cream of mushroom soup and baking.
Recipe: Campbell's
Sometimes you just don't want to turn on your oven but you still want a comforting casserole. For those times, there's your crockpot and this recipe for a creamy chicken and rice dish. You start with uncooked rice, chicken, and frozen vegetables — and end up with a spoonable comfort food.
Recipe: The Typical Mom
Unlike most of the other recipes, this one's not made with cream soup, but golden mushroom soup instead. That makes the filling of this beef pot pie similar to a beef stew, complete with cubed sirloin steak, potatoes, and mixed vegetables under a brown pie crust.
Recipe: Campbell's
When you do want to put in a little more effort rolling enchiladas for your family, try this ground beef version that's still really easy. It combines cans of cheddar cheese soup and enchilada sauce for a creamy, rich version of the original.
Recipe: The Seasoned Mom
If you have a garden that gifts you with an overabundance of zucchini each summer, try this recipe to use up some of it. Stuffing mix acts as the starch, along with chicken, lots of cubed zucchini, and cream of chicken soup for a quick, two-pot meal.
Recipe: Taste of Home
Leftover ham never looked as good as it does in this strata recipe. Just stir together stuffing mix, ham, asparagus, and cheese in a 9x13 pan before pouring over a savory custard made with cream of asparagus or mushroom soup. Dijon mustard gives it a little tang.
Recipe: Campbell's
This casserole is like chicken pot pie, but with egg noodles instead of pie crust or biscuits. Frozen vegetables and cream of mushroom soup make it simple, while Parmesan and cheddar cheese make it special.
Recipe: Campbell's
This dish is reminiscent of mac and cheese, but with the added bonus of smoked sausage and a crunchy topping of cheese-flavored, French-fried onions. Make sure you brown the sausage well, because those crusty bits are the best part and stand out in the creamy, cheesy sauce.
Recipe: Taste of Home
A potluck classic, hash brown casserole is also known as cheesy potatoes, funeral potatoes, and many other monikers. Canned cream soup and sour cream are mixed with onions and frozen potatoes and baked. Try using cubed potatoes instead of shredded, or adding a crunchy topping like corn flakes or crushed potato chips.
Recipe: Campbell's
Made up almost entirely of pantry and fridge staples, this casserole can be put together in no time. Instead of corn tortillas, it calls for crushed, nacho-flavored tortilla chips for extra flavor. Though the recipe calls for microwaving the final casserole, feel free to pop it in the oven if you prefer to brown it a bit.
Recipe: Taste of Home
Related: Tacos, Pizza, and More Meals Masquerading as Casseroles
A list like this is incomplete without the upper Midwest favorite tater tot casserole. It starts with a layer of browned ground beef, vegetables, and canned cream soup, and gets topped with cheese and frozen tater tots. Worcestershire sauce and garlic give this recipe a boost.
Recipe: Mom on Timeout
