Healthier Chicken Vegetable Casserole

I’m going to be totally honest with you, I did not have high expectations for this dish.  I LOVE the nutrient density in this recipe, but the milk, bean and spice mixture was a little strange to me.  However, I’ve got to admit, this chicken vegetable casserole totally exceeded my expectations and turned out pretty tasty.

I was so glad that I ended up with a lot of leftovers to eat for lunch.  I do not like to take time out of my day to fuss with lunch.  I wish that I could say that I even sometimes forget to eat, but….um….that never happens.  I’m a girl that really likes her food.

This recipe is from my Gourmet Nutrition cookbook (from Precision Nutrition) and was originally made with ground turkey.  However, I’m not a fan of the flavor of ground turkey so I substituted ground chicken instead.  I think it would also be tasty with lean ground beef, so I might give that a go next time and even switch up some of the veggies and throw in zucchini, corn and maybe some green peas.  Yum.

5 from 1 vote

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Healthier Chicken Vegetable Casserole

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

Total Time

1 hr

 

*Adapted from "Ground Turkey Casserole" from Gourmet Nutrition

Servings: 8 servings

Author: Amee Livingston

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup navy beans drained
• 1 cup milk I used Fairlife 2% milk
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 lbs ground chicken
• 1 cup sweet onion finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrots
• 1 1/2 cups fresh asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces (hard bottom stem removed)
• 2 cups grated green cabbage
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat aged white cheddar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Rinse the drained navy beans with water and dump into a blender
3. Add half of the milk, coriander, turmeric, and blend until smooth
4. Add the rest of the milk and the broth and blend until mixed
5. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat
6. Add ground chicken and onion and cook until meat is no longer pink and onions are soft
7. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with olive oil spray and spread the cooked meat on the bottom of the dish
8. Add all other ingredients to the dish, including milk mixture and cheese and stir to mix well.
9. Bake 40-45 minutes until lightly browned on top.

This healthier chicken vegetable casserole can be assembled the night before and bake when you’re ready.  Easy peasy.