BBQ Chicken Hotdish

The best part? It’s a great way to do a bit of meal prep, and it’s one the whole family will love.

Spend a little time making this barbecue chicken casserole on your prep day, and you’ve got an easy dinner option for a few days to come - just portion and reheat!

I’ve never been much of a casserole person, but I’m quickly finding that making these is the best way to ensure I can skip cooking for a few meals.

With how busy things have been lately? Love it!

Anyway, enough chatter, let’s get to that recipe!

Ingredients

This recipe uses really simple ingredients. Anything that’s not already in your fridge or pantry will be easy to find in pretty much any local grocery store.

Some notes:

Boneless Chicken Breasts

I use boneless skinless chicken breasts, as I tend to have a ton of it in the freezer. You can substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs for some or all of the chicken breast, if you prefer.

Need a quicker option? Feel free to swap in pre-cooked or leftover chicken.

1 store-bought rotisserie chicken yields about enough chicken for this recipe.

Alternatively, you can use leftover bbq chicken. If you’re a fan of shredded chicken, my Dutch Oven Pulled Chicken makes a great base for this casserole!

Bacon

We use regular bacon when making this BBQ Chicken Casserole, as the rendered fat from it is fantastic for cooking the onions and chicken in.

If you want to use chicken bacon or turkey bacon, just be sure to use a bit of olive oil or vegetable oil when cooking it, and add a little more for cooking your chicken and onions.

BBQ Sauce

There are so many different brands out there, that I didn’t bother specifying - use whichever brand you like the most!

Porter’s current go-to is Sweet Baby Ray’s Hickory & Brown Sugar. It’s a nicely sweet and tangy barbecue sauce, and works well with the pizza toppings.

Shredded Cheese

We tend to use shredded Monterey Jack Cheese when making this BBQ chicken hotdish recipe, but there’s a LOT of room for customization here.

It actually took a bit of back-and-forth to land on that, when designing this recipe. Monterey Jack, Sharp Cheddar Cheese, and Pepper Jack are all great options.

You could even use Pizza Mozzarella, if you like - as a further nod to the pizza inspiration for this recipe!

Hot Banana Pepper Slices

The pizza restaurant he likes best for BBQ chicken pizza uses hot banana pepper slices, so that’s what we went with for this BBQ chicken casserole.

Don’t feel like you HAVE to use the same. You can skip it all together, finely chop some jalapenos in when you’re cooking the onions, or use canned green chiles, to taste.

Everything Else

Rounding out this base recipe, you will need:

Tater Tots
Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
Pineapple Tidbits
Black Olives
Green Pepper
Red Onions
Salt and Pepper
Cooking Spray

... as I said, super simple ingredients!

Toppings, Optional

I know a lot of people like to garnish their casseroles with extra stuff - feel free to add some of your favorite ingredients as a topping.

You can’t go wrong with some crispy bacon or even bacon bits, if that’s your thing.

I’m a fan of thinly sliced green onions - it might be my favorite way to being a bit of color and pop to a dish.

As with pizza... you do you!

How to Make BBQ Chicken Tater Tot Hotdish

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is a visual walk through of the cooking process:

Before getting started, I like to get all of the ingredients prepped - veggies chopped, pineapples and olives drained, can opened, BBQ sauce measured, etc.

The bbq chicken bake recipe comes together really quickly, so you don’t want to stop to measure or chop! I’ll put the fruits and veggies in a large bowl, then just dump it all in when it’s time.

Heat oven to 350 F, spray a 9 x 13" baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium-high heat until cooked through, with fat rendering in the pan.

Add chicken, season with a little salt and pepper. Continue cooking - stirring frequently - until chicken is cooked all the way through.

Add black olives, banana peppers, pineapple, green pepper and onion to the chicken mixture, stir well to combine and coat everything with sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

At this point, you can cook it for a few minutes (if you want the veggies really soft), or not (if you want them more the texture of pizza toppings).

Spoon mixture into the prepared casserole dish or baking pan. If you’d like, you can place the pan on a baking sheet, in case of any boil over.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.

Serve hot, topped with fresh cilantro or extra shredded cheese, if desired! If you’re one to dip your BBQ chicken pizza in ranch dressing, try some on the side of this casserole!

Leftovers

Once cooled to room temperature, leftovers can be covered with plastic wrap - or transferred to an airtight container. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.

More Casserole Recipes

Looking for some more hotdish recipes? Here are a few family favorite recipes for you!

Best Shepherd's Pie Ever! (Cottage Pie)
Breakast Bagel Strata
Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Hotdish
Deluxe Pizza Strata
Doubles Hotdish
Gluten Free Tuna Casserole
Ham, Swiss, and Kale Strata
Keto Funeral Potatoes
Keto Shepherd's Pie (Cottage Pie)
Mafioso Hotdish - Italian Tater Tot Casserole
Scalloped Corn Casserole
Southwest Hotdish
Spinach Noodle Lasagna
Sushi Bake
Sweet Potato Souffle
Tim Walz' New Ulm Hotdish - Upgraded!