Chicken Bacon Caesar Casserole
With the bold flavors of garlic, parmesan, and bacon this easy keto casserole will please the most reluctant low carb eater. My Chicken Bacon Spinach Casserole is great when you are pressed for time. It is easy, flavorful, and can be made ahead. You can even make it in a crockpot. This easy keto casserole recipe is low carb, keto, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
I’ve made this keto casserole so many times over the last few months it’s amazing my kids haven’t complained. But they still love it. This is the only way to get some of them, or all of them, to eat spinach. When I’m craving a little rich and creamy comfort food this is one of my go-to keto casserole recipes.
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How to make a keto casserole
The simplest way to make any casserole keto-friendly is to leave out the starches. Most regular casseroles call for fillers like rice, pasta, or beans. In my low carb casseroles, I use proteins, vegetables, and fat. No starches.
How to make a casserole in a crockpot
It isn’t hard to convert this to a slow cooker recipe. There are just three steps to making a chicken casserole in a crockpot instead of your oven.
- Cook the chicken in the crockpot. It is very important not to OVERCOOK the chicken or you will have a dry casserole. Cook chicken breasts on low for 2.5 hours. Add a little chicken broth, butter or oil, and salt and pepper before cooking.
- DRAIN the cooking liquid. Cut up the chicken.
- Proceed with the rest of the casserole recipe. This time just cook it in the crockpot until it is hot.
The most important step is draining the cooking liquid. If you don’t do this you will end up with soup instead of a casserole.
What ingredients are in the sauce?
My typical sauce base for casseroles is cream cheese, mayo, and sour cream. This is how I can get a smooth and rich sauce without using any cans of condensed soup.
Chicken, chicken, and more chicken
We eat a lot of chicken. It is very budget friendly and easy to cook. You may remember me getting excited when my husband brought me home a two-pound bag of shrimp.
I was slightly less excited when he brought home 12 pounds of chicken breast because the freezer was packed after my Costco trip the day before. I managed to squeeze one pack in any way and we cooked the rest.
This casserole was invented about halfway through our chicken week when I just needed something that tasted less like chicken. So, in other words, it needed bacon. This Chicken Bacon Caesar Casserole has already gotten rave reviews from everyone who has tried it.
What else is in this keto chicken casserole?
This is very similar to my Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole. If you’ve tried that one and liked it there is high probability you will like this one too. Instead of dried herbs, there is parmesan cheese and roasted garlic powder. Instead of cheddar, there is mozzarella. But there is always bacon.
More keto casserole recipes:
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Chicken Bacon Caesar Casserole
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 4 oz sour cream
- 4 oz mayo
- 2 tsp roasted garlic powder (this is worth the investment, the flavor is amazing!)
- 2 tsp dried minced onion
- 2-2.5 lb cooked chicken , cubed
- 12 oz bag frozen spinach , thawed and drained
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 4 slices crisp cooked bacon or 1/4 cup bacon crumbles
- 2 oz shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 if baking immediately. Or you can prep ahead and keep in the refrigerator for a day or two.
- Combine cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, and spices and mix thoroughly. I do this first in a big metal bowl.
- In the big bowl combine the cream cheese mixture you just made with the chicken, spinach, parmesan cheese, and 1/2 the bacon and mix well.
- Dump into a 9x13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle remaining cheese and bacon on top.
- Bake until hot about 35 minutes.
Video
Nutrition
Originally Published March 12, 2016. Revised and Republished January 18, 2020.
Had this for the first time last night. I did my prep on Sunday & baked it Monday after work. It was amazing! My husband has requested it at least once a week!
Hi
Someone might have commented this your recipe says it serves 6 but the nutritional value says 8
It serves 6-8. My family has 6 and we have leftovers when we have this for dinner. I don’t use nutrition facts myself but I try to provide them as a courtesy. You can always enter the ingredients into your own calculator to adjust the serving size.
This was a hit with my family tonight. Thank you! I’m trying to get them on board with THM.
Blessings,
Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage
This looks so tasty.
Wondering, does it taste the same using the crock pot method?
Also, if I decide not to use the crock pot, how do you recommend cooking the chicken, for how long, etc.
Thanks
The only difference is the cheese on top won’t get browned. Otherwise, I think it tastes the same. I cook the chicken in the crock pot first in salted water or chicken broth. It depends on the size of chicken breasts and your crock pot but I normally do 1.5 hours on high and then temp them every half an hour.
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What kind of side dishes do you usually serve your family with this? I’m drawing a blank on what would go well with this! Thanks!
I normally serve it with a green salad.
Looks good!! I don’t do well with frozen spinach. Can I use fresh? Would I need 10 oz? Thank you!
Yes. Approx. 10 oz. Feel free to use a little more if you like.
Thank you!
Thanks! I’m looking forward to supper!
Can I use canned spinach?
I’ve never used canned spinach before but I imagine you can. Just drain it really well.
Would I use 1 or 2 cans?
That depends on the size of the can. You need 10-12 oz of spinach.
Made a few changes to suit my taste buds and current ability to stand and cook. I will make this again!! After cooking the chicken in the skillet, added 1 pound sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms and cooked till tender. Removed, cooked fresh spinach in same skillet adding some fresh minced garlic and a little chicken broth. When spinach was wilted, added chicken and ‘shrooms back to the pan and stirred in the cheese mixture. Baked in the cast iron skillet and it was wonderful. A side salad was great to cut the richness of this dish but it was sooo good and satisfying! Thanks for a great recipe that anybody can take and make their own.
the way the recipe is written, I will assume that that is 2-2.5lbs of chicken after cooking… in other words, after cooking the chicken you had 2-2.5lbs of chicken that you put into the casserole? or would that be 2-2.5lbs of chicken that you cooked and then used in the casserole?
Start with 2-2.5 pounds of raw chicken. I did not weigh it again after cooking.
Thank you, I’ve been trying to figure out how much raw chicken to buy to yield 2 to 2.5 pounds cooked!
The other thing is you say grated Parmesan which is the dried stuff in a can, but it looks like you actually used shredded. I suppose either would work, but fresh shredded might have more flavour.
I have used both types of parmesan. Start with 3 pounds of chicken.
What kind of Parmesan cheese do you use?
Hi Kathy,
I normally just use the cheap shaker kind sold in the pasta aisle. You can use a better shredded parmesan if you prefer.
This sounds really good and would like to make it, however I do have a question? As a single I’d like to make it in single servings and freeze them once cooked. Will that be okay to do with this recipe?
I was wondering the same thing! I bet you could though. I have one of those brownie plans that are all individual spots. I was going to try it in there. And then just freeze them in that size.
This was great! My husband and I both loved it!
We tried this out tonight and everyone liked it. We precooked the chicken in an electric pressure cooker for 5 min with some seasoning and better than bullion. We then added a little hidden valley ranch dry seasoning to the mixture along with garlic powder. We added about a cup of the broth to the mixture for moisture I added mushrooms and used frozen cauliflower as a base in the casserole dish. It had the perfect consistency. Even my picky kids liked it
Tried this out on my family today and it was a hit! The only thing I did differently was add more bacon. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe!
How do you cook the chicken?
I normally bake it in a large Pyrex covered with foil at 350 until it is 160 with a meat thermometer. In the summer I cook it in the crock pot. I just put a little salt on.
I finally made this today. The girls weren’t sure what to make of it, but my casserole -hating husband and my 4 year old and 18 month old sons had seconds and I loved it. I served it with a tossed salad to round out the meal. It’s definitely going into the rotation, although I might add mushrooms next time. Spinach and mushrooms are one of my favorite veggie combinations. 🙂 I’m eager to try your other casseroles.
Does this only fill the pan a little bit? I doubled the recipe and it was not near enough for two 9x13s not sure what I did wrong
Hi Kasi,
It fills the pan about halfway up. Maybe an inch and a half. I prefer casseroles thinner so you get more topping. It serves about 6 people no matter what. You could probably fit it in an 8×8 if you wanted it thicker.
Is the spinach boiled before use or is it simply used after thawing out?
Hi Dee, it just needs to be thawed and drained if you are using frozen spinach.