Food Storage Chicken Noodle Casserole Recipe

My (real life) friends Jodi and Julie from Food Storage Made Easy posted this recipe for chicken noodle casserole on their Facebook page last week. 

They didn’t end up making it though, so I decided to.

The original recipe comes from Our Best Bites.  If you aren’t familiar with their site, you should be.  Everything I’ve tried from their site has always turned out delicious!

But, obviously, I had to make some modifications to make the recipe work with 100% shelf stable items. 

For now, I’m not even including frozen items in my recipes (though I may create another e-book with that as an option later) because I want to be prepared for a longer term power outage.

The first time I made the recipe, it was good, but ended up a bit dry. 

We all ate it and enjoyed it just fine (including my 3 and 4 year old picky girls). But my husband said he really thought he’d love it if it was a bit more “soupy” (to use his word). 

So I modified it again and added a bit more liquid.  Enjoy!

Shelf Stable Chicken Noodle Casserole

As with all of my recipes, this one is made with shelf-stable ingredients.

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups chicken broth or 3 1/4 cups hot water mixed with 1 tablespoon bouillon
• 1 1/2 cups freeze dried chicken chopped
• 8-10 ounces egg noodles (about 3.5-4 cups)
• 1 cup freeze dried red bell peppers
• 1/4 cup freeze dried onion
• 1 cup freeze dried green peas
• Water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1-2 teaspoons pepper
• 3 tablespoons butter powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 1/4 cups instant milk (prepared – 2 1/4 cups water mixed with 1/3 cup milk powder
• 1 cup freeze dried cheddar cheese, hydrated
• 1 sleeve crushed Ritz Crackers

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Add chicken to hot broth and set aside.
3. Bring 4 quarts water to boil. Add noodles and a bit of salt and cook, stirring often, until just al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water until cool. Do not leave them sitting warm.
4. While noodles are cooking, mix all vegetables and add enough cool water to make them just barely start to float. Mix gently until all veggies are wet and set aside.
5. Mix salt, pepper, flour and butter powder in small bowl/cup.
6. Heat olive oil over high heat for 30-45 seconds (use the same pot the noodles were in).
7. Add flour mixture and cook, whisking constantly for 1 minute.
8. Slowly whisk in milk, a little at at time. As you whisk to incorporate flour mixture and smooth out lumps.
9. Drain chicken from broth, and set chicken aside.
10. Add broth to flour & milk mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until slightly thickened, about five minutes.
11. Whisk cheese (it MUST be hydrated first) into sauce until melted and then turn off heat.
12. Stir noodles, chicken and veggies into sauce.
13. Transfer mixture to 13×9 inch baking dish and top with crackers.
14. Bake until golden brown and bubbling, about 15 minutes.
15. Let casserole cool for about 15 minutes before serving.