Chicken, Bacon, and Dried Beef Casserole

By
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.
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Updated on 05/11/21
Chicken bacon and dried beef casserole

The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 2 hrs
Total: 2 hrs 20 mins
Servings: 8 servings

In this simple recipe, chicken breasts are baked in a casserole with bacon, dried beef, and a creamy sour cream sauce. This flavorful and popular chicken dish is perfect for a busy day and keeps well if you want some leftovers. It's always a bonus to be able to cook once and eat twice.

This recipe requires a lot of familiar ingredients, some of them shortcuts such as condensed soup, but one of them may be totally new to you, such as dried beef. This, like the soup, is a convenience item that when combined with the other ingredients, brings dinner to the table much more easily. This baked chicken and dried beef is a bit of a comfort food recipe, but then again, what casserole isn't?

A dish as hearty as this needs little else to make it great, but hot cooked rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes work well and soak up some of the flavorful juices. A vegetable side dish of steamed broccoli, green beans, or a simple tossed salad helps to round it out.

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Ingredients

  • 8 strips bacon

  • 8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

  • 1 ounce jarred dried beef, coarsely chopped

  • 1 cup sour cream

  • 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup (condensed)

  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients and heat the oven to 300 F/150 C/Gas 2.

    Ingredients for chicken bacon and dried beef casserole
    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  2. Wrap 1 strip of bacon around a chicken breast half. Repeat with the remaining halves.

    Wrap bacon around chicken
    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  3. Line a large, lightly buttered casserole or baking dish with the dried beef.

    Dried beef in a baking dish
    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  4. Place the 8 chicken breast halves on the chipped beef in the casserole dish.

    Bacon-wrapped chicken in a casserole dish
    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  5. In a bowl, stir together the sour cream and soup until well blended; pour over the chicken.

    Sour cream and soup poured over the chicken
    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  6. Sprinkle lightly with freshly ground black pepper.

    Casserole dish with sour cream, soup, chicken, and bacon sprinkled with black pepper
    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  7. Bake slowly, at 300 F for 2 hours, or until chicken is cooked and bacon is crispy.

    Chicken casserole baked in a dish
    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  8. Serve and enjoy.

    Baked chicken and bacon casserole
    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

Tip

Resist the urge to salt this recipe until it's already cooked. The bacon and dried beef contain salt, and the condensed soup may as well. It's hard to fix a dish that's been oversalted, whereas it's easy to add more salt if need be.

How to Store and Freeze Chicken, Bacon, and Dried Beef Casserole

This casserole will keep in the fridge for about three days, as long as it's covered well. Reheat in a low oven (300 F) for 15 to 20 minutes until it's hot all the way through.


You can freeze this in a well-wrapped dish for up to three months. To reheat, cover the top loosely with foil and put it into a 350 F oven, frozen, for about an hour or so.

Recipe Variations

  • Instead of dried beef, roll a thin slice of ham around each chicken breast, then wrap the bacon strip around the ham. Pour the soup and sour cream mixture over the rolls, sprinkle with pepper, and bake following the instructions above. 
  • You can also use prosciutto around the chicken instead of bacon if you prefer.
  • The chicken may also be baked at 350 F/180 C/Gas 4 for about 1 1/2 hours.
  • This recipe can be made with chicken thighs instead of breasts.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
288 Calories
10g Fat
3g Carbs
43g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories 288
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 10g 13%
Saturated Fat 3g 16%
Cholesterol 119mg 40%
Sodium 533mg 23%
Total Carbohydrate 3g 1%
Dietary Fiber 0g 1%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 43g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 50mg 4%
Iron 1mg 8%
Potassium 419mg 9%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)