Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Throw-together leftover chicken/potato hot dish


I need a clever name for a leftover chicken/mashed potatoes/gravy one dish meal that can be on the table in less than an hour.

I made a whole roasted chicken the other day. That's one of our special family dinners because it's like a mini-feast. I make mashed potatoes (always from scratch with real butter and milk), homemade gravy if there's enough drippings and a veggie. I try to buy a 7 - 7.5 lb bird when they go on sale for 99 cents a pound or less. I can always get at least two meals from that size. 

I'd planned on making chicken pot pie as our second meal. I ended up making way too many mashed potatoes so I made a last minute decision to work with the leftovers rather than waste all those potatoes. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew I didn't want to just reheat everything the next day.

I lucked out because our chicken had a ton of meat on it. I'm actually getting three meals out of this one. I pulled the breast meat off, broke it up with my fingers and spread it in the bottom of a square baking dish. I threw the drumsticks and thighs in the freezer for my future chicken pot pie. 

I reheated my homemade chicken gravy to make it easier to pour and drizzled it over the chicken. 

I grabbed some frozen veggies out of the freezer, precooked them in the microwave and layered them on top the chicken and gravy. There's more corn than anything because I used up what I had.

The last step was the potatoes, which I reheated for a couple of minutes to make them easier to spread. I had about 3 1/2 cups left from the night before and I used them all. I covered it with foil and baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I forgot to take a pic before it went into the oven so I pulled the foil off, took the pic and put the foil back on. I always put casseroles on an old baking sheet to catch any spills.


Hmm, this sounds a little like a basic shepherd's pie recipe, only with chicken instead of beef. It's also pretty much the same meal we had the night before only I served it all in one dish.

I thought it was yummy. I think the family did too because there was none left (my daughter and I both had seconds - so much for my diet! ha ha). I love that it was a simple way to use up leftovers. 

Now to come up with a clever name for this easy leftover chicken meal.


I know my photos need work. I'm usually too busy actually cooking to stop to take pretty, perfectly arranged photos with perfect lighting. In my next life I'll have hired help to do that. ;-)

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