BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole

6 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole is an easy kid-friendly dinner ready in 1 hour! Tasty bbq chicken filling topped with cheddar cheese and homemade cornbread.

Family-friendly, easy weeknight Dinner like BBQ Beef Cornbread Casserole and Cowboy Casserole are one-pan meals ready in just an hour.

cross-section of BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole in baking pan

BBQ CHICKEN CORNBREAD CASSEROLE

This tasty dinner recipe is easy to make, kid-approved, and ready in no time with ingredients you are sure to have on hand. Whether you make it on a busy weeknight or prep it ahead of time for later, you’ll love this quick and delicious one-pan dinner. With a mild and tangy BBQ chicken filling and golden brown, homemade cornbread topping, this is sure to be a hit with everyone!

This BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole is topped with a slightly sweet cornbread made from scratch. You can always use a box of cornbread mix, but this homemade version is just as easy and so much more tasty. Use whatever BBQ sauce you have on hand or make your own BBQ Sauce if you have some extra time!

BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole is an easy one-pan meal perfect with a side of easy kid-friendly veggies like Roasted Broccoli or Sautéed Green Beans. This chili-barbecue casserole is great with topping likes sour cream, more cheddar cheese, and green onions. Serve BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole with other cookout favorites like Coleslaw and Mac and Cheese for a tasty summer BBQ dinner without a grill!

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Make Ahead BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole

Cook the ground chicken, onions, and bell peppers until chicken is cooked through and onions ares soft. Stir in the barbecue sauce and tomato sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare cornbread mixture. Once chicken filling is cool, layer meat, cheese, and cornbread in freezer safe baking dish. Wrap with plastic wrap tightly and cover dish with aluminum foil (or lid) and freeze up to 3 months. Bake from frozen covered with foil (remove plastic wrap) for 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole serving on spatula

VARIATIONS ON BBQ CHICKEN CORNBREAD CASSEROLE

  • Leftovers: Instead of ground chicken, you can make this Cornbread Casserole with leftover meat like Pulled Pork or BBQ Beef. Sauté onions and bell peppers until tender, then add cooked meat with the sauce ingredients and finish dish as usual.
  • Buffalo Chicken: Give BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole a fiery kick! Replace some or all of the BBQ sauce with up to 1 cup Buffalo Wing Sauce. Make sure it’s buffalo wing sauce (with butter flavor added), or it won’t taste right and will be way too hot. Fold in blue cheese crumbles for even more buffalo flavor!
  • Cornbread: You can add up to ½ cup tasty cornbread mix-ins like canned and drained corn or green chiles, shredded cheese, scallions, or cooked bacon.
  • Hearty: Make this BBQ Chicken Casserole heartier by adding canned black beans or pinto beans, or you can add diced veggies like zucchini, carrots, or corn. 

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole

  • In a large skillet, sauté the ground chicken, onions, and bell peppers in oil for 5-6 minutes, until onions are soft and meat is just cooked through.
  • Pour ground chicken mixture into a greased slow cooker and add the sauce ingredients. Stir to combine.
  • Prepare the cornbread batter and set aside.
  • Top BBQ chicken mixture with shredded cheese.
  • Pour cornbread batter over cheese and smooth with spatula to make an even layer.
  • Cover with lid and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Toothpick inserted into cornbread should come out clean.

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HOW TO STORE BBQ CHICKEN CORNBREAD CASSEROLE

  • Serve: Let BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole cool for 5 minutes before serving. This BBQ Chicken Casserole can be at room temperature for up to 2 hours.
  • Store: Once cooled, wrap casserole dish with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Refrigerate BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole for up to 3 days and reheat in the oven.
  • Freeze: Cool BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole and cover with plastic wrap and then foil. Freeze casserole for up to 3 months and thaw overnight before reheating in the oven.

BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole serving on spatula

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BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole

BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole is an easy kid-friendly dinner ready in 1 hour! Tasty bbq chicken filling topped with cheddar cheese and homemade cornbread.
Yield 6 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Course Condiment
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1 pound ground chicken
  • 1/2 yellow onion , chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper , chopped
  • 1 cup barbecue sauce
  • 15 ounces tomato sauce
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese , shredded
  • 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter , melted

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • Spray a 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray.
  • Combine ground chicken, onion, and bell pepper in a large skillet on medium heat and cook for 5-6 minutes until cooked through.
  • Add in the barbecue sauce and tomato sauce and bring to a boil before reducing to a simmer for 5 minutes.
  • In a large bowl whisk together cornmeal, milk, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, egg and melted butter.
  • In the baking dish layer chicken then the shredded cheese and top with the cornbread mixture.
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
  • Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 590kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 154mg | Sodium: 1260mg | Potassium: 983mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 1173IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 363mg | Iron: 3mg
Keyword: BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole

BBQ Chicken Cornbread Casserole

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. This recipe was delicious and very easy to make! I had to use gluten free flour in the cornbread for my husband and it was still SO good! I will definitely make this again-thank you for the delicious dish!