Freezer Meals: Crunchy Onion Chicken and Potato Casserole

With Christmas coming, I am gearing up to make some yummy freezer meals to have on hand during Christmas week while my family is here (yay!!) so that we don't have to spend our special family time stuck in the kitchen cooking for a crowd.  (I'm only making a few, and only some of my easiest recipes because although I've been doing a lot better, I'm still seven months pregnant and very uncomfortable and just not up for a crazy ambitious freezer cooking day)  In case you want to do something similar to have a great meal on hand for any guests that may drop by, I thought I would share one of my favorite freezer meals with you.  It's my favorite because it's the EASIEST!!!  And it's also delicious :)  I don't have a source for this recipe because I've adapted it myself from a few similar ones I've come across over time and turned it into a super easy and yummy freezer meal that we make all the time.

Crunchy Onion Chicken

1 1/3 c. French’s Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1 egg, beaten

1. Crush French Fried Onions in plastic bag with hands or rolling pin
2. Dip chicken into egg.  Coat in onion crumbs; press firmly to adhere

Freezer directions:  Place chicken on lined baking sheet and flash freeze until firm.  Place in freezer bags.  Seal, label and freeze.  

Serving Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place chicken on a lined baking sheet.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest piece of chicken reads 170 degrees.

Serves 4

The best part about this recipe is that you don't have to thaw it before cooking so it's great on a day when you forgot to prepare dinner and don't have a freezer meal thawed and ready to cook.  I really don't pay attention to ingredient amounts on this recipe, but I do always make about quadruple than what's on my recipe.  I just buy chicken breasts (fresh, not frozen - that way prep is faster because I don't have to thaw anything), and then crush the French Fried Onions and beat a couple of eggs in a bowl.  Super easy.  I always go with less than more when I'm crushing the French Fried Onions at first because it's easy to add some if you get low and I hate wasting it when I used too much.  You can't reuse it because it's all egg-y from dipping the egg-coated chicken in it.  Oh and be sure to trim your chicken and cut it into serving sizes - about half a breast is usually good.  Try to keep them all a similar size so they cook evenly.  Also a quick tip - the recommendation is to line your baking sheet when flash freezing and when cooking.  It is not a big deal to not line the baking sheet when you're cooking - I never do and it's fine (but I do have to soak my pan when cleaning it, so using lining could save you that clean up step).  But you definitely want to line it when you're flash freezing!  It can be tough to get the frozen chicken off the baking sheet if you don't use the parchment paper.  Also if you don't have a thermometer to check the chicken, no worries, just bake it until it's not pink on the inside.  :)  Another amazing thing about this recipe is that the chicken is always delicious!  You can freeze it up to about six months even and it's still really good.  I have a tendency to make dry chicken (because I'm so afraid of under-cooking meat!), but this is always moist and delicious EVERY TIME.  It's a no-fail chicken recipe and always a hit!  

This is really yummy served with potato casserole and green salad with ranch.  (there are TONS of sides that it's good with, but those are our favorites)

Here's a great potato casserole recipe from sixsistersstuff.com if you want to use that for the side (also a freezer meal that you do not have to thaw in advance!)  

Cheesy Hashbrown Potato Casserole:

Potatoes:12 large potatoes or 1 (32 oz) bag frozen shredded hashbrowns

2 (10 3/4 oz) cans cream of chicken soup (reduced fat is fine)

2 cups sour cream (light is fine)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup chopped onions

Topping:

2 cups crushed corn flakes

2 Tbsp butter, melted

Peel potatoes and boil for 30 minutes, until just tender. Cool and grate into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish (or put frozen hashbrowns into the baking dish). Combine soup, sour cream, cheese, the 1/2 cup melted butter, and onions. Gently blend into potatoes. Combine crushed corn flakes and the 2 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle on top. Make at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Freezer directions:  Cover in foil and freeze.  Thaw 12 hours and bake at 350 for 30 min.  If not thawed, bake 60-90min.  

My favorite part about this recipe is that you can use frozen hash browns instead of boiling and grating the potatoes, which is normally the most time consuming part of the process!  Awesome shortcut!  :)  The only part of this recipe that is not insanely easy is that you have to chop an onion (which I personally hate doing, but I lucked out and my husband is a very willing onion-chopper, making this recipe even easier on me!).  Some people like to make this in two 8x8 pans and eat one and freeze the other.  I personally just like to double the recipe and make two 9x13 pans - takes about the same amount of work for twice the food!  I'm all about doubling and tripling recipes when it comes to freezer meals.  The recipe recommends just covering your pan in foil and freezing, but I prefer to seal everything I freeze.  I have found that a 9x13 pan with no handles will fit perfectly in a 2 gallon freezer bag.  I buy the foil pans so that they will fit.  Plus I don't like to freeze my glass pans because I never know how long I'll leave it in the freezer for and I like to have my glass pans handy for other things!  

Anyway - hope this helps make your holiday a little easier :)  Enjoy!  :)