Bacon Buffalo Chicken Casserole

One of my goals this year? More casseroles. Seems fitting to kick off that endeavor with this simple, mouthwatering Buffalo Chicken Bacon Casserole!

With a homemade buffalo sauce, spaghetti squash, and bacon, this hearty casserole is gluten free, paleo, and Whole30. It keeps well in the fridge, making it a perfect meal prep companion. But, more importantly, it's packed with flavor that'll leave you dreaming of tomorrow's lunch.

How to make spaghetti squash casseroles

Buffalo chicken bacon casserole isn't my first rodeo with spaghetti squash-based casseroles. Really, the whole thing is pretty simple.

The largest portion of prep for this casserole goes to pre-cooking the spaghetti squash.

Everyone has their favoite way of doing this. There's no right answer here!

You could pierce the spaghetti squash with a fork, leaving it otherwise intact and baking it whole.

Or you could cook the spaghetti squash in the slow cooker.

Finally, you can use the instructions I've included, cutting the squash in half and seeding it before baking it.

We all have our preferred methods. So roll with whichever one you like best. The point is, you need to cook the spaghetti squash before making the casserole.

The next key to spaghetti squash casseroles hides in the sauce. It's eggs!

Now, there's a delicate balance here. Eggs are necessary to thicken the sauce a bit and whole the casserole together after it's cooked. But you don't want so many eggs that you can taste it in the end. After all, this isn't an egg bake!

For my spaghetti squash casseroles, I almost always find that one to two eggs will do. The finished casserole holds its shape, but doesn't end up eggy. Perfection.

How to prep shredded chicken for casseroles

Oftentimes, you'll just use leftover shredded chicken for casserole and soup recipes.

But what happens when you want to make a super delicious-sounding casserole like this buffalo chicken bacon casserole and you only have raw chicken breasts on hand?

I've got two solutions for you.

As the recipe instructs, you can poach the chicen breasts. This is easy, makes perfectly shreddable (plus tender) chicken, and you can accomplish it while you bake the spaghetti squash.

Or you could prep a bunch of shredded chicken in advance using my Dutch Oven Shredded Chicken recipe. Your choice!

Worth noting, however, that 96.7% of the time, I poach my chicken breasts. Once you do it a couple times, you tend to have that shit memorized so you can poach some breasts on the fly and feel like a total kitchen badass doing it.

More Gluten Free casserole recipes

Did you try this Bacon Buffalo Chicken Casserole recipe? I'd love to hear what you think! Please leave a comment and rating or tag me on Instagram - I appreciate your feedback.