Top 5 Tips for Cooking Casserole

Top Five Casserole Cooking Tips

1. Enhance the flavor of your favorite casserole by sprinkling it with a tasty topping before baking.  Try buttered bread crumbs, French fried onions, crushed potato chips, shredded cheese or cooked, crumbled bacon.
2. If you're preparing a casserole to take to a potluck or to share with a neighbor, use a disposable foil pan. Then there's no need to worry about getting your pan back.
3. To keep a casserole hot on the way to a potluck, place two kitchen towels in the bottom of a basket; set the hot casserole dish inside.  Tuck additional hand towels around and over the top of the dish.  Dishes can stay safely at room temperature for 2 hours (and hour if the outside temperature is hot).
4. Many casseroles can be assembled ahead and chilled until baking. Remove the dish from the refrigerator 20 to 30 minutes before putting it in the oven.  You may need to add a few minutes to the baking time.
5. When making a casserole to freeze, line the dish with foil, allowing 3 inches of foil to hang over each side. Assemble the casserole as directed; cover and freeze.  When frozen, use the foil to lift the casserole out of the dish.  Peel off the foil, wrap the casserole in freezer paper and return it to the freezer. When ready to bake, unwrap and place the casserole back in the pan.