You’ve heard the conversation starter a million times: “If you had to pick one meal to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?” For Allrecipes community members, the answer would almost certainly come in casserole form. From Broccoli Chicken to Tuna Noodle, Allrecipes boasts more than 1,600 casserole recipes, and they consistently rank among our most popular. Given the choice between comforting convenience and fussy fare, our members will pick comfort every time.
That’s why we’re making our love affair with casseroles official by declaring Sept. 24 “World Casserole Day.” To mark the occasion, we launched our inaugural casserole recipe contest, which wrapped on Aug. 18. More than 100 recipes poured in, and our editors cooked the finalists in their own kitchens, judging for taste, texture, convenience, and creativity.
The winning dish? Crunchy Tex-Mex Casserole with Spicy Ranch Drizzle—a Tex-Mex-inspired bake that earned high marks across the board. After tasting it ourselves, we couldn’t wait to share the good news with the recipe’s creator, who is now Allrecipes’ first official Casserole Ambassador.
From the moment Bette Sullivan hopped on our Zoom call, her warmth and humor made our interview feel more like chatting with a family friend over coffee. With a red bandana tied around her hair à la Rosie the Riveter, a cheeky “I’ll Bake Love to You” apron, and a stack of vintage cookbooks behind her, it was clear that cooking is woven into the DNA of this 73-year-old great-grandmother with six sons, six grandchildren, and two great-grands.
For more than 20 years, Sullivan has lived in Sumner, Washington, a small city south of Seattle that proudly calls itself “The Rhubarb Pie Capital of the World.” But her life there is just one chapter in a long, colorful journey. As the daughter of an Air Force dad, Sullivan moved frequently, living in more cities than many people ever visit. One short stay in El Paso in 1964 proved formative. “I was 12 years old, and that was the first time I ever had a taco,” she recalls. At the time, tacos weren’t yet mainstream in the U.S. “I don’t even know if you could buy cumin to spice it up or stuff like cilantro.” While her Filipino mother mostly cooked traditional Filipino food, Sullivan’s short stints with her family in the South gave her an enduring love of Southern flavors.
Bette Sullivan / Allrecipes
Bette Sullivan, Allrecipes’ 2025 Casserole Ambassador
Her winning casserole has roots in a different cultural crossover, however. Sullivan remembers watching Dinah Shore make tamale pie on her talk show in the 1970s. “It wasn’t like on the Food Network or even with Julia Child, where you have backup stuff. She made her recipes in real time,” Sullivan says. With no internet to fall back on, she scribbled notes and began experimenting. Fifty years later, her version now includes some smart store-bought swaps, like rotisserie chicken, jarred salsa, and the pièce de résistance—Doritos.
When our editors recreated the dish, they found it was not only delicious but also practical. One editor’s 10-year-old daughter even made it herself! Sullivan rethought the cornbread base, leaving out eggs to mimic the tender texture of masa-filled tamales. “Not too many people keep masa in their pantry, so I thought I could combine the cornbread mix and chicken stock, and I was happy with the way that came out,” she explains.
Sullivan’s decades of tinkering remind us why casseroles endure: They’re memory, creativity, and comfort, all baked into one dish. That’s the spirit behind World Casserole Day—a celebration of everyday home cooks who turn pantry staples into family traditions. On Sept. 24, let’s raise a fork to Sullivan—and to casseroles everywhere that honor the past, celebrate the present, and inspire the next dish you’ll pass along.
Credits
Editorial: Ariel Knutson, Tracey Minkin, Bridget Olson
Creative: Lindsey Hayes, Grace Martino, Sabrina Tan, Debbie Wolfe, Ally Yorke
Photography: Grant Webster, Carson Downing, Jen Causey
Food Styling: Shannon Goforth, Margaret Monroe Dickey
Prop Styling: Dera Burreson, Hannah Greenwood, Sue Mitchell
Community: Frances Crouter, Jenny Kellerhalls, Anna Lister, Nicole McLaughlin, Sydney Novak, Heather Oldenborg, Cally Rhine, Tori Soliz, Jennifer Wentworth
Recipe Testing: Catherine Jessee, Patricia Kaowthumrong, Andrea Lobas, Diana Moutsopoulos, Devon O’Brien, Corey Williams
Read the original article on Allrecipes
