This isn’t a casserole in the creamy sauce as a binder/cheesy topping sense. But it very much is a casserole in the sense that you get a complete and hearty meal out of a single baking dish. The prep is kind of shake-and-bake meets hot dish, which is to say it’s very simple to throw together and with plenty of Cajun seasoning and sliced Kielbasa it’s spicy and smoky enough to wow the pickiest tastebuds.

The first step is to take all of the potatoes and put them in a ziptop bag with all of the spices and give them a good shake. There’s garlic powder, cayenne pepper, oregano… more or less it’s a DIY Cajun seasoning.

There is a bit of stovetop work here but it’s well worth it – searing the sliced sausage really helps develop the flavor…

… likewise, sauteeing some onions in butter is never a bad plan.

Once everything has cooled enough, you add it all to the ziptop bag and shake until every nook and cranny is coated with buttery Cajun flavor.

Then it all heads into the oven just long enough for the potatoes to get nice and tender and the flavors to meld. It’s spicy, but not overwhelmingly so – think of it as more of a smoky zestiness. Maybe it’s not the creamy, cheesy type of deal you usually think of when you think of casserole, but its flavors are as warm and comforting as you could want.