Sometimes you just want comfort food. Am I right? This Ritz Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole is comfort food to me and tips a hat to my southern roots. Pair this creamy chicken casserole with Ritz crackers on top with mashed potatoes and green beans and my belly is happy. YUM! Gosh, I’m getting hungry right now just talking about it. With just a few ingredients, this dinner comes together pretty quickly.

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This chicken casserole is a southern staple. The buttery Ritz cracker topping sends this chicken casserole over the edge of flavorful. The sour cream makes this casserole super creamy. My kids eat it right up without complaining. That’s always a win in my book.

The part that will take the longest of this casserole is boiling the chicken. However, I don’t boil it the day I’m making it. To save time, I will get several pounds of chicken at the store and prep it for our meals ahead of time. I’ll trim off the fat of half of the pounds of chicken and place it in plastic freezer bags. Next, I’ll boil and shred the other half of the chicken. Then, I put it in the freezer in meal size portions so it’s ready for me to use. This saves me loads of time!

While I don’t have the freezer space to make many large freezer meals, I do have room for the prepped chicken. The shredded chicken only takes a minute or so to thaw in the microwave and then it’s ready for me to cook with. The chicken breasts take much, much longer to thaw out. I will pull them out in the morning and let them thaw all day. Or, I will use the Instant Pot to cook the chicken breasts from frozen if I’ve forgotten. This system of prepping chicken works well for me.

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Ritz Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

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Get in touch with your Southern roots with this classic chicken casserole recipe. Perfect for Sunday dinners around the table or covered-dish meals with friends.

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 lbs chicken
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 (16 oz) sour cream
• 2 sleeves Ritz crackers, (crushed)
• 1 stick butter
• poppy seeds

Instructions

1. Boil chicken until tender (about 20 minutes or so). Remove from broth and chop into pieces or shred depending on the texture you want. (If you want to cheat and use a rotisserie chicken from the store, that's fine, too.)
2. Mix cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and chicken in a bowl.
3. Coat 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray.
4. Put chicken mixture into the baking dish.
5. Melt butter. Add cracker crumbs and stir until crumbs are coated with butter. Spread cracker topping evenly over chicken.
6. Sprinkle with poppy seeds.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 428 Total Fat: 31g Saturated Fat: 13g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 15g Cholesterol: 144mg Sodium: 714mg Carbohydrates: 6g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 1g Protein: 29g