Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole is the best creamy chicken casserole recipe. Chicken is coated in a rich creamy sauce, and topped with a buttery layer of Ritz crackers. This chicken bake is the perfect party dish and an easy base to add more ingredients to customize it further.

This dish can be thrown together within minutes and with the most common basic kitchen staple ingredients. It’s the ultimate comfort food and is cheap too!
We are loving easy chicken recipes and over time have shared our easy Pesto Chicken, cheesy Zucchini Boats, and of course one pot chicken fajita pasta.
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Ingredients
You only need a 9-inch baking dish and a handful of simple ingredients for this chicken recipe. Most of them you already have in your kitchen.
- Chicken – This recipe calls for chicken breasts, but you can also use boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders instead. Cook them ahead of time or for a quick fix use rotisserie chicken or any leftover chicken from dinner. When cooking the chicken only add a little seasoning if any at all. Chicken doesn't have to be shredded but you can also cut it into bite-sized pieces.
- Condensed cream of chicken soup - I like to make my own and use this soup recipe which can be made with all-purpose flour or gluten free flour blends. If you like mushrooms, you can use cream of mushroom soup instead.
- Cream Cheese – for a better blend of flavors, make sure to bring all cheeses to room temperature. You can definitely use low-fat cream cheese here too.
- Cottage cheese - if you don’t have this you can use ricotta cheese. But the main thing is that you can’t skip this! This makes things ultra creamy and is the star dish in this recipe. You will not feel the flavor so much as it is blended with other cheeses.
- Herbs - chives, green onions, parsley, and fresh thyme stalks are the best.
- Cheese - I used mozzarella cheese for its ultra-creamy cheesy texture. Other melty cheeses such as Cheddar cheese, Colby Jack, Gruyere, Gouda, or Mexican blend cheeses can be used.
- A sleeve of Ritz crackers - Ritz is preferred but other alternatives include cornflakes or breadcrumbs or croutons crushed roughly.
- Seasonings - I used just the seasoning listed in the recipe. I didn’t add any salt or pepper as this dish is very well seasoned already. Especially be careful if you are using store-bought canned cream of chicken soup as it is often high in sodium.
Instructions
Perfectly quick and easy to whip up, and it tastes incredible.
Just throw everything together in a bowl, pour into a casserole dish, and top with buttery crackers, and bake!
Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9x13 or 8x11 baking dish with cooking oil or butter.
In a large bowl combine the cottage cheese, mozzarella, cream cheese, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and seasonings.
Stir to combine with spatula.
Add in the cooked chicken and mix again. Transfer the chicken mixture to baking dish.
In a separate medium bowl add Ritz crackers and melted butter. Toss to coat.
Top the casserole with the Ritz crackers.
Bake uncovered for 40 minutes. Garnish with green onions or fresh herbs (thyme or parsley works well here).
For the full list of ingredients, please scroll down to where you'll find the recipe card.
Tips
- I recommend buying a ball of mozzarella cheese and grating it yourself. It melts better but store-bought should be fine too.
- If you see that the crackers are getting too brown towards the end of baking you can cover the casserole with a sheet of aluminum foil. However, the crackers should be golden brown in color after baking.
- Drain the liquid from cottage cheese - Depending on brand, cottage cheese will generally have plenty of liquid in it. It is fine, but I recommend draining it over a fine mesh strainer with a cheesecloth or a linen towel napkin in between. Wrap the cheese and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
- Cooking time may depend on your oven but mine usually bakes into perfect creamy goodness for about 40 minutes.
Variations
- This Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole is perfect as it is, but the best thing about it is that you can customize it further to your liking.
- You can add about ¾ cup of crispy bacon or pancetta to the dish. My favorite way is to make it ahead by cooking bacon in the oven. It’s very easy!
- I also like to add some fresh jalapenos, or chilis for added heat.
- Add in a bunch of other goodies too. Simple veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, green beans, bell peppers, and grated carrots can be added to the chicken mixture. You can lightly steam those before adding them. Also, fresh spinach leaves will add extra nutrition. Make sure they're fresh and not frozen.
- For some bulk, you can add grains such as quinoa which is naturally gluten-free, or rice. These should go in cooked.
- Seasonings - on top of instead of the listed seasonings you can add ranch packet seasoning, poultry seasoning, or a mix of Italian seasoning and herbs. Both of these work amazingly with creamy chicken.
- Related: Fresh Green Bean Casserole (Without Mushrooms)
Freezing and Storing Instructions
- To store. Although I always like to make things as fresh as they come, you can definitely store the baked casserole in an airtight container for up to 48 hours. Reheat in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. For a very quick fix, this can be definitely reheated in the microwave but the flavor and texture are not as good as reheating it in the oven.
- To freeze. The best is to freeze this casserole unbaked for up to 2-3 months. But freezing baked or leftovers is not the best idea. This is because you have a lot of creamy components here and crispy crackers. After freezing you will have to add some broth or milk to thin it out as this chicken bake will become thick. I also recommend adding more crackers on top when reheating. If you need to freeze it, thaw it first in the fridge overnight. Then cover it with aluminum foil and bake for 25-30 minutes in a preheated oven to 350 degrees F.
- To make ahead you can whip up all the ingredients (just don’t add the crackers layer just yet), pour them into the casserole, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 days. Then on the day, top it with butter and crackers and bake it as per the recipe instructions.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you end up with too much liquid in the casserole there can be a couple of things.
Naturally chicken will release some liquid. However, as we are using cooked chicken in this ritz cracker chicken casserole it should not have too much liquid. Don’t cover the dish with foil as it will help the liquid to evaporate. Also if you are using low-fat sour cream or cream cheese the texture can end up with more moisture.
We don’t cover the chicken casserole in this recipe. However, it will greatly depend on the altitude and type of oven you are using. If the top layers start to get too brown during baking, cover it will aluminum foil (but towards the end of cooking is better). In this case, you may need to bake it for an additional minute.
Absolutely, you can use either or both chicken thighs or chicken breast. Additionally chicken tenders for equally well.
What can you use instead of cottage cream cheese?
I wouldn’t substitute cottage cream cheese as it is the main ingredient along with the crema cheese that adds an utterly creamy texture. The only substitution I could recommend is to use ricotta cheese instead.
Easy Chicken Dinner Recipes
If you love chicken casserole recipes, you should definitely try one or all of these next time.
Or go to ALL DINNER recipes.
Did you make this recipe? Please be sure to leave a rating and a comment below. Thank you!
📖Recipe
Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked chicken breast or thighs, shredded
- 4- ounce cream cheese softened at room temperature
- 1 cup cottage cheese or ricotta
- ⅓ cup grated mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 cups condensed chicken soup, homemade, see notes
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 32 Ritz crackers, or any gluten-free crackers, crushed
- 4 Tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 2 stalks green onion, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish with cooking oil or butter.
- In a large bowl combine the cottage cheese, mozzarella, cream cheese, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and seasonings. Stir to combine with a spatula.
- Add in the cooked chicken and mix again. Transfer the chicken mixture to a 9 inch prepared baking dish.
- In a separate medium bowl add Ritz crackers and melted butter. Toss to coat.
- Top the casserole with the Ritz crackers.
- Bake uncovered for 40 minutes. Garnish with green onions or fresh herbs (thyme or parsley works well here).
Notes
- Cream of Chicken Soup - homemade is better and without any nasties and preservatives. I make it with regular all-purpose flour.
- To make ahead you can whip up all the ingredients (just don’t add the crackers layer just yet), pour them into the casserole, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 days. Then on the day, top it with butter and crackers and bake it as per the recipe instructions.
- Drain the liquid from cottage cheese - Depending on brand, cottage cheese will generally have plenty of liquid in it. It is fine, but I recommend draining it over a fine mesh strainer with a cheesecloth or a linen towel napkin in between. Wrap the chees in it and squeeze as long as you don’t have much liquid coming out.
Should I cover the chicken bake while cooking? - We don’t cover the chicken casserole in this recipe. However, it will greatly depend on the altitude and type of oven you are using. If the top layers start to get too brown during baking, cove rit will aluminum foil (but towards the end of cooking is better). In this case, you may need to bake it for additional minute.
- There is too much liquid once the chicken is baked. What did I do wrong?
If you end up with too much liquid in the casserole there can be a couple of things.
Naturally chicken will release some liquid. However, as we are using cooked chicken in this million dollar chicken casserole it should not have too much liquid. - Don’t cover the dish with foil as it will help the liquid to evaporate. Also if you are using low fat sour cream or cream cheese the texture can end up with more moisture.
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Rita
Easy Creamy Chicken Casserole for any occasion.
Debi Montgomery
Where is your recipe for cream of chicken soup?
Rita
I added the link for two of my favorite ones to use. These are homemade without any additives
Patricia Rouse
How many calories in one serving
Rita
approximately 585 calories per serving. I'm working on adding a built in nutrition table to my recipes, but for now you can use https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Loser babe
The recipe calls for mozzarella but there is no direction re: when or where to add it.
Rita
mozzarella cheese is mixed with the cottage step in the step 2.:)
Ginger Hackney
The recipe says use a 9 x 13 inch pan but then further into the recipe it says use a 9 inch pan……???
Rita
yes 19 inch in this blog post content means 9x13. You can also use 8x11.