Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole
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 t customize it further.
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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 mozzarella cheese, grated
- 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.4- ounce cream cheese , 1 cup cottage cheese, ⅓ cup mozzarella cheese, ½ cup sour cream, 2 cups condensed chicken soup, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder
- Add in the cooked chicken and mix again. Transfer the chicken mixture to a 9 inch prepared baking dish.4 cups cooked chicken breast
- In a separate medium bowl add Ritz crackers and melted butter. Toss to coat.32 Ritz crackers, 4 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 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).2 stalks green onion
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.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!