Poppy Seed Chicken
Poppy Seed Chicken is a creamy and easy dinner that your whole family will love. This Poppy Seed Chicken casserole is great for taking into a friend who had a baby and freezes well for those busy nights.
POPPY SEED CHICKEN
The type of food most searched for on this blog is “Casseroles”.
Which tells me that you are just like me in the fact that sometimes you just need an easy casserole to feed the troops and call it good.
Now I know that casseroles aren’t fancy but sometimes you just have to get ‘er done.
I’ll be honest…some days I’m lucky if I get a shower and others I’m more together and want to put a little more effort into dinner.
So I’ve included the basic poppy seed chicken recipe which by itself is awesome…and then additional ingredients I like to add to make it a little bit more fantastic when I have the time.
Oh yeah, and kids love this which makes for a tantrum free dinner table.
HOW TO MAKE POPPY SEED CHICKEN
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Place cubed chicken in a 9X13 casserole dish. *Note: Some people layer some cooked rice on the very bottom underneath the chicken so that it’s a meal in one.
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Stir together the condensed soup and sour cream. If you wish to add the additional flavorings stir in the Worcestershire, celery salt, garlic, lemon juice, and pepper to the soup and sour cream mixture. Pour over the chicken.
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In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers and melted butter. Sprinkle over the chicken and sauce. Sprinkle the poppy seeds on top.
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Bake for 20-30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top of the casserole is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Serve plain or over rice. We like to eat it with steamed broccoli and we mix it all together.
FREEZING INSTRUCTIONS:
If freezing, prepare up to step 3. Include crackers crushed with butter in a separate baggie. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to use: Thaw in the fridge overnight and bake as directed. You may need to add 10 minutes to the bake time.
OTHER SIMILAR RECIPES:
- Poppy Seed Bread
- Poppy Seed Fruit Salad
- Strawberry Lemon Poppy Seed Bagel
- Crockpot Italian Chicken
- Easy Crockpot Fiesta Chicken
Poppy Seed Chicken
This Poppy Seed Chicken casserole is great for taking into a friend who had a baby and freezes well for those busy nights.
Ingredients
- 5 cups chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (or shredded)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 (10.75 ounce cans) condensed cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups crushed Ritz crackers (about 1 1/2 rolls of crackers)
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)
- optional 2 cups cooked rice
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-
Place cubed chicken in a 9X13 casserole dish. *Note: Some people layer some cooked rice on the very bottom underneath the chicken so that it's a meal in one.
-
Stir together the condensed soup and sour cream. If you wish to add the additional flavorings see notes. Pour over the chicken.
-
In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers and melted butter. Sprinkle over the chicken and sauce. Sprinkle the poppy seeds on top.
-
Bake for 20-30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top of the casserole is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Serve plain or over rice. We like to eat it with steamed broccoli and we mix it all together.
Recipe Notes
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
FREEZING INSTRUCTIONS:
If freezing, prepare up to step 3. Include crackers crushed with butter in a separate baggie. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to use: Thaw in the fridge overnight and bake as directed. You may need to add 10 minutes to the bake time.
Loved the optional ingredients! Thank you!
One of my best friends made this for us after my father in law passed away. It was the perfect comfort food! Now, I’m making it for us for dinner this week and no doubt it will be delicious. Thank you for a perfect recipe! And for those very detailed, don’t get lost in the measurements – they never have to be exact with something like this. We pair it with French cut green beans which I cook in 1/2 chicken stock 1/2 water with some garlic and onion powder mixed into the water. So delicious!
Thank you for your feedback and I’m so sorry about your father-in-law. We lost my husband’s dad tragically 2 years ago and it feels like yesterday.
Hi like this I do eat this I must
Would it work to put frozen cauliflower rice on the bottom, or would that make it too runny?
It would definitely have some liquid run off from the cauliflower rice.
Hi! When freezing this recipe, it says to “prepare up to step 2.” Should it be up to step 3, which includes the sour cream/condensed soup part? So the only part that isn’t frozen is the ritz cracker topping? Thanks!
Also curious about this.
I am assuming it should be up to step 3. That would make the most sense.
I am thinking to not mix crackers and butter if freezing because the butter will make the crackers super soft, right? Just do that right before cooking, but idk
Can I make this with uncooked chicken and just increase the cook time?
YEs! The chicken might omit some liquid though.
This is a favorite with my family!! I’m planning in advance what to do with left over turkey. Have you prepped a freezer meal of this with turkey instead of chicken? I’ve also only made fresher and never freezer prepped but I’ve read those instructions.
Yes, turkey is interchangeable with chicken so it should work great.
Any nutritional information for this recipe?
No. I have nutritional info for my healthy recipes but have over 1200 recipes so I haven’t done it for all of them. I use MyFitnessPal.
I like to add a pkg if froze broccoli and cheese into it. My Kids love this too
Glad you liked it.
Hello we make this, put put peas in it and serve over egg noodles instead of rice .
Awesome!
This meal is delicious!!! I boiled and shredded three small- medium size chicken breasts. I use Pacific brand cream of chicken. We did rice and broccoli on the side also. It’s so good!! Thanks for a delicious and easy meal!!!
You’re welcome!
It’s really good. I make it once a week now!
Wow!
Hi! Would you know how many pounds of uncooked chicken breast would yield 5 cups of cooked? Just wondering how much to buy for this recipe.
Usually around 2 pounds of chicken yields 5 cups. Doesn’t have to be exact.
This has been a favorite in our house for years. We stopped using poppyseeds and now refer to it as Cracker Casserole. Instead of rice, we serve it over egg noodles. Although gonna try mashed potatoes tonight.
I know. My kids hate the poppy seeds too!
So my husband and I tried making this recipe today. It was very frustrating because they listed the instructions twice but in the second set of instructions they left out the fact that you had to boil the chicken prior to baking. Are use the instructions that were under the heading “instructions“. In my opinion this was a poor way of describing how to make this meal. I have no doubt this is a delicious recipe but just for those out there looking at this there are two sets of instructions and read them both carefully unlike what I did ha ha.
Kristina,
I’m so sorry that the instructions weren’t clear enough. Hopefully I fixed it to be clearere!
Agh! Disaster! What happened to the fancy ingredient measurements?!?! I need them now!!!
What a disaster is right? It looks the recipe card had a bug in it and erased that part. I fixed it! I’m so sorry.
Hello,
I was looking for list of additional ingredients and the amounts. Thanks!
Sorry it’s been fixed!
This recipe used to list out the measurements of the additional ingredients, but no longer shows them. Does anyone have these measurements?
I found this on a different website. It looks the same ingredients, but I thought it was more celery salt, at least, if not more Worcestershire.
1 tsp Worcestershire
1/4 tsp celery salt
1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp pepper
I’m pretty sure it was 3 cups cooked rice.
I think it was 1 tsp celery salt. I saw an old link to this site that said 1 tsp, but that was the only thing I could see and when I clicked the link it just brought me to this page with the missing ingredients. I’m pretty sure once I accidentally put in 1 Tbsp instead of 1 tsp, so I’m pretty sure it was 1 tsp celery salt, not 1/4 like the other website I found.
Sorry the recipe card erased them!
I might have to make this for dinner tonight, I’ve already got shredded chicken in the fridge! I like the idea of the poppy seeds too, thanks for another great recipe <3
Great version of a classic dish! Turned out perfectly!
Awesome!
What’s the point of the poppy seeds? Flavor? Crunch? There’s already crackers so I don’t see the texture being enhanced. Do the seeds get stuck between your teeth?
Yeah I don’t think it adds much.
Easy meal to make and very delicious. I give it a five-star! my family loves this meal!
Anyone know how many servings in the poppy seed recipe? If its there ive just missed it! Thanks!
Yes, it says 8 servings at the top!
made this tonight and it turned out delicious!! I served it over a bed of Rice.
Awesome to hear!