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I have a simple dinner recipe for you today. Simple and easy and tasty and smile provoking…an all around treasure.
I love it when smiles are provoked. Heck. I’ll take a smile from my kids even without provoking it! It’s just so much nicer when people smile instead of whine.
Do you like whining?
Not a fan, myself.
Speaking of my children…the other day we were watching a cooking show on The Food Network and one of my kids said…
“Hey Mom, you like to cook.
Why don’t you be the cooker on that show?”
My response?
“I’m pretty sure The Food Network frowns upon cookers who use cream of chicken soup. I think I’m out.”
Especially since just last week three of the trial recipes I made for this little ol blog
crashed and burned in failure. I used real cream in all of them!
Cross your fingers that real cream and I can become friends soon.
I hear from the good folks on The Food Network that it’s a mighty fine ingredient.
Now. Do I feel embarrassed about cooking with cream of chicken soup? Heavens no! I just bought three cases of it last month.
Should you feel embarrassed about cooking with
cream of chicken soup?
Of course not!
Are you the cooking she-rah for your family or what?
Do make food that provokes a smile?
Do your family members occasionally say things like…
“You are The Bomb, Mom. What ever you made with that trusty old cream of chicken soup is rocking my world.”
I thought so.
I knew you were great!
We cream of chicken soup lovin’ ladies have to stick together.
Rice Pilaf with Almonds
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Baked French Fries
Roasted Broccoli with Balsamic Glaze
Glazed Rosemary Carrots
Roasted Asparagus
Now, let me show you how to make this crispy chicken happen!
1. Cut each chicken breast into 3 large chunks.
2. In a small food processor grind up the ritz crackers.
3. Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small pans. Toss the 1/4 t salt and 1/8 t pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine.
4. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk…
then the cheese. Press the cheese into the chicken with your fingers. Some of it will fall off when you add it to the cracker crumbs, don’t worry about it.
Press the cheesy chicken into the cracker crumbs and press it in. By the time you are coating the last piece of chicken, the dish you are using for the crumbs will be full of cheese. Don’t let it get you down. Once the cheese melts in the oven it will adhere nicely to the crumbs and the crackers.
5. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside the pan.
6. Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken.
7. Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the tin foil, bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.
8. Into a medium sized sauce pan combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter with a whisk. Stir it over medium high heat until the sauce is nice and hot. Serve over the chicken.
Enjoy!
Crispy Cheddar Chicken
***Note: This recipe makes a great freezer meal. Assemble the chicken according to recipe instructions, but don't bake it. Cover your pan tightly with foil and freeze. When you are ready to use it let it thaw completely and then bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. It's best to make the sauce fresh, when you are ready to eat.
Ingredients
Chicken:
4 large chicken breasts
2 sleeves Ritz crackers
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/2 C milk
3 C cheddar cheese, grated
1 t dried parsley
Sauce:
1 10 ounce can cream of chicken soup
2 T sour cream
2 T butter
Instructions
1. Cut each chicken breast into 3 large chunks.
2. In a small food processor grind up the ritz crackers.
3. Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small pans. Toss the 1/4 t salt and 1/8 t pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine.
4. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk then the cheese. Press the cheese into the chicken with your fingers. Some of it will fall off when you add it to the cracker crumbs, don't worry about it. Press the cheesy chicken into the cracker crumbs and press it in. By the time you are coating the last piece of chicken, the dish you are using for the crumbs will be full of cheese. Don't let it get you down. Once the cheese melts in the oven it will adhere nicely to the crumbs and the crackers.
5. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside the pan.
6. Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken.
7. Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the tin foil, bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.
8. Into a medium sized sauce pan combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter with a whisk. Stir it over medium high heat until the sauce is nice and hot. Serve over the chicken.
https://jamiecooksitup.net/2011/10/crispy-cheddar-chicken/Recipe from www.jamiecooksitup.net
Recipe from adapted from What’s Cookin’ Chicago via Pinterest
Trying tonight sounds good. 1 thing should probably be more descriptive of heating the cream chickin soup. If you use med-hi heat watch it close. Any experienced cook will tell you to to NOT let cream based soup boil. To hi to fast will scorce or break your cream. Cream based is always best heated on lower temps.
For those of you who are having a hard time getting the cheese and crackers to stick, I made this tonight, and used the same method I use when I bread any meat. Season the chicken as desired, get three separate bowls (I have breading trays that hook together, but bowls are fine). Put flour in one, beat an egg and add milk to the second, then put crushed Ritz crackers and cheese in the third bowl. First coat both sides of chicken with flour (shake off any excess). Then coat both sides in egg mixture. Finally, press the chicken into the crackers and cheese mixture and place into your baking pan. I lined my pan with foil and sprayed it with cooking spray. I baked it without the foil on top and it was delicious! I had no trouble getting the crackers and cheese to stick using this method. I hope it works for you too! On a side note, the breading did still stick to the foil, so there was very little breading on the bottom, but there was still enough. Also, any cracker mixture and cheese I had left, I sprinkled on top prior to baking. I didn’t make the sauce. It doesn’t need it in my opinion.
I use mayo tell help the cheese stick works like a charm;)
Good idea for the Mayo! I tried this and it was messy to make and the cheese did not stick! I do plan on trying again because it looks delish!
This was SOOOO good. I agree with those who said don’t use the foil. I did, and it seemed soggy, so I ended up broiling the chicken for a few minutes at the end and it crisped up nicely. Also, I used garlic powder in the cracker mixture (about 1 tbsp) and it added nice flavor. VERY good recipe!
It was delicious! The whole family loved it.
Omg made this tonight, we eat slot of chicken, I mean ALOT. Everyone absolutely loved this.And I agree with your kids, you should be the cooker on your own show, real people don’t always use cream. Thanks for your recipies Jamie. LOVE LOVE love your blog.
An
My kids really love this recipe. My youngest is almost obsessed with it. I did make a few small changes by accident. I didn’t have plain sour cream one time so I used some ranch dip I had leftover (sour cream/ dry ranch mix) in the sauce and another time I added butter with the cooking spray because for some reason I thought that was what I had been doing, did I mention I make it alot, and had made it from memory. Anyway, like the original recipes but I do like my additions also so I’ll probably keep using them. Thanks for a great meal!
I’ve added White Wine Worcestershire Sauce OR Herb & White Wine Marinade to the sauce. Awesome recipe. thank you!
My family really enjoyed this meal. Very tasty.