Homemade Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

Make this family-favorite completely from scratch and everyone will be asking for more homemade poppy seed chicken casserole!

School is back in session – both for my husband at med school and also kids and families all over the city. In honor of school starting, I wanted to share one of my favorite food memories – chicken poppy seed casserole.

In college, I spent two and a half years living in my sorority house, making some of the greatest memories and friends of my life. During this time, we saw many a cook and house mom. At times without a cook, one of our house moms would make Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole, usually cubed chicken in a creamy condensed soup and topped with buttery Ritz crackers. It kind of became a comfort food staple, for me, and now watching everyone back to school made me miss this old house dinner.

I placed my own spin on this typical casserole, and made it completely from scratch! Also, I threw in some mushrooms and used Panko instead of crackers to keep it unprocessed. I used more chicken than I remember, to make it a hearty one-pan dinner. It made about 5 or 6 servings for us in an 8×8 pan, so we took it for lunch all week. I hope you have the chance to make this family favorite and make some of your own memories!

Do you have a food that reminds you of college? (Besides ramen?)

xxHillary

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Homemade Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

Course Entree

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 4 -6

Author 918 Plate

Ingredients

• 6 C. water
• 2 lb chicken breasts about 4-5 C. shredded chicken
• 1 1/2 C. chicken broth
• 1/2 C. milk
• 1/2 C. flour
• 1/8 t. black pepper optional
• 1/8 t. garlic powder optional
• 1/8 t. onion powder optional
• 1/2 t. fine Himalayan salt
• 1 C. chopped cremini mushrooms
• 1/2 C. plain Greek yogurt
• 3/4 C. Panko bread crumbs
• 1 T. poppy seeds
• 1/3 C. butter

Instructions

1. In a large stock pot, bring water to a boil and add in chicken breasts. Lower to a simmer and cook for 25-30 minutes.
2. In a small saucepan, heat 2 T. butter and sautee mushrooms.
3. Add chicken broth on low heat. Stir in milk.
4. Slowly whisk in flour. Once the sauce begins to thicken, remove from heat.
5. Stir in Greek yogurt and season accordingly, if necessary, with the onion and garlic powder, pepper, and 1/4 t. Salt. Set aside.
6. When chicken is cooked, shred chicken and place into a bowl.
7. Combine chicken with set aside sauce and an additional 1/4 t. salt. Then fill an 8x8 glass pan.
8. Melt remaining butter in a small dish. Stir in panko and poppy seeds well until they form small clumps.
9. Spread the topping over the chicken.
10. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, or until topping has browned and sauce is bubbly.
11. #enJOY!

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