I am excited to introduce you to Kim, one of our new contributing writers. I was excited when I saw her recipe for chicken casserole, because later this week, I’ve got 18 casserole recipes coming to you. We love casseroles! This one is a true classic, crunchy cracker topping and all.
I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes, I just need comfort food. And nothin’ says comfort here in the South more than a chicken casserole!
It makes an appearance at every church potluck, it’s a great dish to take to friends who have just had a baby, and it makes a pretty easy family meal. BUT…..the traditional version that I grew up with is loaded with fat and calories, making it a “special occasion” meal instead of frequent “go-to” dinner. After taking a look at the main ingredients of one of my favorite versions of chicken casserole, I decided to lighten that bad boy up….and I am SO glad I did! It was delicious, and even my kids ate it! (well, 2 out of 3 anyway…which is a miracle around here!)
Chicken Casserole - Lightened Up!
Ingredients
- 5 cups chicken breasts cooked and cubed or shredded
- 1 cup fat-free plain yogurt
- 2 cans reduced fat cream of chicken soup or homemade
- 2 cups crushed buttery-round crackers aka Ritz - abt 1 1/2 rolls of crackers
- 1/3 cup melted butter I use Smart Balance
- 1/4 cup chicken broth from cooked chicken
- optional ingredients
- 1 T lemon juice
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp celery salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Boil chicken until done. (I like to boil mine with an onion, carrot, a couple of celery sticks, salt & pepper, and chicken bouillon to make a flavorful broth)
- Let chicken cool slightly and cut into bite size pieces.
- Place cubed chicken in a 9X13 casserole dish.
- Stir together the condensed soup, yogurt, and optional ingredients if using.
- Pour over the chicken.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers, melted butter and chicken broth.
- Sprinkle over the chicken and sauce.
- Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until topping is lightly toasted and sauce is bubbling.
Kim of Mo’Betta – I have been married for 13 years and have 3 children, ages 11, 9, and 4. I started blogging as a way to journal my adventures in the kitchen as I learned to move away from the microwave and boxed meals to cooking ‘from scratch’. Most of my recipes are tailored to meet the needs of my food allergic son (nuts & eggs), diabetic husband, or my waistline!
Thanks! Is there any way to prevent the white “scum” (hate to use that word!) that collects when boiling chicken (or a good way to deal with it?). Appreciate the recipe.
Jenny, I don’t know how to keep that from happening. I just skim it off.
Hey Jenny! Chicken scum…yum 🙂 I know exactly what you are talking about, and I always just skim it off too. If you don’t like to boil chicken, you could always throw the chicken in the crockpot and shred it instead.
Put a wooden spoon in pot while boiling chicken an the scum will not appear an neither will it foam over pot
Thanks to both of you for this awesome recipe. Sounds soooo yummy.
I think it would be a tasty dish if you added in some green beans and included some of the “french fried onions” in with the cracker topping.
Great idea Jan!
Sounds delicious but I’d use something other than ritz crackers and all that melted butter for the topping…..not exactly light for a lightened up recipe. Calorie and fat wise Ritz crackers are the worst possible choice
I used oyster crackers and just 2T melted smart balance.
This recipe is not using rotisserie chicken?
I like to cook and freeze chicken to use for recipes like this, but rotisserie chicken would work great for this too!