Tender and juicy white meat chicken topped with broccoli and a cheesy sauce with Ritz crackers. This Cracker Barrel copycat is easy to make and will become a family favorite.
Every time a craving for comfort food hits me and I don’t feel like cooking, we head to Cracker Barrel. And next to the Chicken Fried Chicken, the Broccoli Cheddar Chicken is my favorite thing on the menu.
I decided this needed to be something I could make at home. For those cold winter nights when I don’t dare leave the house. I searched the internet for recipes and found them to all be pretty much the same with slight variations.
This casserole can be assembled in just minutes and popped in the oven to bake for 45 minutes. I love that you don’t need to precook anything. I used frozen broccoli that I had defrosted overnight in my refrigerator. There’s no need to cook it or even warm it before adding it to the dish. You could use fresh broccoli instead, but you should at least partially cook it or it will most likely not get soft enough.
Instead of putting the Ritz Cracker crumbs on top, I put a thin layer of the cheese sauce on top of them. The crackers blend into the sauce and thicken and flavor it. But if you want a crunchy topping, mix them with a tablespoon or two of melted butter and sprinkle them on top of all the cheese sauce.
Buttery crackers, broccoli, and cheese are a hard to resist combination. Your kids are going to ask for this Broccoli Cheddar Chicken again and again.
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Broccoli Cheddar Chicken (Cracker Barrel Copycat)
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup milk
- 1 can cheddar cheese soup
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 6 ounces cheddar cheese,, shredded
- 8 ounces frozen chopped broccoli,, defrosted
- 1 1/2 cups crushed Ritz crackers
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a casserole dish.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper and place in prepared dish.
- In a medium bowl, mix together milk, soup, paprika, and cheddar cheese.
- Pour half of cheese mixture over chicken.
- Scatter broccoli pieces over cheese mixture.
- Top with Ritz cracker pieces and remaining cheese mixture.
- Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes. (I look for small chicken breasts for this recipe. Larger ones I cut in half horizontally. You will need to increase cooking time by at least 10 minutes if your chicken breasts are larger and you do not cut them into 2 thinner pieces.)
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Sharing with The Weekend Potluck
More Copycat Recipes
Fuji Apple Chicken Salad (Panera Bread copycat)
Thai Chicken Pizza – CPK copycat
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Thank you for this recipe!
I never make it to cracker barrel before they run out and I just love this dish.
This recipe is even better. I used thin slice breast and it was soooo good. I love the crunch topping so thanks for the tip!
Yum! I’m making this again, it’s so good. (it’s 2 weeks later- haha!) We ate the first casserole over 2 days and hubby didn’t complain about leftovers the next night. We both love it!
So first things first, I don’t eat meat. I’ve been craving broccoli cheddar chicken. I used a vegan chicken patty in place of the chicken. Let me tell you, this recipe was fantastic!! Even though I didn’t use meat, everything was still perfect! I did make my own cheese sauce. I’m making again tonight because it was so good! Thank you for the recipe.
Made this today and it turned out AMAZING!! It tastes exactly how the Cracker Barrel one tastes! So good!
Better than Cracker Barrel, I used high quality cheese and chicken breasts that I sliced thin. Also good for meal prep and lunches.
It was amazing!!
Love this recipe and I agree with others that it’s better than Cracker Barrel. I started making it at home because my husband and I could never make it to the restaurant before they ran out of this. Making it at home allows me to add my own touch. It’s delicious!
can this be assembled, frozen and baked at a later date ?
Its way better then Cracker Barrel my family and i loved it!