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
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cut chicken into bite size pieces, sauté in a little oil until no longer pink before adding to cassarole.
I was going to try this, But I have never even heard of Cheddar Cheese Soup. Cheese sauce yes, but not soup. I live in Spain . We don´t have things like that.
Do you put the chicken breasts in whole or cut up? It doesnt seen like they would fit in a casserole dish whole.
The closest thing I cam across that’s similar to Chicken Fried Chicken is “Fryin Magic”. It’s in (or should be) aisle with the bread crumbs. I add some grlic powder and onion powder. It’s really good. Just make sure you slice the chicken breasts kinda thin.
Melissa. The closest thing I cam across that’s similar to Chicken Fried Chicken is “Fryin Magic”. It’s in (or should be) aisle with the bread crumbs. I add some grlic powder and onion powder. It’s really good. Just make sure you slice the chicken breasts kinda thin.
Love this recipe! My fav at Cracker Barrel is also the Chicken Fried Chicken and sadly I haven’t tried this one. What in the world is wrong with me on that. I need to change that next time we go. This one is going on my menu soon at home. Thanks for sharing.
Ok, my chicken came out a little chewy…thoughts on why that happened? I started to cover with foil when cooking but the recipe didn’t call for it so I didn’t. Maybe I should have cut the chicken breast in half or flattened them out a little – they were a little thick.
Do you have any suggestions for what sides can compliment this dish?
I usually serve it with a salad Tiffany but also like it with corn.
I want to make this tonight and I have everything in hand except the cheddar cheese soup. Could I use cream of chicken Soup?
Sorry Angie! Probably got to this question too late for you. Yes, you can use chicken soup instead.
That’s ok, Christen. Since I was very anxious to try this recipe, I just went ahead and used Cream of Chicken Soup. I gotta tell you, this casserole was scrumptious! I did however, add in a few sliced mushrooms, since my family & I love them. I didn’t use “Ritz Crackers” (because we watch our sodium intake), so I (roughly) crushed some “Corn Flakes”, and seasoned them w/dried herbs & some Parmesan cheese (from the green jar). I sprinkled that on top of the casserole, and sprayed a little “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” on top. Even though I made a couple of changes, this is (indeed) a very delicious casserole…. and I’ll definitely make it again & again!
So glad it was an enjoyable meal for you Angie! And thank you so much for taking the time to comment and let us know what alterations you made. Corn Flakes sound like a delicious topping and I always love a few mushrooms. 🙂
When I fix this I precook chicken and then cut into chunks before putting in casserole. We like it either way.
I love this chicken at Cracker Barrel. Do you think they really use cheddar cheese soup? The one time I used cheese soup in a recipe, I hated the taste. Would making a cheese sauce from scratch work? Suggestions please…
I don’t think they use cheddar cheese soup. I think they probably have a cheese sauce they have manufactured for them that’s somewhat similar to cheddar cheese soup. I do think it would taste mush better with a homemade sauce if you have the time to do it. You could try melting 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan, add 2 tablespoons of flour. Cook for 1 minute. Then whisk in about 1 1/2 cups milk. Let it come to a boil and thicken, then reduce heat to low and gradually add shredded cheddar until it tastes cheesy enough to you. It may need some tweaking, but I would think it would be a good starting point.
Yep
Would velveeta work?
Excuse me for asking a dumb question, but – is the chicken raw or boiled when you put it in the casserole dish? I’d like to make when my son comes to visit. He loves broccoli and it sounds easy to make. Thanks
It’s raw Sharon which makes it very easy to make. Hope your son enjoys it!