poppy seed chicken

I officially discovered this recipe in a copy of Southern Living Easy Weeknight Favorites that I acquired from my college house. I first tried the chicken salad with pine nuts and fresh basil (pg.122) that ended up costing around $50 for all the ingredients. Lesson learned. I quickly moved on to humbler recipes such as poppy seed chicken casserole. 

I made it often in our early married years, serving over rice with a side of green beens. One time I tried to be smart and put the uncooked rice in the casserole mixture. That did not go well. Another lesson learned. 

Around the 2010's, cream of chicken soup fell out of favor with us home cooks, and we were obviously too good for anything with Ritz crackers on top. 

Y'all, we were wrong. 

Here's the recipe. Memorize it.

 

3 cups chopped, cooked chicken

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz sour cream

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1 sleeve Ritz crackers

1/2 stick butter, melted

Combine the chicken, cream of chicken, sour cream, and poppy seeds. Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish. Crush the Ritz and stir in a bowl with melted butter then top chicken mixture. Bake in oven 350 degrees x 30 minutes. Serve over white rice. 

Recommended side: green beans!

I always double the recipe and cook once, eat twice.