Creamy Million Dollar Chicken Casserole Recipe

This million dollar chicken casserole is perfect when you are craving something that fills you up and is absolutely delicious. Shredded chicken, Portobello mushrooms, and sautéed onions make this casserole taste extra special while still being super easy to make. Add a nice mixed salad and your meal is done for the night.

Million Dollar Chicken Casserole 

This Million Dollar Chicken Casserole is fit for a king—or, in this case, a millionaire! It’s easy to make and absolutely delicious. The recipe calls for juicy chicken breasts, creamy sauce, baby bella (portobello) mushrooms, and plenty of cheese. The end result is a mouth-watering casserole that will have everyone asking for seconds.

Casseroles are great for busy weeknights. We make them often for dinner and they are great leftovers the next day for lunch. They take minimal work and are full of flavor. This easy chicken casserole recipe has tender chicken, lots of cheese and is topped with buttery ritz cracker crumbs for a comforting meal the whole family will love.

With simple ingredients and a few minutes of time you can have this easy dinner recipe made and everyone enjoying this million dollar chicken bake for dinner in no time!

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• Keto chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
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• Loaded Chicken and Potato Casserole
• Chicken Dorito Casserole
• Spinach Artichoke Chicken Casserole

Why Million Creamy Million Dollar Chicken Casserole Works

The key to this dish is in the combination of flavors and textures. The chicken is juicy and tender, the mushrooms are earthy and satisfying, and the cheese brings it all together with its creamy goodness.

You could easily substitute different kinds of mushrooms or even use ground chicken if you prefer. The important thing is to make sure that all of the ingredients are cooked through before assembling the casserole. This will ensure that the flavors meld together perfectly and that the dish is piping hot when you serve it.

A great way to use leftover chicken.

Casseroles are so simple and let you enjoy time with the family instead of slaving over the oven.

Can I make this with raw chicken instead?

While some casseroles are made with raw chicken, you do not want to make million dollar chicken casserole with raw chicken. Raw chicken will not cook in right in this casserole and it will prevent it from coming together properly.

Can I add the Portobello Mushrooms to the casserole without sautéing them first?

You want to make sure that you cook the mushrooms before adding to a casserole. Mushroom have a lot of moisture in them and that will release when they are cooked. This will add a lot of extra water to the casserole and that will water down the sauce. Sauteing the mushrooms and onions first will release the water in the pan and give them a really great flavor.

How do I know when my casserole is done?

You want to make sure the internal temperature of the chicken casserole to 165 degrees. You have already cooked the chicken and the veggies, so you are only trying to bring everything together, meld the flavors and cook the cheese and other dairy products.

If you do not have a thermometer, cook for about 30 minutes and make sure the center is hot before serving.

How to Store Leftovers

If you have leftovers of Million Dollar Chicken Casserole, you can sore it in the fridge. I like to use a casserole dish with a lid so that I can move the whole dish to the refrigerator. Otherwise you can wrap the leftover chicken casserole well with plastic wrap or foil or move it to an airtight container.

How Long Does it Last?

This cream chicken casserole will last in the refrigerator for about 4 days. It can be moved to the freezer for it to last longer.

How to Freeze Creamy Million Dollar Chicken Casserole

You can make this chicken casserole in a foil casserole dish or a freezer safe dish. Follow the steps until it is time to add the crumbs on top. Wait to add the crumbs until you thaw the casserole and are ready to bale.

Refrigerate the casserole in the fridge overnight. Add the crumbs topping and bake as directed.

Variations

Change up the cheese. If you do not like cottage cheese you can swap it with equal parts of cream cheese. Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature so that it mixes into the filling mixture. If you would like more cheese you can add 1 cup of cheddar cheese as well.

Add noodles. This is a lower carb dish, before adding the cracker. You can add noodles to the filling.

Make the casserole spicy by adding in spicier cheese like pepper jack or use some cayenne pepper.

Change up the topping. If you do not want to use a Ritz cracker crumb topping, you can use cornflakes, breadcrumbs, or even flavored crackers.

Add veggies. Casseroles are a great way to sneak veggies into your kids’ food and this casserole is the exact same way. Add broccoli, carrots, or green beans to the filling.

Change up the soup. If you do not have cream of chicken soup you can use cream of mushroom soup, cream of celery soup or even cheddar cheese soup.

What is the Best Way to Cook the Chicken for this Casserole?

This recipe calls for 4 cups of cooked chicken. There are a few different ways that you can cook chicken. I prefer to use boneless skinless chicken breast but you can also use boneless skinless chicken thighs if you want to.

• Use an Instant Pot. Place the rack inside the Instant pot and then pour in one cup of water. Place the chicken on top of the rack, add a chicken bouillon cube, and set to start. I usually make 6 chicken breasts at a time. Check to make sure the chicken has reached 165 degrees before using.
• Boil chicken. Just add raw chicken breasts to a pot and cover with 3 cups of chicken broth or water whichever you prefer. Heat on medium high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling turn heat to low and cover pot with a lid and let simmer for 10 minutes.
• Bake chicken. Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray place the chicken breast on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Then bake for 35-45 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked.
• Use Rotisserie Chicken. You can also use leftover chicken in this recipe or use rotisserie chicken. Store bought already cooked, prepackage chicken is another option.

To make things easier on myself I keep cooked and shredded chicken in the freezer. It is super easy to make a large batch of cooked chicken, shred it and then portion it out into 1 cup freezer bags. Then whenever I need shredded cooked chicken for a recipe I pull it from the freezer the night before to thaw. On nights that I have forgotten to pull it out the day before a few minutes in the microwave on defrost gets the cooked chicken ready to go in a casserole.

How to Shred Chicken for Making a Casserole

There are a few ways to shred chicken. It is best to start with warm chicken. Then you can pull the chicken apart using your hands or 2 forks.

The faster way to shred chicken is to place it back into the Instant Pot bowl or a mixer bowl. Use your hand mixer and run the beaters through the chicken. This will shred it the easiest way. When you are going to shred the chicken, use the shredding chicken trick that makes it super easy!

What to Serve with Chicken Rice Casserole

Salad. Salad is perfect to serve as a side dish for this casserole. We love making Olive Garden Salad, BLT Salad, and Strawberry Spinach Salad.

Vegetables. If you are not putting veggies into the casserole you can also serve vegetables like oven baked broccoli, roasted asparagus, Lemon Roasted Asparagus, oven roasted carrots, Roasted Cauliflower, and Roasted Brussel Sprouts are all great options.

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 4 ounces cream cheese; room temperature
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 c sour cream or greek yogurt
• 10.5 ounce can of cream of chicken soup
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black Pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley
• 10-oz package baby bella (portobello) mushrooms, sliced
• a sleeve of ritz crackers, crushed
• 4 Tablespoons butter, melted
• parsley for garnish

How to Make Cream Million Dollar Chicken Casserole

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your 9×13 baking dish by spraying lightly with cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine cottage cheese, sour cream, softened cream cheese, soup, salt & pepper.

Dice your onion and sauté in a large frying pan on medium-high till translucent. Add the crushed garlic, parsley, and sliced mushrooms, cooking till mushrooms are cooked through (about 3-5 minutes).

Add the mushrooms and chicken to the casserole dish and mix together.

Then add the cottage cheese mixture, stirring till chicken and mushrooms are fully incorporated.

Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl.

Crush the Ritz crackers (I like to crush them inside their sleeve).

Add the crushed ritz crackers to the melted butter and mix well.

Sprinkle the buttery Ritz cracker topping on top of the casserole and spread evenly.

Bake for 30 minutes till the casserole is nice and bubbly and the topping is crunchy.

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