Creamy Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole

Looking for a quick and easy weekday meal that your family will love? This Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole is the perfect quick and easy weekday meal. The family will love it and it only takes minutes to prepare and tastes delicious. All you need are a few simple ingredients to whip up this casserole that will satisfy your family.

Creamy Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole

Creamy Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole is a dish made from cooked chicken breasts, rice, and a can of cream of chicken soup. The ingredients are mixed together and then baked in the oven. This is a classic comfort food recipe that you can make for an easy dinner, take to a family when someone is sick or having a baby, take to a potluck, dinner for busy nights or make ahead for a freezer meal.

Ritz Chicken casserole has been a family favorite since the first time I made it. This creamy chicken casserole is simple to throw together, tastes great, and is definitely picky eater friendly. A win win for all families looking for a quick, easy dinner that the whole family will enjoy.

We love chicken casseroles in our house and this creamy chicken casserole has tender chicken in a creamy sauce topped with buttery Ritz crackers for a recipe the whole family will love.

This ritz cracker chicken casserole recipe is the perfect comfort food and it is an easy recipe that you can make quickly to get dinner on the table on busy weeknights.

Chicken Casserole Recipes

• Chicken and potato casserole
• Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Casserole
• Keto chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
• Chicken Enchilada Casserole
• Loaded Chicken and Potato Casserole
• Chicken Dorito Casserole
• Spinach Artichoke Chicken Casserole

Does it matter what cut of chicken I use? 

You can use your favorite cut of chicken in this recipe. Casseroles are great for using up leftover chicken or using roasted chicken. A precooked chicken, like a rotisserie chicken, is a nice shortcut for this recipe. Then you will need to shred it and it is ready for the casserole. If I am making a meal plan and specifically getting chicken for this recipe then I use boneless skinless chicken as that is what we prefer.

Tips for Cooking Chicken

This recipe calls for 3 cups of cooked chicken, which there are a few different ways that you can cook chicken. When you are going to shred the chicken, use the shredding chicken trick that makes it super easy!

• Boil the 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 the 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 a Rotisserie chicken. If you want things easier you can grab a cooked rotisserie chicken at the store or cook one at home.

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.

Can I prep this recipe in advance?

You can totally make this recipe in advance and then pop it in the oven to bake when it is time for dinner. You can also freeze this casserole and have this easy chicken casserole as a freezer meal ready to go in the freezer for busy weeks.

How to Store Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole

When you have leftover Ritz cracker casserole, you want to store it in the refrigerator. It is best to move it to an airtight container when possible, but if you are leaving it in the casserole dish, you will want to make sure to wrap it well with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. The leftover chicken casserole will last for about 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator.

Can Chicken Casserole be Frozen

You can freeze the cracker chicken casserole. You can make it ahead and freeze it as a make ahead freezer meal or you can freeze it after it has been baked.

When you want to make this as a freezer mea, use a disposable baking dish or a dish that is freezer safe and combine everything up to adding the crackers. The crackers can get soggy when it is stored in the freezer. Wrap it well with plastic wrap and then again with foil. Label the food and place it in the freezer.

When you are ready to bake the Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator. Make the cracker topping, add it and then bake the casserole according to the recipe.

If you are freezing already baked casserole, you will want to move it to an airtight container or freezer bag. Place it in the freezer and keep the casserole for up to 4 months.

How do I crush Ritz Crackers? 

I have found that the easiest way to crush the Ritz crackers for the chicken casserole is to leave them in their plastic sleeve. You can let the air out or leave it in the sleeve. If you choose to leave the air be, just be careful not to pop it and cause a mess. If you open the sleeve, just hold it close as you crush the crackers.

What can I substitute for Ritz Crackers that are keto friendly?

If you want to make this Ritz Crackers Casserole Keto friendly, you would need to replace the crackers with crushed pork rinds or something else that is keto friendly like keto friendly “bread” crumbs.

What would be good to serve with the Ritz Cracker 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.

Rice or pasta. There is no rice or pasta in this casserole so you can make is as a side dish. Some of our favorites are Garlic Butter Rice, Parmesan Rice and Oven Baked Rice. Buttered noodles is also a great side dish option!

Variations of this recipe

Add vegetables. You can also add in vegetables before you bake the casserole. My family likes adding in peas, broccoli, green beans, or carrots. You can also add portobello mushrooms to the casserole. Pan fry them with diced onions before adding them to the casserole because it releases a lot of water.

Add fried onions. While I love the crunch of the ritz crackers sometimes to add even more flavor I add a cup or so of fried onions on top of the casserole.

Change up the cheese. Parmesan cheese is my go to for this recipe but you can change out the parmesan cheese and use sharp cheddar cheese, or Monterey Jack cheese.

Creamy Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole Ingredients

• Cream of chicken soup. If you do not have the cream of chicken soup you can use cream of mushroom soup or cream of celery soup.
• Cooked shredded chicken. You will need 3 cups of cooked chicken cooked before putting the casserole together, which is approximately 2 pounds. You can bake, boil or use a store bought rotisserie chicken.
• sour cream. Full fat is best, but you can use low fat.
• Parmesan cheese. Grated parmesan cheese is what we prefer but you can use other cheese including cheddar.
• milk. I like using whole milk but you can use 2% milk, 1% milk or skim milk.
• Seasonings. Italian seasonings, garlic powder, onion powder are the seasonings that we use when making this easy casserole.
• Ritz crackers crushed. If you do not have Ritz crackers you can also use bread crumbs or other crackers, but we prefer using Ritz for the buttery taste they have.
• butter. You will need melted butter, which is easily done by putting the stick of butter in a microwave safe bowl and heating for 45 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave.

How to Make Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole

Preheat the oven to 375 Fahrenheit and spray a 9 x 9 casserole dish with cooking oil.

In a large mixing bowl, add the can of condensed cream of chicken soup, sour cream, 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder, and mix well until combined.

Add the cooked and shredded chicken to the soup mixture and stir well to combine chicken with the soup and spices.

Spread chicken mixture evenly in the casserole dish.

Crush Ritz crackers into coarse crumbs and add to a medium size bowl.

Melt butter and pour the melted butter over the crushed crackers; add 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and mix well.

Add the crushed ritz crackers mixture on top of the chicken and spread evenly over the chicken mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature is 165 degrees. The topping should be golden brown and chicken mixture bubbly.

Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Easy Chicken Recipes

• Chicken Bacon Ranch Zucchini Boats
• Instant Pot Spinach Artichoke Chicken Thighs
• Green Chili Chicken
• Cheddar Ranch Chicken
• Parmesan Chicken
• feta and pesto stuffed chicken
• Asparagus Stuffed Chicken
• Buffalo Chicken Quesadilla