Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

Hearty Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole is crowd-pleasing comfort food that uses no cream of chicken soup and is made with yogurt instead of sour cream. Great for using leftover rotisserie chicken.

Why you should make Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

Do you have a favorite meal from college? Mine was hands-down Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole. It was always a treat when we had it, and you had to make sure to get there early if you wanted to get a good scoop with the extra buttery Ritz crumb topping... people got a little stingy with the crunchy topping.

Anyways, Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole makes me happy... well, it makes my taste buds happy.

It does not, however, make my stomach happy thanks to its can of cream of chicken soup, carton of sour cream, a sleeve of Ritz crackers, and ½ stick of butter. Hello, stomach ache!

But I needed to make Poppy Seed Chicken, so I attempted to make it a little healthier. Side note: there aren't any veggies, so be sure to add a side salad or other vegetables with your poppy seed chicken

So I changed the original recipe to make it a little lighter using a homemade cream sauce (that is significantly easier than you'd think it would be) plus made a few replacements by using 2% or whole milk instead of cream or half and half. Plus, yogurt replaces sour cream so it has more protein.

I was actually surprised at how good it turned out. You need to try this soon! It's a hearty, comfort food dish that everyone will love.

Want more casseroles? Try these:

• One Pot Taco Casserole
• Lemon Chicken Pasta Casserole
• Mexican Quinoa Casserole
• Beef and Hominy Casserole
• cheesy chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

Hearty Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole is crowd-pleasing comfort food that uses no cream of chicken soup. Great for using leftover rotisserie chicken.

5 from 1 vote

Print Rate

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings: 4

Author: Meme

Ingredients

• ▢ 1.25 lb chicken breast skinless, boneless or thighs
• ▢ 4 cups chicken broth or water
• ▢ 1 tablespoon butter
• ▢ 3 tablespoon all-purpose flour unbleached
• ▢ ¾ cup 2% milk or whole milk
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ▢ ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon onion flakes or onion powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon paprika
• ▢ 1 to 1.5 cup plain Greek yogurt 8-12 oz
• ▢ 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• ▢ 12 Ritz crackers crushed
• ▢ 1 tablespoon melted butter

Instructions

Poach Chicken:

• Put chicken in a pot and cover with broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken, let cool slightly, and shred or chop. Reserve ½ cup chicken broth, and save the remaining broth for later use (be sure to refrigerate or freeze).

Make Soup

• Heat pot used to poach chicken over medium heat and add butter. Whisk in flour and whisk for 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in ½ cup chicken broth, then milk. Continue to whisk until mixture starts to boil. Boil for 1 minute then reduce heat to low. Stir in salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion flakes, paprika, and cooked chicken. Remove from heat {you just made cream of chicken "soup"}.

Prepare Casserole:

• Stir 1 cup Greek yogurt and poppy-seeds into chicken mixture. (You can add a couple of tablespoons extra yogurt if you want). Put mixture in a 2 quart casserole dish coated with cooking spray.
• If you are making this meal ahead of time, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours**. Otherwise, proceed with directions.
• Preheat oven to 350°. Combine melted butter and Ritz cracker crumbs. Top poppy-seed chicken casserole with buttery Ritz cracker crumbs. Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 more minutes until topping is crispy. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Notes

*If you don't want to poach the chicken you can use about 3 cups already cooked chicken. You will only need ½ cup chicken broth instead of 4 cups.

*If you are making this ahead of time, be sure not to add Ritz until right before baking. Also, take the casserole out of the refrigerator before preheating oven. You don't want to put a cold casserole dish into a hot oven -- it might cause the dish to break.

*You can get the whole wheat version of Ritz, but it doesn't make much of an improvement. I prefer to get the regular kind

Did you try this recipe?Be sure to leave a comment & recipe rating below. Bonus points for tagging @memeinge & #livingwellkitchen on Instagram! THANK YOU! xo

This recipe was inspired by the delicious casserole at the KKG house and this Southern Living recipe

Loyally, Meme 🙂