This creamy Poppy Seed Chicken casserole is a classic made up of pieces of chicken combined with a creamy sour cream mixture and topped with a crunchy cracker and poppy seed topping. This is pure comfort food!
If you love a good chicken comfort food dish, you will also love this Chicken Divan, Chicken Pot Pie, or Chicken a la King.
I think Poppy Seed Chicken is a dish that many people grew up eating. It has all the makings of a 1970s/1980s casserole. But the first time I remember ever having it was about 10 years ago.
I was babysitting my nieces and nephews, with a one year of my own. My sister had left a menu, and this Poppy Seed Chicken casserole was on it. I pulled out a neighborhood cookbook of hers to find the recipe, and found two different recipes in that same cookbook. So I combined them, and came up with my own version.
Today, there are lots of recipes for this famous comfort food casserole out there. I still stick by this one. Even though I’m not always a condensed soup fan, I just can’t seem to make this recipe without it. It just works.
Serve this up alongside a green salad and dinner is a cinch. Exactly the way I like it.
Ingredients
- Olive Oil: I use extra-virgin olive oil, but you can use any oil that you normally use.
- Chicken: For this recipe, I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You could also use chicken thighs. To save even more time, you could use precooked shredded chicken. Or pre-cook your chicken and cube it. That would make this recipe much quicker, with very little hands on time!
- Sour Cream: I have only tested this recipe using full fat sour cream.
- Cream of Chicken Soup: Like I said above, I am not always a condensed soup fan, but it really works here. You can always make your own homemade, as well.
- Crackers: I like to use a buttery cracker, like Ritz crackers. I have also seen people use panko breadcrumbs.
- Poppy Seeds: This is a lot of poppy seeds, so you can definitely cut it back, if desired.
- Butter: You’ll need the butter for the topping to make it nice and crispy and buttery.
How to Make Poppy Seed Chicken
This is a super easy recipe! Hands on time is minimal, so this is great recipe for when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Here is how you make it:
- Start by cooking your chicken. I just cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, then cook it in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil until the chicken is cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, combine your cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Then stir the cooked chicken into this mixture.
- In another bowl, combine your cracker crumbs, poppy seeds and melted butter and stir it all to combine.
- Spread the chicken into a 9×13-inch baking dish. Then sprinkle the cracker/poppy seed mixture over the top.
- Into the oven it goes to bake until heated through and bubbly!
Poppy Seed Chicken Video
Tips and Tricks
- This recipe serves 6, so it’s more than some families may need, but the leftovers are actually really good. In fact, I think I sometimes like the leftovers even better!
- This recipe is also easy to double (or triple!) for a crowd.
- If you don’t have Ritz crackers, any buttery-type cracker will work.
- To freeze this casserole, you’ll want to freeze it in a freezer safe dish without the cracker topping. Then add the topping before you bake it to serve it.
- You can also make this ahead of time, earlier in the day, and then bake it when it’s closer to dinner. You might need to add a few minutes to the baking time if you put it into the oven cold, though.
More Comfort Food Recipes
Tuna Casserole
Braised Country Style Ribs Recipe
Salisbury Steak Recipe
Smothered Beef Tips
Chicken Paprikash
Homemade Beef Stew
Traditional Meatloaf with Glaze
Looking for more free recipes?
Subscribe to my free recipe newsletter to get new family friendly recipes in your inbox each week! Find me sharing more family-friendly inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram.
Poppy Seed Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
This creamy Poppy Seed Chicken casserole is a classic made up of pieces of chicken combined with a creamy sour cream mixture and topped with a crunchy cracker and poppy seed topping. This is pure comfort food!
Ingredients
- 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3–4 breasts)
- 1 (12 oz) container sour cream
- 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of chicken soup
- 1 1/2 cups crushed Ritz crackers
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the oil and once hot, add the chicken. Cook until cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, combine the sour cream and the cream of chicken soup in a bowl. When the chicken is cooked through, stir the chicken into the mixture.
- In another bowl, combine the crushed Ritz crackers and the poppy seeds. Stir in the melted butter.
- Transfer the chicken mixture to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the cracker mixture evenly over the top.
- Bake in the preheated oven until it is heated through and bubbling around the edges, about 30 minutes.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should only be used as a general guideline.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of recipe
- Calories: 555
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 528 mg
- Fat: 37 g
- Saturated Fat: 20 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 36 g
- Cholesterol: 174 mg
Keywords: poppy seed chicken, poppy seed chicken casserole
Elizabeth says
How does this recipe do if frozen after making?
★★★★★
Val says
I love Poppyseed Chicken… It's a very southern dish… My mawmaw makes it all the time!!!
Nicole says
I have 5 kids of my own and I have the poopy seed chicken in the oven right now.. we will see how they like it! I know it looks good to me:)
Abby says
I cannot imagine (yet) having two kids, much less five! Go, mama! And if it wasn't for the man in my house I wouldn't use many recipes that call for soup, but Brad *loves* them.
TheKeilShpeel says
We make this dish all the time at home. Super easy and SOOOO good. Not the healthiest but it gets downed really fast.
Krissy says
oh how interesting. i've never had poppyseed chicken before… or poppyseed anything! (maybe muffin?). ugh, im missing out!
teresa says
mmm, how yummy! i love how pretty it is too!
Jane says
I love this dish but my boys were never crazy about casseroles with condensed soup. It's good ol' comfort food to me!
Kim says
Six kids? Wow – I have a hard time with two. The poppyseed chicken sounds delicious. I not too proud to say that I love these kinds of casseroles from time to time:D
Cassie says
Wow, SIX kids…I can't even imagine! This looks really, really good. I think I'm going to try it!
Jamie @ Bungalow Bee says
I think everyone has their own version of Poppyseed Chicken 🙂 I use 1 can cream of chicken, 1 can cream of mushroom, and only about 3/4 cup of sour cream. I also add garlic powder. I also melt 1 stick of butter then crush 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers into it and mix well then put that on top of the dish before sliding it in the oven. When it's done cooking, I broil it for a couple of minutes to get the crackers nice and crisp. YUM! 🙂
grace says
6 kids? i'd lose my mind, my hair, my temper, or all three. 🙂
i've had something similar to this at potlucks and it's always quite tasty. nice choice to feed the masses!
Pam says
Wow! I bet you had your hands full with all of those kids and it was probably so much fun. This dish would be great with all of our cold weather and snow. Thanks!
Jingle says
My mom used to make this ALL the time and we LOVED it!!! Mmmm…I haven't had it in so long! Now I want some! It is so full of fat, but it tastes SO amazingly good! She always served it with rice pilaf and peas!
Sook says
Oh how nice of you to watch those kids! 1 to 6 is a pretty dramatic change! The chicken looks so great! Yum!
kat says
Not that is as hot dish that would make any Minnesotan proud, canned soup & crackers…I bet it was great