Poppy Seed Chicken

Assembled ingredients 

This dish never fails.  It is a casserole which contains two teaspoonfuls of poppy seeds, quite enough to justify the title of the dish. Poppy seed chicken is also distinguished by use of Ritz cracker crumbs, not only in the casserole but also on top of it, as a crust.

My wife, Pat, taught me to crush the Ritz crackers in a 1-gallon freezer bag. I finish the job off with a potato masher.

The number of calories in this recipe is “many, many,” as one glance at the photo of the ingredients illustrates.  Our daughter, Bonnie, redesigned the recipe for us when she was visiting last July, to make it healthier, but we prefer it our way.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Poppy Seed Chicken

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
8 ounces of Ritz crackers (2 packets)
2 teaspoons poppy seed
1 cup butter or vegetable oil spread,  melted

Directions

1. Put the crackers in a 1-gallon freezer bag and crush them into crumbs.

2. Mix chicken with soup and sour cream in a bowl.

3. In another bowl, mix crushed crackers and poppy seeds with melted butter.
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4. Mix half of cracker mixture into the mixture of chicken, sour cream and cream of chicken soup.

5. Add this mixture to a 7 x 11 baking pan or casserole dish..

6. Spread the remaining mixture of crackers, melted butter and poppy seeds over the contents.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

8. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

9. Uncover and bake 15 more minutes at 350 degrees.


(“Revised for Good Health” Recipe: This recipe calls for 1 packet of Ritz crackers, 2 tablespoons of melted butter and ¼ teaspoon of curry powder. Also, the cream of chicken soup and sour cream are to be fat-free. The directions are the same except that the melted butter is not added to the crushed crackers. Instead, half of the mixture of crushed crackers and poppy seed is added to the mixture of chicken, sour cream, cream of chicken soup and curry powder, and the resulting final mixture is added to the baking dish.  The remaining dry crushed crackers are spread over the contents of the dish, and, at last, the melted butter is drizzled over the top layer of crushed crackers.)