Yes–I know Poppy Seed is two words. Not for this Bake it’s not!
Several years ago I had to do some time with bed rest. Not fun. I was expecting our sixth child and for some reason this little guy kept thinking he wanted to rush the pregnancy along. Often neighbors would bring us dinner and it was so kind and thoughtful. One particular evening as my husband opened the door he found a woman that we didn’t even know standing on the front porch with a pan filled with this delicious meal. I found it so endearing that someone I didn’t even know had found out that I was on bed rest and, because she had had a similar experience, she wanted to bring dinner to me. I never asked her for the recipe and there have been so many times over the years that I wished that I had. So I started my quest to make this comforting bake. This is how it turned out!
Cook 3-4 chicken breasts and cut them in to bit size cubes. Sometimes I use my pressure cooker and sometimes I boil the chicken breasts with a couple of bouillon cubes. Set these aside.
Saute one medium chopped onion in one tablespoon of butter with 1/4 teaspoon of pepper until they become transparent and delicious looking. I love this part of cooking, it’s the tiniest bit of involvement and all of the sudden my house smells like a five star restaurant.
Mix the sauteed onion with 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 1 1/2 cups sour cream, 1/2 cup mayonnaise,
1 1/2 Tablespoons poppy seeds, and 1/4 cup of milk. The mayonnaise smooths out some of the tang of the sour cream. Fold in the cooked chicken and spread in a 13 X 9 baking dish. Crush one sleeve of buttery crackers ( I use Ritz) and combine with 1/2 cup (yes the whole cube) melted butter. I don’t try to crush the crackers into oblivion, i like larger pieces and I think they look pretty on the top in all different shapes and sizes. Top with 1/4 cup green onion and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. You should see bubbles sizzling away on the edges and the casserole should be nicely browned on top.
Take it out of the oven and sprinkle with 1 cup of finely grated cheese…or not. I like doing this at the end because the cheese doesn’t bake it just melts in pretty little patches of goodness. My family likes to eat this over rice and the preferred side dish of the meal? Broccoli. Obviously the ingredient list is not on all the “healthy diet” lists. I will say though, that for a woman on bed rest it tasted like pure heaven and was delivered to my family by an angel.
Poppyseed Chicken (yes we spell it all run together) by Sweet Suppertime
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
3-4 cooked chicken breasts, cubed (if the boys are home for dinner I make it 5) set aside
1 medium onion chopped and sauteed in
1 TB butter with
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Mix onions and chicken with:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
Spread in a 13 X 9 pan and add topping.
Topping
1 sleeve butter crackers crushed
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
Mix butter and crushed crackers together and sprinkle over the chicken bake.
1 cup finely grated cheese to add after it is out of the oven
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until bubbly and brown. Serve over rice if desired. (doubly delish over wild rice) add grated cheese as soon as it it out of the oven.