Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

I made this over a month ago and am just now getting around to posting it.  This is a casserole baked in a creamy soup type recipe, and I hardly ever make such things, but this is a nostalgic recipe for me; shortly after my now 5-year old was born, someone brought us dinner one night, and it was Poppyseed Chicken with Rice.  I loved it soooo much; it tasted so good to me, and I've always wanted to make it, but have shied away because of the use of Cream of Chicken soup, which I don't ever like to use.  I know there are good homemade cream soup recipes one can use, but after my little guy was born this last August, I feel like I don't have a ton of time to devote to cooking, and making my own soup + the casserole seemed too daunting to me.  Well, enter in a new food product at my grocery store: an all-natural, good-tasting, non-scary cream of chicken soup!  It's by Pacific foods, and the ingredients are all good things, and it's actually tasty!  There's a cream of mushroom one, as well.  It's in a small 12-oz box, in the soup section of the store.

I have three more boxes of this, since I never know when my store will suddenly stop carrying certain items.  I want to try a crock-pot recipe next.  I usually skip over recipes containing cream-of-whatever, but now I can finally partake!

Anyway, this Poppyseed Chicken is very rich & caloric, so I won't be making it all the time.  I did use light sour cream, and half the butter called for.  I also served this over brown rice with steamed broccoli on the side!  For the chicken, I just cooked a bunch of (about 10 frozen) chicken tenders in a non-stick skillet with olive oil & garlic salt.  I let them cool slightly and then chopped them up. 

This dish was delicious, easy, and the whole fam even loved it.  I bet it might freeze well, too.

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole
adapted from Allrecipes

4-5 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 (12 ounce) box natural condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup light sour cream

1 1/2 cups crushed buttery round crackers (I just used one sleeve)

1-2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1/4 cup butter, melted

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).               

2.  Place the chicken into a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, stir together the condensed soup and sour cream. Pour over the chicken. In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers, poppy seeds and melted butter. Sprinkle over the chicken and sauce.               

3.  Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top of the casserole is browned and the sauce is bubbly.

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