Recently, I made my husband's grandmother's Chicken Casserole recipe. This chicken casserole is a huge hit with my family and friends. It's a simple little recipe, but it's a comfort food classic. It's basically just chicken and dressing ("stuffing" to my Northern friends) held together with cream of soups and butter. What's not comforting about that?
As we sat around the dinner table, I was immediately transported to Grandma Clara's porch, overlooking the North Fork of the French Broad River at her little mountain cabin in Balsam Grove, North Carolina. I could hear the babbling stream and smell the cool mountain air with every bite I took. I remember asking her for this recipe and after dinner, she went inside and copied it for me on an index card. I still have that handwritten card and cherish it just as I cherished her. I've made a few minor changes to the recipe over the years, but I don't think she would have disapproved - she happily embraced change and progress!
Coming from the South, when I think of comfort food, I immediately think of chicken; fried or in a casserole. And mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits and buttermilk pie! It's funny, recently I asked one of my Northern born friends what she thought of as comfort food and she said lasagna.... and macaroni and cheese with sliced up hotdogs. I can honestly say that the mac and cheese hotdog dish doesn't sound very "comforting" or even appetizing to me, but because she has fond memories of her family of 10 eating this on a weekly basis, I can see why she sees this as a comfort food.
Grandma Clara's Chicken Casserole
1 whole chicken, cooked, deboned and cut up
8 oz. Stove Top Stuffing Mix (for chicken)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 stick butter, cut up
salt and pepper to taste
broth from cooking chicken
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Cook the chicken pieces in a big pot of water until done. Let the chicken cool enough to handle and then debone and cut into small, bite size pieces. Save your broth. Preheat oven to 350. In a 13x9 casserole dish, layer half of the stuffing then half of the chicken. In a separate bowl, mix together the can of cream of mushroom soup and one soup can of the reserved broth. Mix well with a wire whisk or egg beater. Pour this mixture over the stuffing/chicken. Layer the rest of the stuffing then the rest of the chicken. Mix together the cream of chicken soup with 1 can of the reserved broth. Mix well and pour over the stuffing/chicken. Add a little salt and pepper to the top if you'd like. (The cream of soups have a lot of salt, so I usually just add some fresh ground pepper) Put the butter pats on top and bake, uncovered at 350 for one hour. Let the casserole rest for 5 - 10 minutes before serving. This will easily serve 8 - 10.
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| It's ready to go into the oven. |
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| Ready to eat! |
I usually serve this with yeast rolls, corn and sweet tea! And, unless I'm feeding a lot of people, I'll use this recipe to prepare two 8x8 casseroles and freeze one for later. It freezes well. You will need to let it thaw overnight in the fridge before cooking. The only difference that I make to the recipe when I prepare two is to use 12 ounces of the stuffing mix instead of 8. I'll buy two 6 oz boxes and use one box for each casserole. I also increase the butter to one whole stick - half a stick for each casserole. The baking time remains the same. This is enough for dinner for my family of 4 and leftovers the next day.
I hope you enjoy Grandma Clara's Chicken Casserole!
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