Every time I make this Ritz cracker casserole, people beg me for the recipe!
It’s my go-to when I need an easy but impressive meal. Plus, it’s a great way to use up leftover rotisserie chicken.
Tender shredded chicken is enveloped in a rich, velvety sauce made with cream of chicken soup and sour cream.
But the real star of the show is the buttery Ritz cracker topping! I serve it with a simple green salad or steamed veggies for a satisfying meal.
Why You’ll Love This Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole
Quick Prep: This casserole comes together in a flash using simple ingredients. It’s perfect for busy weeknights when you need a tasty meal fast!
Crowd-Pleaser: The creamy, savory filling and buttery, crunchy Ritz cracker topping make this casserole a guaranteed hit.
Make-Ahead: Assemble the casserole in advance and refrigerate until ready to bake for a convenient meal.
Delicious Leftovers: This recipe yields plenty of tasty leftovers that reheat beautifully for satisfying lunches.
Ingredients
- Cooked Shredded Chicken: Tender, pulled chicken is the base of this comforting casserole. Use rotisserie chicken or boil your own chicken breasts.
- Ritz Crackers: They make the perfect crunchy topping. Crush them up for an irresistible texture in every bite.
- Cream of Chicken Soup: It creates a luscious, creamy sauce that hugs the chicken.
- Sour Cream: It adds a zesty depth of flavor while ensuring your casserole is moist and decadent.
- Butter: It’s the secret to achieving that coveted crispy, buttery Ritz cracker topping.
- Seasonings: Onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper add flavor and a kick of spice.
How to Make Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole
You’ll love how easy this casserole is to prepare!
1. Preheat and prepare. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
2. Mix the chicken filling. In a large bowl, mix together the shredded chicken, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until well combined. Spread the chicken mixture evenly in the prepared baking dish.
3. Prepare the cracker topping. In a separate bowl, combine the crushed Ritz crackers with the melted butter. Stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened.
4. Top the casserole. Sprinkle the buttered cracker crumbs evenly over the top of the chicken mixture.
5. Bake. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes, until hot and bubbly, and the cracker topping is crispy and lightly browned.
6. Rest and serve. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley if desired.
Tips for the Best Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole
These tips will make your casserole the best it can be.
- Full-fat is where it’s at! Use full-fat sour cream for a richer, thicker casserole.
- Try a crushing trick. Crush the crackers right in their sleeves for easy cleanup.
- Keep it crispy. To keep the cracker topping crisp, don’t cover the casserole while baking.
- Try fun variations. Add shredded cheddar cheese to the filling for a cheesy twist. Mix in frozen peas, broccoli florets, or other veggies. Or try crushed potato chips or cornflakes in place of Ritz for a different crunchy topping.
- Make it a complete meal. Pair with a simple green salad, steamed or roasted broccoli, or green beans. Serve over rice, mashed potatoes, or egg noodles.
How to Store
This casserole makes for wonderful leftovers!
To Store: Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and can be kept for up to 4 days.
To Freeze: The casserole can be frozen either baked or unbaked. For baked casserole, cool it completely, wrap tightly with plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 2 months.
For unbaked, assemble without the cracker topping, wrap, and add the topping before baking after thawing overnight in the refrigerator.
To Reheat: For best results, reheat the casserole covered with aluminum foil at 350°F for about 20-25 minutes until warmed through. Individual portions can be microwaved until heated thoroughly.
More Chicken Casseroles You’ll Love
Chicken Spaghetti Casserole
Chicken and Potato Casserole
Chicken Noodle Casserole
Chicken and Biscuit Casserole
Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole
8
servings10
minutes30
minutes398
kcalThis Ritz cracker chicken casserole is a guaranteed winner! Tender chicken is coated in a creamy sauce and topped with buttery Ritz crackers for the ultimate finish.
Ingredients
4 cups cooked shredded chicken (from rotisserie chicken or boiled chicken breasts)
1 (10.5 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 sleeves Ritz crackers, coarsely crushed (about 45 crackers)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- In a large bowl, mix together the shredded chicken, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until well combined. Spread the chicken mixture evenly in the prepared baking dish.
- In a separate bowl, combine the crushed Ritz crackers with the melted butter, stirring until the crumbs are evenly moistened.
- Sprinkle the buttered cracker crumbs evenly over the top of the chicken mixture.
- Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes, until hot and bubbly, and the cracker topping is crispy and lightly browned.
- Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley if desired.
Notes
- For added flavor and nutrition, stir in 1-2 cups of steamed broccoli, peas, carrots, or mixed vegetables to the chicken mixture before topping it with crackers.
- Substitute cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup for the cream of chicken.
- For extra cheesy goodness, mix in 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese with the chicken.
- Use crushed potato chips, cornflakes, or panko bread crumbs in place of Ritz for a different crunchy topping.
I make this quite often the only thing I add are water chestnuts to give it some crunch. It is a recipe that everyone in my family loves
Hi Penny!
So happy you like it. It’s one of my favorites too.
And what a great tip! I’ll definitely add water chestnuts next time I make it π
Thanks for making this so easy to copy down. I appreciate not having to go through all kinds of adds to find complete recipes. I look forward to following more of your recipes.
What about having noodles under the chicken. Water. Chestnuts sounds great π
Really good. I added broccoli and it was super tasty.
I’ve never tried it with broccoli! I’ll do that next time!
Love your easy delicious recipes. Thank for sharing.
Can the sour cream be left out ? What can be substituted ?
Hi, Doreen. The sour cream plays three main roles in this dish. 1. It adds moisture. 2. It makes it creamy. 3. It adds that tangy flavor that makes the casserole so good.
With all that in mind, the best substitute for it would be Greek yogurt at a 1:1 ratio. It, too, is creamy, moist, and tangy. Another possible substitute is mayo. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have that same tangy flavor that yogurt and sour cream have. I’d stick to the yogurt as a replacement, if at all possible. π
How about unflavored greek yogurt?
I love this recipe & it’s SO delicious & easy to make…
Do you think this could be made in a crock pot?
I’ve never tried to make this recipe in a slow cooker or Crockpot, Debra. So I can’t be sure it would work. However, I’ve done a little digging around, looking at similar recipes, etc., and it seems like it could be.
Here are the steps I’ve cobbled together from checking out similar recipes:
1. Mix the chicken, soup, sour cream, onion powder, garlic, salt, and pepper.
2. Spray the inside of your slow cooker with cooking spray. Then, spread the chicken mixture evenly in the slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or on HIGH for 2-3 hours, until hot and bubbly.
4. About 30 minutes before serving, in a separate bowl, combine the crushed Ritz crackers with the melted butter, stirring until the crumbs are evenly moistened.
5. Sprinkle the buttered cracker crumbs evenly over the top of the chicken mixture in the slow cooker. Cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes on HIGH until the cracker topping is lightly browned.
Again, I’ve never actually made it. That’s just a cobbled together recipe that MIGHT work. The only part I’m unsure of is step 5. I don’t know if the crackers would retain their crispiness cooked in a slow cooker. Maybe, though. If you try it, let me know how it turned out please. We may want to update the recipe to include this method if it works well. <3
You could combine the cracker crumbs and melted butter, then toast them in the oven, and sprinkle them on top of the casserole in the crock pot when ready to serve. That would keep them from getting soggy.
I didn’t think of that, Jami! Great idea!
I’m not going to “pin,” or “email” recipes. If you can’t give an easy to print recipe, I’m not interested!!!
Hi, Patsy! If you scroll down to the recipe at the bottom, you’ll find a print button that makes it easy to print the recipes. It’s in the lower righthand corner of the image right above the ingredient list. π Hope that helps!
What can I use as a gluten free alternative to Ritz crackers?
Hi Roma!
You can try looking for gluten-free crackers in the free-from section of the supermarket.
Other options include cornflakes, potato chips, or gluten-free panko breadcrumbs π
This is very similiar to one I make, except 2 can cream of chicken soup, use 3 cans of chicken breast (I am lazy), and some egg noodles (husband prefers). only seasoninΜg is black pepper.
I make this often, you can double the soup, add small amount of chicken both, then noodles at end in crock put, yummy. Add leftover vegs before noodles then ritz on top! Great casserole
I can’t wait to try this, Yummy
Tried tonight and added peas, onions and peppers. was really yummy! had to cook longer but is a keeper!
Sounds delicious, Barb!
Just made this tonight for the first time. Wanted some extra protein so I subbed Greek NF yogurt instead of the sour cream. My 11 y/o daughter and her friend loved it, so did I! It was so easy to make, thank you!
This is one of my all-time favorite casseroles, Holly. And I’ve probably loved it since about the same age as your daughter. My grandmother just called it “chicken casserole” when she made it, but her recipe was almost exactly the same. The only real difference is that she adds water chestnuts to hers for a bit of extra crunch. <3
Just made this recipe last night for my family and they absolutely loved it. . I boiled boneless skinless chicken breast bc it was what I had on hand then used the broth to cook noodles. This is definitely a keeper. Thanks for a great recipe.
It’s one of my family’s favorites, too, April!
With just a few additions, this is every bit as good as the homemade chicken and dressing we make for the holidays and so much easier. I’ll mention that I use canned chicken in mine.
I assemble as usual and before I add the buttered crackers, I spread a can of well drained green beans (french style works best) and, on top of those, three or four pieces of crumbled cornbread. I sprinkled it with the poultry seasoning with sage that I use in my homemade cornbread dressing and drizzled a little bit of chicken broth from the canned chicken over the whole thing. Then, I put the crackers on top.
It is every bit as good as the dressing I make for the holidays and a whole lot easier and cheaper to make. We had it again last night with corn and cranberry sauce…so very good!
Sounds absolutely delicious, BJ!
I’ve never thought about adding green beans on top, but I bet that would dial up the flavor!
What do you serve this with?
So, between me, my mom, and my gramma, we make this recipe A LOT. Haha.
When I cook it, I like to serve it with mashed potatoes and green beans.
When my mom makes it, she typically pairs it with green beans and mac & cheese.
My grandmother, on the other hand, goes in a totally different direction and serves it with cold sides. (Usually pea salad and broccoli cauliflower salad.)
It really just depends on your mood, I suppose. I do, however, think it goes really, really well with green beans, regardless of what else you decide to make with it. π
I’ve made this 5 or 6 times and it’s wonderful. The last two I’ve prepared it I ended up with an almost soup. I used Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup in another recipe and it did the same thing. Have you had any trouble with Campbell’s becoming runny recently?
I, myself, haven’t really noticed it, but my grandmother was just complaining about this same thing the other day.
Maybe it’s been a couple of bad batches? Because honestly, it really does seem the same to me. But she swears the last couple of cans she’s used haven’t been “up to snuff.” (In her words.)