Growing up as the oldest of 6 kids, we used to joke about how every dinner was some variation of chicken, rice, and broccoli. Now that I’m a busy working mom of 4, I understand what my mom was up to way back then. It’s a challenge to find filling meals that work for everyone and are easy on the budget! If you’ve just come home from work and decide to bake a chicken divan casserole, it’s going to take upwards of an hour and a half. Pre-baking the chicken is essential to getting dinner on the table in a timely manner. I do my pre-baking on the weekend or on a night when I don’t need the oven for the meal I’m serving.
Things go a lot faster for dinnertime prep when all you have to do is dice up the chicken that’s already cooked, but if you didn’t pre-bake your chicken simply stick it in the oven in a greased casserole dish at 350° for 25-30 minutes (or until the meat reaches 165° internal temperature). I usually get enough chicken for this meal from 2 chicken breasts.
Chicken divan is a very easy casserole to make. Once you have your ingredients assembled (defrosting broccoli ahead of time helps speed up the prep, too), it’s really just a matter of layering them. I bake all my casseroles in a dish like this one. I love that it’s pretty AND holds enough servings for our family of 6!
Chicken on the bottom
Broccoli next
Top that with sauce and cheese
This recipe is similar to the one my mom used when I was a child. My sisters and I have altered it to our tastes, but we all include these basic ingredients. My family likes to serve chicken divan over brown rice. It’s great comfort food that both my older kid and toddlers enjoy.
Oven Temp: 350°
Ingredients:
2 cooked, diced chicken breasts
1 10.75 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
1 10.75 oz. can cream of chicken soup
¼ cup lemon juice
16 oz. frozen broccoli florets, defrosted
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese
Spray a 13”x9” baking dish with nonstick spray. Spread chicken evenly in the dish and layer broccoli over the chicken. In a medium bowl, mix together the cans of cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, and the lemon juice. Spread the sauce mix over the chicken and broccoli in the dish. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and cover with foil. Cook at 350° for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and continue to cook for 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.