A poppy good time….

There is one dish my Mammaw would always make for us when we go visit her…Poppyseed Chicken Casserole and I LOVED it!! Now I get to make it for her (with a few changes here and there)!

All from scratch

So my Mammaw was a good cook but she tended to use a lot of canned stuffs to make her dinners….you know like canned cream of chicken and canned chicken. It was easy and quick, which she loved.

For me though I prefer to make my recipes from scratch but don’t worry it is still easy…I promise.

The base of this casserole traditionally is cream of chicken soup, it is what makes it so rich and creamy, so we have to start there. I love all the flavors cream of chicken offers so I started with onion and garlic to help add some of that same flavor to our base. Next comes the roux…don’t be scared it really is so easy. It comes together really quick with some flour, chicken stock, milk, poppyseed and some seasonings and before you know it you have a rich & creamy “cream of chicken” sauce ready for your casserole.

Once the sauce is nice and thick, you combine it with the chicken and sour cream and voila you have poppyseed chicken casserole.

A quick note about the chicken…I use rotisserie chicken but you can use grilled chicken, roasted chicken, boiled chicken or canned chicken. Use what you have on hand.

The Topping – My Favorite Part

But wait we are not done yet…the best part is to come…the crunchy topping.

Now some recipes call for breadcrumbs, but we have always used ritz crackers combined with butter…yes you read that right. Crushed buttery ritz crackers combined with butter…can it get any better?

This was always my favorite part to help with as a kid…I would always get to crush the ritz crackers. My Mammaw would put the crackers into a gallon size resealable bag and then let me use my hands or a rolling pin to crush them up. I just thought that was the most fun thing in the whole world.

After they were basically pulverized they would go into a bowl and then I got to very carefully combine them with the butter…and maybe steal a few bites here and there….just maybe. You know you want to steal a bite too.