Ritz chicken is basically what would happen if a sleeve of crackers looked over at a chicken breast, winked, and said, "Darlin', you could do better."
Serve it with green beans or mashed potatoes and accept the compliments with the quiet dignity of someone who knows dinner took approximately seven minutes of actual effort.
Table of Contents
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🥰 Is this Ritz chicken recipe for you?
- You need a weeknight dinner that requires very little chopping, fussing, or emotional investment.
- Creamy chicken with a buttery, crispy cracker topping sounds better than that box of neon mac and cheese you're contemplating.
- You keep cream of chicken soup and onion soup mix around because you understand that sometimes convenience is a virtue.
- You want something easy enough for Tuesday but good enough that nobody suspects you were mentally done with dinner by 2:17 p.m.
- If you nodded at least twice, get the Ritz crackers. Dinner has been decided.
🎥 Video
🧾 Ingredients
This is exactly the kind of cooperation I expect from dinner. Nothing needs to be pronounced in French or ordered from a mysterious woman on Etsy. Just simple ingredients working together to make chicken considerably more interesting.
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs: If your chicken breasts are the size of a small ostrich, slice them in half horizontally so they cook more quickly.
- Lipton onion soup mix: The little envelope doing an unreasonable amount of work around here. It's salty, so don't go freelancing with the salt shaker.
- Butter: Melt it. Pour it over the crackers. Try not to contemplate the amount too deeply.
- Cream of chicken soup: Straight from the can. We are making Ritz chicken, not auditioning for culinary school.
- Sour cream: Use full-fat. This is a dinner entree covered in buttered crackers. Now is a strange time to become concerned.
- Ritz crackers: Crush them, but leave some chunky pieces. We want buttery rubble, not cracker dust.
- Parsley: Entirely optional. Its primary responsibility is convincing everyone that brown food has been supervised.
Be sure to download your free Ritz chicken cheat sheet with extra tips, variations, and FAQs.
📖 Recipe
Ritz Chicken Recipe
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 2.5 pounds chicken breasts (boneless, skinless), or thighs
- 10.5 ounces cream of chicken soup
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 ounce Lipton onion soup mix, one envelope
- 1 sleeve Ritz Crackers, coarsely crushed (about 30 crackers)
- ¾ cup butter, melted
- parsley, optional for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Place the chicken in a greased 9" x 13" pan.
- In a bowl, mix the sour cream and the chicken soup together.
- Pour the sour cream mixture over the chicken.
- Crush the sleeve of Ritz crackers and sprinkle evenly over the top of the soup layer.
- Sprinkle with the dry Lipton onion soup mix.
- Evenly drizzle the melted butter over the top.
- Bake at 350° for one hour or until the chicken is done to an internal temperature of 165℉.
- Sprinkle with parsley before serving if you're using it.
Notes
- Chicken breasts vary wildly in thickness. For even cooking, use pieces that are roughly the same size or cut very thick chicken breasts horizontally.
- Crush the Ritz crackers coarsely, not into fine crumbs. Those larger buttery pieces give you the best crispy topping.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
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🔪 How to make Ritz cracker chicken
This Ritz cracker chicken is super easy to throw together, which is good because the day has already demanded enough of us. A few minutes of layering, a generous landslide of buttery cracker crumbs, and into the oven it goes.
- Mix the sour cream and cream of chicken soup.
- Add the chicken to the pan and spoon the soup mixture over top.
- Sprinkle with the crackers and soup mix.
- Drizzle with butter and bake.
😱 What can go wrong (and how to fix it)
🧅 The chicken is dry. Chicken breasts can go from juicy to drywall with alarming ambition. Use an instant-read thermometer and pull the baking dish out when the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165°F. If they are especially thick, slice them horizontally before assembling.
🧅 The Ritz topping is soggy. Don't crush the crackers into dust. Leave some larger, craggy pieces, and make sure the buttery crumbs stay mostly on top of the sauce rather than getting stirred into it.
🧅 The sauce is watery. Chicken can release quite a bit of liquid as it cooks, especially if it was previously frozen. Pat the chicken dry before putting it in the baking dish and use full-fat sour cream.
🧅 The topping is getting too brown before the chicken is done. Lay a piece of foil loosely over the casserole dish and let it finish baking. Don't seal it tightly or you'll steam the crackers into submission.
🧅 It's too salty. Between the onion soup mix, cream of chicken soup, and Ritz crackers, this recipe has salt thoroughly handled. Skip any additional salt until you've tasted it.
🕰️ Can I make Ritz cracker chicken ahead of time?
Yes. Assemble the chicken and creamy sauce, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Add the Ritz crackers, onion soup mix, and melted butter just before baking.
📚 More easy chicken dinner recipes
🍽️ Serve Ritz chicken with these sides
🏡 Ritz chicken is the kind of dinner that earns permanent residency in the recipe box. It's creamy, buttery, crunchy, and requires very little participation from you, which frankly is always a win in my book. Add green beans, okra, mashed potatoes, or a salad if you're feeling ambitious, and dinner is handled.
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