Contest-Winning Broccoli Chicken Casserole

The COVID scare. I tested positive. Again. The second time — this one hit harder. Fever for four days. Cough that rattled my chest like a engine misfiring. And the taste loss returned, brief this time (three days instead of nine), but devastating in its specificity: I could taste salt but not garlic, sweet but not smoke, sour but not the depth that comes from a properly made roux. The partial loss was worse than the total loss, because I could taste enough to know what I was missing. Mama brought soup to the door. Again. She drove across town. Again. Seventy years old, pandemic be damned, she brought chicken soup and left it on the mat and rang the bell and was gone before I opened the door. The soup smelled like her kitchen and the smell was the medicine and the taste came back on day three and the first thing I made was eggs — simple scrambled eggs — and they tasted like resurrection. I quarantined for ten days. The kids could not come. Brianna texted daily: "How are you feeling?" The texts were concerned, not cold. Divorce does not have to mean indifference. We were married for seven years. We have two children. The concern is real, and I appreciated it, and I told her so, and she said, "Take care of yourself. The kids need their father's cooking." The kids need their father's cooking. From the woman who left me six months ago, the acknowledgment that my cooking matters. That it is part of who I am. That the children need it. I recovered. The taste returned fully. I made Mama's baked chicken the first night back — the first real meal after ten days of soup and toast — and the chicken tasted like coming home from a place I never wanted to visit.

Mama’s soup got me through the worst of it — but soup is survival food, and I needed resurrection food. The night my taste came back fully, I didn’t want anything tentative or cautious. I wanted something that went into a hot oven and came out smelling like a real kitchen, something that reminded me I was a father and a cook and still here. This broccoli chicken casserole was that meal: creamy, savory, baked until golden, filling the apartment with a smell that said the quarantine was over and the cooking could begin again.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 cups fresh broccoli florets (or one 12 oz bag frozen, thawed)
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup crushed buttery crackers (such as Ritz, about 24 crackers)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions

Preheat. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Par-cook the chicken. Season chicken pieces with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook in a skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of oil for 5–6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through. Remove from heat.
Steam the broccoli. Microwave broccoli florets with 2 tablespoons of water, covered, for 3 minutes until just tender but still bright green. Drain well and set aside.
Make the sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together condensed cream of chicken soup, sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, onion powder, and 3/4 cup of the shredded cheddar until smooth and combined.
Assemble. Spread the broccoli in an even layer across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Arrange the cooked chicken evenly over the broccoli. Pour the cream sauce over the top and spread gently to cover.
Top the casserole. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup cheddar over the sauce. Toss the crushed crackers with the melted butter, then scatter evenly over the top for a golden, crunchy crust.
Bake. Bake uncovered for 35–40 minutes, until the edges are bubbling and the cracker topping is deep golden brown. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Contest-Winning Broccoli Chicken Casserole — The First Real Meal After Coming Back