Beyond Perfect! Hot Chicken Salad Casserole

Submitted by Debber

"A good friend brought this over when our second son was born, so we usually have this for his birthday dinner (using turkey, too--he was born on Thanksgiving!). Preparation includes boiling the eggs and cooking the chicken and rice--unless you use leftovers from another prep."

 

• Ready In: 55mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Yields: 1 13x9 pan
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 2 cups chicken, cooked & diced
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 2 cups celery, diced
• 6 hard-boiled eggs (or fewer)
• 2 tablespoons minced onions (optional)
• 1 cup slivered almonds (or walnuts)
• 1 1⁄2 cups mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
• chow mein noodles, for sprinkling on top

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350; grease sides of a 13x9 pan.
2. In a very large bowl, mix chicken, rice, celery, eggs, onions and nuts.
3. In another (smaller) bowl, mix mayonnaise, juice and soups until smooth; add to chicken mixture and stir to coat well; dump into prepared pan, smoothing out the top; sprinkle chow mein noodles over the pan.
4. Bake for 30-45 minutes (noodles will be dark brown and crispy).
5. LEFTOVERS: The chow mein noodles get soggy when stored in the fridge, so put noodles on only half of the casserole and then when reheating, add noodles on that side, too.

Reviews

[AshK5246]

Gooooood stuff! Very easy to throw together. I cooked extra chicken this weekend for this and some soup I was making, so chicken was on hand and the rest was super fast. A great weeknight meal! I am usually a little brain dead after work, so easy is safest for everyone involved. I want to try it with l.o. turkey, next. Thanks for the recipe, Debber! reviewed for Tag

 

[CookinMamaof3]

We really liked the crunch of this casserole--between the celery, nuts and chow mein noodles, every bite is very crunchy. It has good flavor and the rice gives it another interesting texture. Thanks, Debber!