Jolean's Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Stacky5's Note:

I've seen and tried MANY of these similar casseroles, but somehow none of them quite match the flavor of this one! My Mom tweaked it to her own taste, and it has stood the test of time! An honest and true favorite in my family for 2 generations now, I can tell you that this one is IT! :)

• Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 (8 ounce) package frozen broccoli florets
• 8 ounces pepperidge farm herb seasoned stuffing mix (Blue package)
• ½ cup oleo , melted
• 1 (10 ½ ounce) can cream of chicken soup
• ¾ cup Hellmann's mayonnaise
• ¼ cup broccoli juice (reserved from cooking the broccoli)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice (heaping)
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

1. In a large pan, cover chicken breasts with water, add 2 teaspoons salt and seasonings. Bring to a boil and simmer 1 hour. Let cool and break into large pieces.
2. Cook frozen broccoli as per directions, reserving 1/4 cup of liquid.
3. In a large casserole dish, layer 1/2 chicken pieces, then all of the cooked broccoli, then layer the rest of the chicken pieces.
4. Mix soup, mayonnaise, broccoli juice and lemon juice in a small bowl.
5. Pour soup mix over chicken & broccoli and poke through to make sure it seeps throughout the casserole.
6. Mix stuffing in melted oleo and cover top of casserole with it.
7. Bake COVERED at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
8. Uncover and bake 15 minutes longer to brown the top.

Reviews

[Realtor by day, Chef by night]

My family loved this! They couldn't get enough of this yummy casserole. I didn't cook the chicken or broccoli first. I just mixed everything up, poured it in the casserole and topped it with the stuffing mixture. It was so simple this way. I added a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and some garlic powder. I left the salt out completely since I didn't boil the chicken.

[SpydermanLA]

Fantastic, easy recipe for a cold winter's night! We made it even easier but not cooking the broccoli or chicken first... chicken was nicely cooked and broccoli kept a bit of a crunch. Will be making often!

[MonsterMaha]

I made this last night for guests, and everyone loved it! It's definitely a keeper. Instead of cutting up the breast meat, I left them whole. The next time I'll cut them in half because they were huge and no one except a teenager could eat a whole breast. I followed what other reviewers did and just let the chicken cook in the oven and just put the broccoli in frozen, but because I tripled this recipe, the cooking time took longer. That's my fault though for not realizing I'd need extra cooking time. Because I was using whole breasts, I didn't care for the two layers of chicken. The next time I'll just layer as follows: Chicken, broccoli, soup mixture and then stuffing mix. For the broccoli juice, since I didn't cook the broccoli first, I used chicken broth. I also left out the lemon juice, as many reviewers did, but I think I'll add it in the next time. I think it'll give it just a touch of tang. I also tripled the stuffing mix, but next time I won't do that. I ended up only using 1/2 the final amount because it covered the whole dish, which is what I think the main intent was anyway. Also, the stuffing mix was pretty salty, so next time I might even use less, or something else altogether...it's a lot of butter mixed in with the stuffing mix. I also used low fat mayonnaise and it worked out well. The other thing I did that I didn't realize would be a problem was that instead of covering the casserole with aluminum foil, I used the lid of the roasting pan I used, which left a dome of space between the top of the casserole and the lid. The result was that the very top layer of the stuffing mixture burned slightly. Next time I'll use foil so I can take it off the last 15 minutes for browning per the directions. But, despite my mistakes, the chicken was sooooo moist and tender, and other than the stuffing mixture, was not salty at all. It was absolutely delicious and I'll definitely add this to my recipes to make again.