This is a recipe I received from my mother-in-law several months ago. Josh grew up eating this dish and I’ve been able to make it for Josh a time or two according to the recipe. However, with this pandemic, I’m not able to get to the store as much as normal, and things with short shelf lives are used up very quickly in my house because I don’t want them going bad. So, things this recipe would usually call for, like sour cream, I didn’t have.
There are many things I did differently with this recipe, or should have done differently. First, I didn’t microwave my broccoli before baking. Though the broccoli did cook in the oven, there was water in the bottom of the casserole dish. Cooking and straining the broccoli would help this, you could also use fresh broccoli if you have some. I baked my chicken breast for 40 minutes since it was still half frozen. I took the internal temperature and it was up to 170 F, so though the juices from the chicken have some color, it isn’t dangerous, I also had to bake it again in the casserole, so even if there were under temperature spots, they would be cooked again in the casserole. I made a lot of alteration to the sauce. The recipe called for less mayo and sour cream. I don’t usually have sour cream on hand, and I also had no vanilla yogurt for that tangy flavor. So, I added in ranch for a bit of that dairy tang, and I really enjoyed the extra flavor from it. I didn’t realize the onion and garlic flavor would taste so good in this recipe! I also added lots more curry powder than original, and I added some cumin for even more flavor. The sour cream and curry powder made me think this recipe has an inspiration from Indian cuisine, so I added the cumin to add a bit more of the Indian spice without the heat. I also didn’t add all of the spice into the sauce mix like I should have. I tasted the sauce and it was lacking, so I gave the sauce a dusting of curry powder and cumin once it was already spread in the casserole dish. It’s an inconsistent way of measuring so it’s best to put it in the sauce and mix it in evenly. Then I shredded a block of sharp cheese. I keep them in the freezer because they tend to go bad in my fridge, and shredding frozen cheese is so much easier! I then grabbed a loaf of homemade bread I made last week, crumbled it over the top of the casserole, then sprinkled it with the standard stuffing herbs, sage and thyme. I dusted very lightly over the top, because you don’t want too much stuffing flavor, you want more of the Indian spice flavor. This dish made 6 serving for us.
- Bake a 1 lb chicken breast at 400 F for 30-40 minutes until an internal temperature over 165 F is reached. Spray an 9 x 13 casserole dish with non-stick spray.
- Grab a 12 oz bag of frozen broccoli and microwave it as directed. Strain any excess water from your broccoli and make one even layer in your casserole dish.
- Let your baked chicken cool for 5 minutes, transfer into a large bowl and shred the chicken using a hand or stand mixer. Evenly spread the shredded chicken over the broccoli.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together 3/4 cup mayo, 1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup, 3 Tbsp ranch dressing, 3 tsp of curry powder, and 2 tsp cumin. Stir until mixed, then spread in an even layer over the shredded chicken.
- Reduce oven to 375 F
- Shred 8 oz of sharp cheese and spread evenly over sauce. Cube about 2 cups of bread (use stale bread if you have any) and spread evenly over your cheese layer. Sprinkle over the top a dusting of sage and thyme.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
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