Chicken Divan Recipes
Recipes For Chicken
Do you ever make Chicken Divan? It’s one of our favorite recipes for chicken. It’s amazingly delicious, and when served with rice, you have all four major food groups covered: a nice healthy cruciferous vegetable with the broccoli, lean protein from the chicken, dairy from the cheese in the sauce, and a grain/starch with the rice. A Chicken Divan Recipe can also be pretty adaptable. If you don’t like broccoli or don’t have any on hand, use asparagus, instead. I even know someone who makes her chicken casserole with green beans! I’m not sure I’d care much for that, but to each her own. Today, I’m sharing with you two Chicken Divan Recipes. The first one is my favorite, and the second is a quick and easy Chicken Divan you can throw together when you’re in a hurry. Both chicken recipes here can be made with practically any type of cooked poultry. With Thanksgiving coming up soon, you might want to keep this recipe in mind as a way to use leftover turkey. I’ve done this several times, and the results were great – a nice change from turkey sandwiches.
Chicken Casseroles
I love chicken casseroles, and I’ve come up with numerous original chicken casserole recipes. The old man isn’t too crazy about chicken, and serving the fowl in a casserole is his favorite way to eat chicken. This goes back to his childhood. His parents were sort of poor, and they kept a flock of chickens in the yard. It was their main source of meat, and they ate it almost every day. Needless to say, hubby got “burned out” on chicken recipes, and he especially detests dealing with the skin and bones. I guess that’s why he prefers chicken casseroles – he doesn’t have to worry about the skin, the bones, the gristle, or the cartilage.
One of the great things about chicken casserole is that many are quick and easy. If you use leftover chicken or the canned version, you won’t even have to bother with cooking the poultry. You can use other leftovers, too, like rice, broccoli, or asparagus. Basically, all you need is some cooked chicken, some rice and/or veggies, and some type of sauce to hold everything together. You can top the dish with crushed potato chips, crushed crackers, grated cheese, or bread crumbs. For a Mexican flair, use crushed tortilla chips on top.
Chicken Divan
What the heck is Chicken Divan, anyway? Basically, it’s a chicken broccoli casserole with a cheesy sauce. The hotel that gets credit for serving the dish is the New York Chatham Hotel. The establishment’s restaurant was named Divan Parisienne Restaurant. The original was a chicken casserole that included broccoli and almonds, covered by Mornay sauce. Okay, so what’s Mornay sauce? Generally speaking, Mornay is a Bechamel sauce to which cheese has been added. Béchamel, a creamy white sauce made with butter, onions, milk, and flour, is often used in French cooking. It’s traditionally seasoned with white pepper, salt, and just a sprinkle of nutmeg or ground cloves.
To make Mornay sauce, Bechamel is enhanced with grated or shredded cheese or cheeses. Traditionally, the top choices were parmesan and Gruyere, but today’s versions of chicken divan might include Gruyere, parmesan, sharp cheddar, white cheddar, Swiss, or a combination of these cheeses.
Chicken divan has been around since the early 1900s, and it’s often changed somewhat to match the desires of the cook preparing the dish. Sometimes the traditional broccoli is replaced by asparagus, and a quicker and easier sauce is used. Some people also like to include rice, making it more of a chicken broccoli casserole with rice. The seasonings are also varied, depending on the tastes of the individual cook or chef. I’ve created a table to give you some ideas about creating your own chicken divan recipes.
Chicken Divan Recipes - ingredients
Sauce Ingredients
| Seasonings/Other Ingredients
| Toppings
|
|---|---|---|
white sauce
| mushrooms
| dry bread crumbs
|
milk or cream
| onion
| crushed potato chips
|
cream of chicken soup
| scallions
| crushed saltines
|
cream of mushroom soup
| leeks
| crushed Ritz crackers
|
cream of broccoli soup
| garlic
| crushed tortilla chips
|
broccoli-cheese soup
| almonds
| french fried onions
|
mayonnaise
| cooked bacon
| panko
|
sour cream
| black pepper
| cornflake crumbs
|
white wine
| white pepper
| parmesan cheese
|
cheddar cheese
| paprika
| soft white bread
|
parmesan cheese
| curry powder
| crushed stuffing mix
|
Gruyere
| rosemary
| croutons
|
Swiss cheese
| nutmeg
| cornbread crumbs
|
white cheddar
| lemon juice
| shredded cheese
|
Recipe For Chicken Divan
This is a wonderful recipe for chicken divan! Try serving it with white rice, yellow rice, or wild rice. It’s also good on toast points. If you have leftovers, store them covered in the fridge and reheat in the microwave. For a smaller amount, just cut all the ingredients in half.
How does my recipe sound?
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 6 large chicken breasts, or thighs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 bunches fresh broccoli
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 can cream of chicken soup with herbs
- 2 cups mayonnaise
- 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sliced cooked mushrooms
- 1/4 cup chopped onion, scallions, or leeks
- 1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
Instructions
- Place chicken in a large pot and cover with about three inches of water. Add salt and bring pot to a boil. Cook chicken until done. Remove chicken and allow to cool.
- While the poultry is cooking, prepare the broccoli by cutting it into individual stalks. Cook broccoli in chicken broth until fork tender.
- When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and bones. Tear flesh into small pieces and place in the bottom of a large, deep baking pan.
- Drain broccoli and arrange on top of chicken.
- Combine both cans of soup, mayonnaise, cheese, seasonings, and milk until smooth. Add mushrooms and stir gently.
- Sweat onion in microwave and add to sauce mixture. Spread sauce over chicken and broccoli.
- Crush crackers and sprinkle evenly over casserole.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how deep/large the casserole is.
Easy Chicken Divan
If you think Easy Chicken Divan is too pretentious a term to use with this recipe, call it Easy Chicken And Broccoli Casserole. The terminology you use won’t affect the taste at all! You can whip this dish up in no time, and while it’s baking, you can attend to something else. Cook a bowl of instant rice in the microwave, and you’ll have a delicious meal with little time and effort. If you have leftover cooked rice, add it to the chicken broccoli casserole for an even easier meal.
Ingredients:
10-ounce bag frozen chopped broccoli
12.5-ounce can chunk white chicken
1 can cream of broccoli soup
½ cup grated sharp cheddar
¼ cup milk
2 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch curry powder
Crushed buttery crackers
Directions: Cook broccoli and drain well. Drain chicken and add to broccoli. Combine with soup, cheese, milk, mayo, and seasonings. Turn into a baking dish and top with cracker crumbs. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.
