Chicken Divan I Made It Ii

Chicken Divan

Cosmicmother 5 years ago
~Made for Jan. 2019's "casserole" recipe challenge~

Chicken Divan Any Day Of The Week by Lobster

I spent so much time searching for a chicken broccoli casserole on this site! So much so that my eyes crossed and my head spun..LOL. I wanted one that wasn't super plain, but that didn't have alcohol or heavy cream....that finally led me to this recipe!
I had to change a few things, that I'll explain shortly, but what I ended up with was a fantastic, flavorful, delicious casserole!!! Everyone had seconds and the entire dish was inhaled--no leftovers-- and luckily I was able to snap a photo before it was all gone! ;)
(This is the first broccoli dish my daughter didn't pick the broccoli out of and she went back for more!!)
I knew by looking at the ingredient list that the spice amounts looked very high, especially for one can of soup. I have a feeling Lobster didn't measure out the spices and guesstimated perhaps? So, I mixed all the spices called for in a separate bowl first as I didn't think I would use it all. From the taste of the spice mix, it was super yummy and would make a great spice rub for the chicken!
The one can of soup seemed like too little, and too thick to cover all the broccoli and chicken, and I wanted to make sure I had extra sauce to spoon over some rice. So I used two cans of soup, but kept the mayo the same. Instead of doubling the mayo I added a half can of milk to thin it out some.
Since I doubled the soup I thought I would add all of the spices I measured out earlier. And boy, it was super flavorful but thankfully I doubled the soup otherwise it would have been waaay too overpowering! So I highly recommend that you start with half the spices (or less) if you only use one can of soup.
Even with the extra milk it was still quite a thick sauce and I could have added more milk. It was just enough to cover the 2 cups of rice I made and feed the four of us. (keeping in mind I have two males with huge appetites!)
I kept the cheese and bread crumb topping the same, and drizzled the top with a little olive oil instead of dotting with butter; and omitted the tarragon.
It was hard to rate, but with the extra can of soup and added milk it turned out excellent and my family LOVED it--so 5 stars with the changes!!! I absolutely loved the curry powder in this, and I would keep all the spices in it as it went so well together.
I will certainly make this again with the changes! :)
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LindaLMT 5 years ago said:

Love the picture Shona! It looks tasty. Glad you have the sense to have a good feel for what you like and don't like and are able to tweak accordingly and make it work. I was thinking to myself … "curry powder??" and see you went with it and thought it a great addition.

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mommyluvs2cook 5 years ago said:

Yum, great picture Shona!! Great job at getting the spices right :) I do that all the time, get a certain recipe in my head to make and search FOREVER for the right one :P
I'm FINALLY going to get a casserole made this weekend, it's been Instant Pot or Crockpot A LOT for me lately with crazy evenings!!

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eastcoaster 5 years ago said:

Oh my, lovely photo Shona.Thanks for explaining about the spices...

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Cosmicmother 5 years ago said:

Thanks Linda! I know what you mean, my first thought was Mayo and lemon juice in a casserole?? But it all went well together! :)

Thanks Michelle! Too bad you've been so busy, perhaps you could assemble a casserole in advance and bake it later? I can't wait to see what you make this weekend! :)

Thanks Manella! :)

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DIZ3 5 years ago said:

Great photo, Cosmicmother! Love Chicken Divan! Never made it. It's on my bucket list. This one looks really flavorful. A lot of Divan recipes I've seen also call for Dijon mustard. I'm with you on spices and find myself reducing the amounts all of the time. I think it comes with our keen sense of smell. Smell and taste buds go hand in hand. We can detect things much easier and spices, herbs, and other seasonings can be very overpowering.

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