Joy’s Memory Making Chicken Casserole

Joy’s Memory Making Chicken Casserole–comfort food chicken casserole with tender shredded chicken, creamy sauce, dill pickle flavor, melty Monterey Jack cheese and a buttery potato chip topping.

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Joy’s Memory Making Chicken Casserole

This recipe is adapted from Joy’s Chicken Casserole on Food.com. She makes it at the restaurant she runs, “At the Puffy Muffin, this is served with Cranberry Salad and a Roll, plus one side. I cooked my chicken the night before, then easy to just put together.” This reminds me of an old fashioned chicken casserole that Grandma would make. The original recipe called for lemon juice but I was out so I used dill pickle juice as a substitution and it was a fun flavor to add. I added regular potato chips on top but you could try another flavor like salt and vinegar, barbecue, sour cream and onion or go all in on the dill pickle theme and use dill pickle potato chips!

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts–or use a combination of both
• Chicken broth–or water with chicken bouillon
• Celery–or water chestnuts
• Cream of celery soup–or cream of chicken soup
• Dill pickle juice–or lemon juice
• Onion pulp–finely grated onion with juices
• Mayonnaise–or plain Greek yogurt
• Monterey Jack cheese–or cheddar
• Potato chips

Steps

Add chicken and broth into Instant Pot.

Cover Instant pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set manual/pressure cook button to 10 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.

Heat oven to 350° F. Move the chicken to a bowl and shred. Stir in the celery, cream of celery soup, dill pickle juice, onion pulp and mayonnaise. 

Spread chicken mixture into an 8×8 inch pan. Sprinkle the cheese and crushed potato chips on top. 

Bake for 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Notes/Tips

• Serve with green salad, roasted broccoli, green beans, steamed vegetables, or fresh fruit to balance the richness.
• Rotisserie chicken works well if you want to skip cooking the chicken in the Instant Pot. You’ll need about 3 cups of shredded chicken.
• If you like extra pickle flavor, stir in a few tablespoons of finely chopped dill pickles with the celery.
• Freshly grate the onion instead of chopping it. The onion juices blend right into the sauce and give it great flavor without noticeable onion pieces.
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also cook the chicken in a 3, 4 or 8 quart pot.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for 4 days. You can freeze the casserole before adding the potato chips. Wrap tightly and freeze for up to 3 months.
• Other recipes you can make with

Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for. 

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*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.