Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole

Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole–an old school casserole made with tender shredded chicken, a buttery cracker topping, and fluffy rice for an easy family-friendly meal. Made with the help of your Instant Pot.

Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole

This is one of those old-school casseroles that’s been around forever but today I’m using the Instant Pot to make it faster to pull together. That buttery Ritz topping is still the star of the show (and yes, everyone fights over it). I also love that you can use the same pot to cook the rice afterward. One of those small wins that makes dinner feel less chaotic. If you want to sneak in some veggies, it’s super easy. Just stir a handful of frozen peas, corn, mixed vegetables, or even frozen broccoli florets right into the shredded chicken mixture before baking. They heat through in the oven and blend right in, making it feel a little more balanced.

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Boneless skinless chicken thighs–or boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Water
• Better than Bouillon
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder
• Cream of chicken and herbs soup–or regular cream of chicken, cream of mushroom
• Sour cream–or plain Greek yogurt
• Ritz crackers–or butter crackers or crushed Club crackers
• Butter
• Converted rice–or long-grain white rice

Steps

Add chicken, water, Better than Bouillon, salt, and garlic powder into Instant Pot. 

Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set manual/pressure cook button to 12 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. 

Heat oven to 350° F.

Move chicken out of Instant Pot and place it in a mixing bowl and shred it. (I used my hand mixer to shred it quickly). Stir the cream of chicken and sour cream into the chicken. Spread the mixture into a 9×13 inch pan. 

Mix the crushed Ritz with the melted butter and sprinkle it over the top of the chicken.

Bake for 25 minutes on the middle rack.

Meanwhile add the rice into the liquid in the Instant Pot. Cover the Instant Pot and secure the lid, make sure valve is set to sealing. Set manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting.

Serve the chicken casserole over the rice.

Notes/Tips

• Serve with green salad, steamed broccoli or green beans.
• You can use chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs…or a combination of the two!
• I used frozen chicken thighs. I buy them in the big bag from Costco.
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 4 or 8 quart pot.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can freeze the chicken casserole (without the cracker topping) for up to 2 months; add fresh crackers and butter before baking.
• Stir in 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, frozen peas, diced mushrooms, or chopped broccoli to the chicken mixture for extra flavor and nutrition.
• Using a hand mixer to shred the chicken is genius and saves so much time. Just be careful not to overmix or the chicken can get mushy.
• Other recipes you can make with Ritz crackers are Air Fryer Heavenly Chicken and Gulf Coast Casserole.

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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More chicken casseroles…

*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.