Ritz Cracker Chicken Recipe with Sauce
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Crispy Ritz Cracker Chicken with shredded cheddar cheese, crushed Ritz crackers and a delicious creamy sauce is a perfect kid friendly dish that tastes great any night of the week.
As a bonus, this recipe is complementary to just about any side dish, making it chicken dinner you MUST try!
Why you will love making Ritz Cracker Chicken!
What’s for dinner, MOM? My kids get super stressed and curious about dinner because no matter what I feed them, they have 3 main foods they want to eat for weeknight dinners: Macaroni, Chicken tenders, or Cereal.
However, this Ritz cheddar chicken with sauce with boneless, skinless chicken breasts is one of their favorite dinner recipes. It basically tastes like a super fancy chicken nugget – making it a family approved, kid friendly, and easy way to enjoy tender and juicy buttery chicken.
It meets all low stress dinner needs with quick, easily adjustable ingredients for a taste kids and adults both love. Let’s get started!
Ritz Cracker Chicken Ingredients
- boneless chicken breasts – Always make sure breasts are approximately the same size to ensure even cooking.
- Ritz Crackers – I like to use a rolling pin to crush them.
- salt and black pepper – Feel free to add other seasonings like garlic or onion powder.
- milk – I use milk to dredge my chicken but you can also use heavy whipping cream or melted butter.
- shredded cheddar cheese
How to make Ritz Cracker Chicken and Cheese
- Preheat oven to 400 and grease a cast iron pan or baking dish (casserole dish) with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Add crushed buttery Ritz crackers and salt and pepper together and mix in a shallow bowl. Place milk in a separate bowl and shredded cheese in a separate bowl.
- If necessary, pound down chicken to ensure even cooking or if desired, cut your chicken into smaller pieces. If you have large chicken breasts and want to leave large pieces, its best to slice down the middle so the chicken is thin and quick to cook.
- Dip each piece of chicken into milk and coat both sides. Now add chicken into cheddar cheese and press the cheese pieces into the chicken on both sides.
- Add cheesy chicken into crushed crackers and press the crackers onto both sides. If some of the cheese falls off into the crackers, that is okay.
- Place piece of chicken into prepared pan. Repeat until all chicken is covered. Cover cast iron pan with foil and bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes.
- Pull out pan, remove foil and discard and return to the oven for ten more minutes until crispy and golden brown. The internal temperature of the chicken should reach 165 degrees and can be measured with a meat thermometer for safety.
- Now move on to the sauce recipe below
Time to add the sauce!
This is a simple 3 ingredient cream sauce and it’s wonderful over this chicken. And because it uses a Campbells canned cream soup, you can easily alter for another creamy sauce variation. My instinct says try it with a cheddar cheese soup or a cream of mushroom if cream of chicken isn’t your thing (or its missing from the pantry).
Sauce Ingredients
- Cream of chicken soup
- sour cream
- unsalted butter
How to make Creamy Sauce for Ritz Chicken
- To make the sauce, add cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter to a small saucepan.
- Heat over low heat, occasionally stirring until blended well and hot.
- Drizzle cream sauce on each juicy chicken breast and sprinkle with fresh parsley (and optionally some black pepper) before serving.
- If you love the taste of Ritz, make sure to try my Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole recipe as well.
Tips for the Perfect Chicken
- Change the flavors up by adding onion powder, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.
- Try making with chicken thighs over breasts. One thing to note is if you change the type of chicken piece, your cooking time will typically alter depending on the size and thickness of what you use.
How to easily crush Ritz Crackers.
Recently I actually found that Ritz created a flavored seasoned coating mix of pre-crushed crackers. While you can purchase that, it’s not readily available everywhere.
Put your crackers in a bowl, and either smash with your hands, a rolling pin, or the bottom of a glass cup.
Side Dishes for Chicken Dinners
All great chicken recipes need a delicious side dish or two. If you need some carb free choices, a green salad, or try this riced cauliflower side dish.
Simple veggies always do the trick, and if you have a pressure cooker, try this quick and easy Ninja Foodi corn on the cob (with husks on) or these pressure cooker red potatoes (my favorite).
I also love chopped green beans , which is great with comfort food.
How to store leftovers
As always, store in airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave and if desired, crisp the cracker coating back up in an air fryer or on a cast iron pan briefly.
More Family Friendly Chicken Dinners
- Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings
- Mcdonalds chicken nugget recipe
- Olive Garden Crockpot Chicken
- Chicken and Rice Casserole
Ritz Cracker Chicken with Sauce
Equipment
- cast iron pan
- Foil
Ingredients
- 2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts make sure are same size for even cooking
- 1 sleeve Ritz Crackers crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 cup milk can substitute with melted butter
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Cream Sauce Recipe
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 10.5 oz. cream of chicken soup
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 teaspoon dry parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 and grease a cast iron pan or baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- First, you can decide to cut chicken into smaller pieces and slice down the middle if your breasts are super large. The smaller you make your chicken, the less cooking time you may need so please be aware to adjust times if you cut down into strips or down the middle.
- Add crushed Ritz crackers, salt, and black pepper into a shallow bowl and combine.
- In seperate bowls, add milk to one and shredded cheddar cheese into another. You will be dipping the chicken in these bowls, so do not combine.
- Dip boneless, skinless chicken breasts into the milk first, ensuring both sides are covered.
- Now dip chicken pieces into shredded cheddar cheese and press the cheese into the chicken on both sides.
- Lastly, dip chicken into the bowl of crushed Ritz crackers and press the crackers into both sides of the chicken breasts. Some of the cheese will fall off into the cracker bowl, and that's okay. As you finish coating the chicken, place the covered chicken into the prepared pan.
- Repeat recipe process until all chicken is covered and pan is full.
- Cover chicken with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and discard.
- Return chicken to oven for 10 more minutes until crispy, melty, and golden brown. Chicken should reach 165 degrees internally to be fully cooked. The overall time may vary on size of chicken and oven.
- Serve topped with cream sauce (recipe below)
Make Chicken Cream Sauce
- To make the creamy sauce, add cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and butter to a small saucepan.
- Heat sauce over low heat, stirring occasionally until blended well and hot. This only takes a few minutes.
- Drizzle sauce on cooked Ritz chicken breasts and sprinkle with parsley before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer: The nutritional data provided here is auto-calculated and intended for your convenience only. As it’s generated via automation, its accuracy may be compromised. For precise nutritional insight, please compute the values utilizing the actual ingredients in your recipe through your chosen nutrition calculator or application.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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How the heck do you get the cheese to stick? I’ve made this twice and both times all the cheese falls off in the cracker mixture.
Hi Lindey, I havent had any issues, but maybe press the crackers down into the mixture a bit more?
Sooooo good!!! Cheese and crackers stuck perfect. Cooked up golden brown (I didn’t cover with foil) and sauce put it over the top!!!! Both my 18mth and 3 yr old loved it! Thx
I always consider it a win when the kids approve!
How thin/thick should each piece of chicken be?
I haven’t had any issues using just regular packaged chicken breasts in this recipe. There is no need to pound them down to a specific size unless one side is much much larger than the other.
Fabulous! Quick, easy and sooo moist! The chicken was soooo moist you could cut it with a
butter knife! The cheddar and Ritz crackers that fell to the sides was crunchy and delish!
This is a great recipe. I would serve it for a special occasion. The chicken is so tender. I did use cream of mushroom soup as it was what was on hand. I would not change that when I make it again.