Ritz Cracker Chicken with shredded cheddar cheese, crushed Ritz crackers and a creamy delicious sour cream sauce, is a perfect kid friendly dish that tastes great for little work. Complimentary to just about any side, this is a chicken dinner recipe you MUST try!
Every week day we have the same conversation: What is for dinner?
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. Macaroni, Chicken, or Cereal.
Its ironic that a food blogger and someone that loves to cook (and eat) has kids that still run the basics as far as good goes. Which means we eat a lot of chicken.
Now I am totally fine with eating chicken most nights of the week. I just don’t want to eat the same chicken recipe EVERY time. That means that I have to make sure I am baking up something new constantly and this Ritz Cracker Chicken Breast recipe is perfect. This chicken dinner recipe is totally kid friendly, spouse friendly, and keeps your dinner calm and without complaints.
If you are in the same boat and are just perusing new recipes, I know you will love this.
Additionally, other family favorites that solicit “yums” instead of “yucks”, are this Alice Springs Copycat Chicken and this chicken casserole with Ritz topping. My kids are not big on asparagus, but my husband and I (as well as tons of readers) give my asparagus stuffed chicken recipe 2 thumbs up as well.
The recipe below is explained in images and detail, or you can skip all the way to the bottom for a PRINTABLE RECIPE VERSION to bring right to the kitchen.
Ritz Cracker Chicken Breasts
This Ritz cracker chicken made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts tastes like a super fancy chicken nugget – kid friendly, easy, and baked up with the crackers, keeps the chicken super moist and juicy. No eggs, no mayo needed for a perfect breast every time.
Before you get started on this recipe, you will need the following ingredients.
Then scroll down for full RITZ CRACKER CHICKEN RECIPE measurements and instructions on creating this recipe – including a full recipe card that you can print for free that helps you shop and create easily in your kitchen.
- Chicken breasts
- Ritz Crackers, crushed
- salt
- pepper
- milk
- cheddar cheese
- cream of chicken soup
- butter
- sour cream
- dry parsley
Baking Tip: You can cook this recipe in a cast iron pan or baking dish.
How to easily crush Ritz Crackers
Recently I actually found that the company that makes Ritz Crackers created a chicken coating made from their own Ritz Crackers. I have only seen it at Publix, so this Ritz chicken is a variation without that.
However, if you do have a Publix locally, you may be able to cut a step out by buying them already crushed.
In the event that you just want to use straight up Ritz Crackers, you can put your crackers in a bowl and either smash with your hands, a rolling pin, or the bottom of a glass cup does well.
How to make Ritz Cracker Chicken with Cheddar Cheese
Preheat oven to 400 and grease a cast iron pan or baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Add crushed crackers, salt and pepper together and mix well in a shallow bowl (see above picture for crushing crackers)
Add milk to a separate bowl and cheese to a separate bowl.
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 chicken into milk and coat both sides. Dip into cheese and press the cheese into the chicken on both sides.
Dip into crackers and press the crackers into both sides. The cheese will fall off into the crackers and that’s okay.
Place chicken into prepared pan.
Repeat until all chicken is covered.
Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
Remove foil and discard and return to the oven for 10 more minutes until crispy and golden brown.
Move on to creating sauce below for your chicken before serving.
Ritz Cracker Cream of Chicken Sauce
To make the sauce, add soup, sour cream and butter to a small saucepan.
Heat over low heat, stirring occasionally until blended well and hot.
Drizzle cream sauce on chicken and sprinkle with parsley (and optionally some black pepper) before serving.
Serves 4-6
Side Dishes for Chicken
Every great chicken recipe needs a delicious side dish or two. If you are looking for something healthy and unique to balance out this recipe, try Spinach Casserole – it really is fantastic despite poor spinach from getting a bad rap.
If you need some carb free choices, try loaded rice cauliflower or just go for it with loaded twice baked potato casserole.
Last but not least, simple veggies always do the trick and if you have a pressure cooker, try this quick and easy pressure cooker corn on the cob (with husks on) or these pressure cooker Parmesan red potatoes (my favorite).
Serve along side this Cheddar Ritz Cracker Chicken and VOILA!! Dinner is SERVED.
Ritz Cracker Chicken with Cheddar Cheese and Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 2-4 chicken breasts
- 1 sleeve - Ritz Crackers, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 can - 10.5 oz, cream of chicken soup
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 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 pepper, and mix spices and crackers well in a shallow bowl.
- Add milk to a shallow bowl and shredded cheddar cheese to a separate bowl. You will be dipping the chicken in these bowls, so do not combine.
- Dip chicken into milk first, making sure both sides are covered.
- Dip chicken into shredded cheese and press the cheese into the chicken on both sides.
- Now dip into crushed Ritz crackers and press the crackers into both sides of the chicken breasts. Some of the cheese will fall off into the crackers and that's okay.
- As you finish coating chicken, please chicken into prepared pan.
- Repeat recipe process until all chicken is covered and pan is full.
- Cover chicken with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
- Remove foil and discard.
- Return chicken to oven for 10 more minutes until crispy, melty, and golden brown.
- Serve topped with cream sauce (recipe below)
Chicken Cream Sauce- To make the 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 chicken and sprinkle with parsley before serving.
Lindey says
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.
Trisha says
Hi Lindey, I havent had any issues, but maybe press the crackers down into the mixture a bit more?
Becca says
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
Trisha says
I always consider it a win when the kids approve!
Brooke K. says
How thin/thick should each piece of chicken be?
Trisha says
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.