Chicken Divan

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

4 Comments

5 from 2 votes
12 Servings
Prep Time 12 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
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Chicken Divan is an easy weeknight meal to make in just 30 minutes. Tender chicken and broccoli are topped with a creamy, cheesy sauce.

This delicious chicken casserole is sure to become a family favorite Dinner Recipe. It’s similar to our Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole, but with an extra thick, rich and creamy sauce that makes Chicken Divan the perfect comfort food.

Chicken Divan in pie plate

CHICKEN DIVAN

Simple casserole recipes like this are always a life saver around dinner time. There are no difficult steps, or obscure ingredients in this Chicken Divan recipe. All you have to do is combine the chicken and broccoli florets with the creamy sauce before you pour it all in a baking dish to cook for 20 minutes. You’ll have delicious Chicken Broccoli Divan in less than a half hour.

Chicken Divan chicken and broccoli in pie plate

I love making this Chicken and Broccoli Casserole the night after I’ve made another chicken dish. Anytime I have leftover Rotisserie Chicken, or Slow Cooker Chicken Breast, I like to use them in a creamy chicken casserole recipe. It’s a great way to repurpose the meat so that you’re not just having the same dinner two nights in a row. Just add the sliced or shredded chicken to the creamy sauce and bake it in your casserole with broccoli. 

Although Chicken Divan has a french name, it was actually invented in America. It was first served at a Parisian restaurant at a New York Hotel. It was also named for the restaurant, Divan Parisien Restaurant. Since then the creamy dish has become popular as a dinner recipe that can be easily made in your own kitchen.

Chicken Divan in pie plate after covering with cream of chicken soup

WAYS TO SERVE CHICKEN DIVAN

The three parts to this classic casserole are the chicken meat, broccoli, and cheesy sauce. While you can serve it as it is, the creamy chicken tastes great over top of simple, filling sides. Probably the most classic combination is serving Divan over rice. You can use White or Brown Rice. For other easy bases try making some egg noodles or Mashed Potatoes. The simple sides taste amazing the creamy cheese sauce and they make the dinner more filling. 

MORE CHICKEN DISHES

TIPS FOR MAKING CHICKEN DIVAN

  • Prep time: To start the Chicken Divan recipe spray a 3 quart casserole dish with vegetable oil spray, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, or use shredded chicken. 
  • Chicken mixture: Add the broccoli, cubed chicken, cream of chicken soup, milk, sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder to a large bowl. Toss the ingredients until the divan sauce coats the chicken and broccoli. If the cream sauce is seeming too thick add an extra splash of milk to the sauce ingredients. 
  • Toppings: Pour the casserole into your pan, and spread them out evenly. Top it off with cheese. Break the Ritz crackers into crumbs and mix them with melted butter. Sprinkle the crumbs over the top of the cheese.
  • Bake: Cook for 18-20 minutes until the creamy sauce is bubbly and the top is golden brown.

Chicken Divan in pie plate covered with cheese before baking

VARIATIONS ON CHICKEN DIVAN

  • Cheese: This creamy chicken casserole is already wonderfully cheesy with 2 cups of shredded cheese melting over the top. However, you can always change things up by using different kinds of cheese. Try out parmesan, mozzarella, Swiss, provolone, or pepper jack. You can use the other cheese to replace the cheddar entirely or use 1 cup grated cheddar and 1 cup of the other cheese varieties.
  • Mushroom: Try using cream of mushroom soup in Chicken Divan instead of cream of chicken soup. You can also slice up some mushrooms to toss in the casserole along with the mushroom soup mixture. 
  • Flavor add-ins: For some different flavors try mixing in some sauces with the creamy mixture like Dijon mustard or Worcestershire sauce. You can also add spices like oregano, paprika, red pepper flakes, or curry powder. 
  • Bread crumb topping: Instead of using a ritz cracker topping you can use Panko breadcrumbs. You can also make your own bread crumbs, by drying out some bread overnight and then breaking it into crumbs. 

MORE CHICKEN CASSEROLE DISH RECIPES

HOW TO STORE CHICKEN DIVAN

  • Serve: Don’t leave Chicken Divan at room temperature for more than 2 hours. 
  • Store: If you have any leftovers, cover the casserole with foil or plastic wrap to store in the fridge. It’ll stay good for 3-4 days. 
  • Freeze: You can also wrap the leftovers in plastic wrap, tin foil, or put it in an airtight container in the freezer. It will stay good for 6 months.

Chicken Divan in pie plate

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Dinner, then Dessert

Chicken Divan

Chicken Divan is an easy weeknight meal made of chicken and broccoli topped with a creamy, cheesy sauce. Ready in 30 minutes; try it today!
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 12 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Chicken Divan serving on plate
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 4 cups broccoli , freshly chopped
  • 3 chicken breasts , cooked and chopped
  • 10.75 ounces condensed cream of chicken soup , (1 can)
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese , shredded

Topping:

  • 4 tablespoon unsalted butter , melted
  • 20 Ritz crackers , finely crushed (or panko)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 pan with vegetable oil spray.
  • Mix the broccoli, chicken, chicken soup, milk, sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder together then pour it into the baking pan.
  • Top with cheese.
  • Mix the Ritz crumbs with the melted butter and top over the cheese.
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Nutrition

Calories: 255kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 524mg | Potassium: 370mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 636IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 188mg | Iron: 1mg

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Easy Chicken Divan

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  2. We made this tonight. It was awesome. I put too many bread crumbs on. Best to eye it than put on too many. We cooked the broccoli some before adding to the recipe.

    Reply

  3. Hi,
    Saw you’re recipe for Chicken Divan. Looks really appetizing! It’s so easy,
    anyone can put this together, including me. Thank you for that!
    My question is, when the recipe calls for can of soup, I usually use Campbell’s Creamy chicken soup. The directions say, dilute by adding can of water!
    Are you surprised to add water or use the soup just out of the can as is?

    Thank you for all your amazing recipes.

    Reply

    1. The directions to add a cup of water are for making soup. since we are making a sauce, please do not add the water as the sauce will become too watery.

      Reply