Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole with Ritz Topping

This creamy chicken noodle casserole is the one to make when you have a rotisserie chicken, a bag of frozen peas and carrots and a sleeve of Ritz crackers, which is to say most weeks. Shredded chicken and noodles are folded through a sauce of cream of chicken soup, sour cream, milk and sharp cheddar, then baked under a buttery cracker topping until the edges bubble and the top turns golden. It feeds eight, it takes 55 minutes, and it reheats like a dream.

The recipe card uses wide egg noodles, the classic choice. The pans in the photographs were made with rotini, because spiral pasta grabs the sauce in its ridges and holds up better to a second day in the fridge. Both are written up below, and either one gives you the same soft, cheesy, crunchy-topped creamy chicken noodle casserole.

Pictured: the rotini version from the Variations section, made with 12 ounces of rotini in place of the egg noodles. Everything else, from the sauce to the cracker topping, is exactly as written in the recipe card.

What Goes Into a Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole

Every creamy chicken noodle casserole is built on the same four parts: cooked noodles, cooked chicken, a creamy binder and a crunchy top. The binder is where most recipes go wrong, either by relying on condensed soup alone, which tastes flat and salty, or by making a full white sauce from scratch, which turns a weeknight dish into a project. This one splits the difference. Two cans of cream of chicken soup do the thickening, a cup of sour cream adds tang and body, a cup of milk loosens it so the noodles do not dry out in the oven, and a cup of sharp cheddar stirred through makes it taste like something rather than nothing.

The vegetables are frozen peas and carrots straight from the bag, thawed, plus half a diced onion that softens as the casserole bakes. Garlic powder, dried parsley, salt and pepper are the only seasonings, and they are enough, because the rotisserie chicken and the cheese bring plenty of their own.

The topping is crushed Ritz crackers tossed with melted butter over a layer of cheddar. The cheese melts into a seal that keeps the filling creamy while the crackers above it toast into a golden crust. It is the same idea as the crumb top on ham tetrazzini, and it is the part everyone fights over.

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Ingredient Notes

The flat lay shows the rotini version. Swap the bowl of rotini for wide egg noodles and it is the recipe card exactly.

• Wide egg noodles. Twelve ounces, boiled a minute short of the package time so they finish cooking in the oven. Rotini, as pictured, is the best substitute; see the Variations section for the small changes it needs.
• Cooked shredded chicken. Three cups, which is one rotisserie chicken. Leftover roast chicken or poached breasts work too, and so does leftover turkey after a holiday.
• Cream of chicken soup. Two 10.5-ounce cans, low sodium if you can find it. Cream of mushroom or cream of celery can replace one of them.
• Sour cream. One cup, full fat. It keeps the sauce from tasting canned; plain Greek yogurt works in a pinch.
• Whole milk. One cup, to loosen the sauce. The noodles drink up liquid in the oven, so a filling that looks loose going in comes out right.
• Frozen peas and carrots. Two cups, thawed and drained. Mixed frozen vegetables or a cup of frozen corn in place of some of the peas both work.
• Yellow onion. Half of one, diced small. It goes in raw and softens as the casserole bakes; saute it first if you prefer it sweeter.
• Sharp cheddar. Two cups, shredded from a block, half in the filling and half on top under the crackers. Pre-shredded cheese melts less smoothly.
• Ritz crackers and butter. One sleeve, about a cup and a half crushed, tossed with four tablespoons of melted butter. Crushed potato chips, cornflakes or panko are the usual substitutes.
• Seasonings. A teaspoon each of garlic powder, dried parsley and kosher salt, plus half a teaspoon of black pepper. Taste the filling before baking; canned soup varies in salt.

Egg Noodles or Rotini?

Wide egg noodles are the classic and they give the soft, old-fashioned texture most people expect from a chicken noodle casserole. They absorb more sauce, so the finished dish is a little looser and more spoonable. Rotini, the spiral pasta in the photographs, holds its shape better, catches sauce and bits of chicken in its twists, and reheats without going mushy. The National Pasta Association describes rotini as a shape made for thick sauces and baked dishes, which is exactly what this is.

Use whichever you have. The only real difference is the boil: egg noodles need six to seven minutes, rotini closer to eight, and both should come out a minute before the package says so they can finish in the oven.

How To Make Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole

Everything happens in one big mixing bowl and one baking dish. Boil the noodles while you mix the filling and the whole thing is in the oven inside 20 minutes.

Mix the Filling

First, heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and grease a nine-by-thirteen-inch baking dish. Cook the noodles in well-salted boiling water for a minute less than the package says, then drain them and set them aside.

Next, put the shredded chicken in a large bowl and pour the cream of chicken soup over it. Then add the sour cream and the diced onion, and follow with the peas and carrots, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour in the milk and stir until everything is evenly coated in a loose, creamy sauce. Stir in half the cheddar.

After that, fold in the drained noodles gently so they do not break, and taste the filling. It should be well seasoned already, because the oven will not add anything.

Top and Bake

Spread the filling evenly in the dish and scatter the remaining cheddar over the top. Toss the crushed crackers with the melted butter in a small bowl until every crumb is coated, then sprinkle them over the cheese in an even layer.

Finally, bake uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges bubble and the cracker topping is golden brown. Let the creamy chicken noodle casserole rest for five minutes before serving so the sauce settles and the squares hold together on the plate.

How To Tell When Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole Is Done

Since everything in the dish is already cooked, doneness is about heat and texture rather than safety. The edges are the tell: a done creamy chicken noodle casserole bubbles steadily all the way around the sides of the dish, not just in one corner, and the center should read at least 165°F on a thermometer pushed into the middle. Bubbling only at the edges after 25 minutes usually means the filling went in cold from the fridge and needs another 10 minutes.

The topping should be deep golden with darker brown edges on the cracker pieces. Pale crackers mean the crumbs were not coated in enough butter; a quick minute under the broiler fixes it, but watch it every second, because buttered crackers go from golden to black very fast.

Under the top, the sauce should look creamy and coat the noodles rather than pool in the corners. If it looks watery, it needed the rest; give it ten minutes and it thickens as it cools.

Make It Ahead

Assemble the filling in the dish, cover it with foil and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours. Hold the topping back in a bag, because crackers on top overnight go soft. Bake it from cold with the foil on for 20 minutes, then take the foil off, add the cheese and crackers and bake for 25 minutes more, until bubbling at the edges.

The filling can also be mixed a day ahead and kept in the bowl, with the noodles boiled and folded in at the last minute. That is the easiest route if you are feeding a crowd and want the oven free for a pot of chicken and dumplings or a dessert.

Storing Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole

Cool leftovers within two hours, cover the dish or move portions to airtight containers, and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Reheat squares in a 350°F oven, covered, for 20 minutes, or in the microwave with a splash of milk stirred in. The topping softens in the microwave; a couple of minutes in the toaster oven brings it back.

To freeze, bake the creamy chicken noodle casserole without the cracker topping, cool it completely, and wrap the whole dish or individual portions tightly. It keeps for 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, add fresh buttered crackers, and bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes until hot through. You can also freeze it unbaked and bake from frozen, covered, for about an hour, uncovering for the last 20 minutes.

Variations and Substitutions

Made with Rotini (Pictured)

This is the version in every photograph on this page. Use 12 ounces of dry rotini in place of the egg noodles and boil it for 8 minutes, two minutes short of the usual time, so the spirals stay firm through baking. Everything else stays the same. The result is a little more toothsome than the egg noodle version and holds together better when cut into squares, which is why it is the one to choose for a potluck or for freezing in portions. Penne, fusilli and medium shells all behave the same way.

Other Ways to Change It

From scratch. Replace the two cans of soup with a white sauce: melt 4 tablespoons of butter, whisk in a quarter cup of flour, then whisk in 2 cups of chicken broth and 1 cup of milk and simmer until thick. Season it well; it needs more salt than the canned version.

Extra vegetables. A cup of sauteed mushrooms, a diced red pepper, a cup of frozen corn or a few handfuls of baby spinach all fold in without changing the bake time.

Different cheese. Colby Jack for a milder, meltier filling, Gruyere for something nuttier, or a cup of Parmesan in the topping for extra crunch.

Different topping. Crushed potato chips, cornflakes, French fried onions or panko tossed with butter. Potato chips need no extra salt.

Turkey. Three cups of leftover roast turkey is the classic day-after-Thanksgiving use for this dish, and the sour cream keeps dry turkey moist.

What to Serve with Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole

It is rich, so something green and sharp on the side does the most good: a simple salad with a vinegary dressing, steamed green beans with lemon, or roasted broccoli. Garlic bread or soft dinner rolls are the usual carb-on-carb move, and nobody has ever complained about it.

If you are building a comfort-food table for a crowd, creamy chicken noodle casserole sits happily next to a pan of million-dollar spaghetti or the viral chicken cobbler, and the three together will feed twenty.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole FAQ

More Questions About Chicken Noodle Casserole

Keep a rotisserie chicken and a sleeve of crackers on hand, and a creamy chicken noodle casserole is never more than an hour away. When the pan is empty, the chicken cobbler is the next comfort bake to try.