Most recipes I’ve seen for this chicken and broccoli casserole don’t inspire me much. It seems to be a popular dish. I even have a stained recipe card from my grandmother containing her version, with a potato chip topping.

Tonight I saw one that used sauteed chicken breasts rather than cooked diced chicken, fresh broccoli rather than frozen (which I just happened to have on hand), and bread crumbs with some grated Cheddar cheese on top, rather than the crushed potato chips. It did still call for the ubiquitous cream of chicken soup, which you easily substitute your own homemade version of, although I ended up using a can of cream of mushroom soup instead. I roughly halved the original recipe, needing to only feed 3 tonight and used Colby cheese rather than the Cheddar.

1 Tbs oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups fresh broccoli
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/8 tsp curry powder
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Colby or Cheddar cheese
a few dabs of butter or butter spray

Heat the oil. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts and saute until done, turning in the pan to cook evenly. Cut each breast into half or thirds.

Cook the broccoli in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then drain.

Spray or oil a 9×9 pan. Put the broccoli in it. Put the cooked chicken on top of it.

In a small bowl, mix together the soup, milk, mayonnaise, curry powder, lemon juice, and pepper. Spread over the chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of that. Spray the crumbs with butter spray or dab a few bits of butter on top.

Now, the great part of this. You can cover and refrigerate until ready to bake for dinner. Uncover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so. If you haven’t had to refrigerate it, 20 minutes will probably do just fine.