Serve up some bliss for dinner with my crispy Ritz Cracker chicken. Dip in milk, rolled in Ritz crackers and cheddar cheese. Wow, period. I’ve been making this chicken dish for years. It has become a regular in our family dinner rotation. It’s one of those “go-to recipes” because everyone, and I mean everyone, is happy when it’s on the dinner table.
Another reason I really like this recipe is it seems that I always have the ingredients in my fridge, freezer, or pantry. It’s one of the recipes I go to on a hectic day when dinner is the last thing on my mind during the day but at 5:00 is the first thing on everyone else’s mind!
If you’re like me, and always on the lookout for delicious chicken dinners with lots of flavor, I hope you’ll try our creamy Tuscan garlic chicken, chicken Francaise, buttermilk roasted chicken. Looking for more easy dinner inspiration? My Chicken Dinner Recipes collection is filled with cozy casseroles, creamy skillet meals, and simple weeknight favorites.
RITZ CRACKER CHICKEN INGREDIENTS
- Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken breast.
- Crackers: Well, Ritz crackers, of course!
- Eggs: We use 2 large. If you go to make dinner and realize you’re out of eggs, you can use sour cream or mayo in a pinch. Eggs work best though!
- Salt + Black Pepper: We use just a little bit of both.
- Cheese: We love sharp cheddar cheese.
- Parsley: You can use dried or fresh parsley.
- Can Soup: We use Cream of Chicken and thin it out to use as a gravy. You could use cream of mushroom soup instead.
- Milk: I use whole milk.
Serving Recommendations
We love this with our stick of butter rice, smothered potatoes, Mississippi Mud potatoes, crack potatoes, Boursin cheese scalloped potatoes, or everyone’s fav, funeral potatoes.
A nice crisp salad is always a great side. We love a simple salad tossed with our amazing balsamic vinaigrette.
We also love this with strawberry spinach salad or strawberry salad (both uniquely different and each with its own dressing!), Portillo’s chopped salad, grinder salad, or our fully loaded Mediterranean salad.
RECIPE NOTES FOR RITZ CHEESY CHICKEN:
- Crushing: You can crush the Ritz cracker in a food processor or place them in a 1-gallon ziplock bag and smash them with a rolling pin. If you have young kids helping you prepare this recipe, this is always a fun thing for them to do.
- I like the crumbs to be a little coarse, so they maintain a bit of texture. Feel free to make them finer if you prefer.
- Sticking: Okay, so I want to warn you when you coat the chicken with the shredded cheese, a good deal of it falls off. Don’t sweat it. I just pressed it back on, sometimes adding a little more after the crumb mixture on the top of the chicken pieces. It all melts together when it bakes and turns out great.
- Cutting the Chicken: The recipe calls for the chicken breasts to be cut into 3 equal pieces. I love this because it gives each piece a little more of the delicious coating. It also is a great way to extend 4 chicken breasts and serve more people.
- More Seasoning: Feel free to season the chicken with garlic powder and onion powder before dipping in the beaten eggs.
STORING + FREEZING + MAKE-AHEAD
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? Once fully cooked, leftovers will keep in an airtight container in your fridge for 3-4 days.
- Can You Freeze This? Yes, this can be frozen. Thoroughly cool the chicken completely and store it in the freezer for 4 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Make-Ahead Tips: This recipe has make-ahead magic built right in! You must let the chicken marinate atleast a day, preferably two. So go ahead and let your chicken get cozy in the fridge!
- Food Safety: If you’d like more info on food safety check out this link.
MORE DELICIOUS CHICKEN RECIPES
- Creamy Lemon Chicken
- Apple Chicken
- Balsamic Chicken
- Million Dollar Chicken
- Chicken Milanese
- Instant Pot Lemon Chicken
- Chicken Alfredo
- Lemon Pepper Chicken
- White Chicken Enchiladas
- Shoyu Chicken
TRIED THIS RECIPE?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ritz Cracker Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 4 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
- 2 sleeves Ritz crackers crushed
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 cups cheddar cheese grated
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
Sauce:
- 1 (14-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
- 1/4 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF (204ºC). Spray a 9X13 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Mix the Ritz cracker crumbs (2 sleeves) with melted butter (4 tablespoons).
- Pour the Ritz crumb and butter mixture, beaten eggs (2), and cheddar (3 cups) into three separate shallow dishes. Add salt (1/4 teaspoon) and pepper (1/4 teaspoon) to milk and stir to combine. Set aside
- Cut chicken (4) into three equal pieces. Dip each piece into eggs, then cheddar, then finish in the cracker crumbs. Place dipped pieces in the prepared baking dish. Finish with remaining chicken. Sprinkle with dried parsley (1 teaspoon).
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes or until chicken pieces are cooked through and edges are brown and crispy.
- In a small saucepan combine soup (1 can) and 1/4 milk whisking to combine. Heat through and serve over chicken.
Notes
- Crushing: You can crush the Ritz crackers in a food processor or place them in a 1-gallon ziplock bag and smash them with a rolling pin. If you have young kids helping you prepare this recipe, this is always a fun thing for them to do.
- I like the crumbs to be a little coarse, so they maintain a bit of texture. Feel free to make them finer if you prefer.
- Sticking: Okay, so I want to warn you when you coat the chicken with the shredded cheese, a good deal of it falls off. Don't sweat it. I just pressed it back on, sometimes adding a little more after the crumb mixture on the top of the chicken pieces. It all melts together when it bakes and turns out great.
- Cutting the Chicken: The recipe calls for the chicken breasts to be cut into 3 equal pieces. I love this because it gives each piece a little more of the delicious coating. It also is a great way to extend 4 chicken breasts and serve more people.
Made ritz crackers chicken and so easy and so delicious!! Thank you!!!!! Definitely will make it again 😁
So happy you enjoyed, Charlene!
Excellent recipe. I will definitely make one of my go to receipe. I did not make any amendment to the receipe
Yaaay! Thanks, Jim. I’m glad you like this chicken 🙂
It says soaked in buttermilk at the top but does not have it in the directions??
Hi, Christina. I updated the recipe. Thank you for letting us know. Enjoy!
Can you use regular milk? I hate buttermilk and never buy it.
Hi, Jackie! Yes, milk works perfectly
Just a quick note. I have not made this yet, but I also do not like buttermilk. However, it just adds a little umph to the chicken. I usually make my own by mixing milk with vinegar, forgot the amounts so you can google it. It works beautifully. I cannot wait to make this recipe!,
Loved it! Made it last night for my family & everyone was happy…served with steamed broccoli, salad & rice pilaf.
Yay! So glad Pamela <3