Chicken Divan has been around since the early 20th Century, when it was invented at the Divan Parisien Restaurant in the New York Chatham Hotel. So classic American dish is what I’m saying.
It’s been done with cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken … celery … broccoli … pretty much if Campbell’s makes it, someone has put it in this dish. My wife said she ate it nearly ever week her senior year of high school as her mother kept tweaking the recipe, trying to come up with the “perfect chicken divan”. Did she ever find it? I don’t know, she’s never made it for me. So my wife made it for me.
Of course we don’t do canned soup, so she had to use the home made creamy asparagus soup from the day before.
Ingredients
6 chicken thighs
4 chicken breasts
1-2 pounds broccoli florets
1 cup mayonnaise
4 cups creamy asparagus soup
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup butter
stuffing mix, croûtons or bread crumbs (see below)
Directions
Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and cook over high heat with a little olive oil or bacon fat. (If you use extra virgin olive oil, go with low temperature. I use pomace, so I can go hot.)
While that’s cooking, butter a large casserole dish. I’m using the Mario Batali 13 x 9 extra-deep lasagna pan
Arrange the cooked chicken in the bottom, then cover with the broccoli. (You don’t need to cook it first. In fact this was still frozen when she added it.)
Most people dice the broccoli into smaller pieces, but our girls like big chunks.
In a separate bowl, combine the mayo, soup, lemon and curry and whisk together.
Pour the soup mix over the chicken and broccoli, then add the bread crumbs.
NOTE ON STUFFING MIX: Yes, I’m all about cooking from scratch. But it hasn’t always been this way. Which means we still have some stuff in the cupboards that has been there for … I don’t know, actually. Which means “quite a while” I guess.And since some of these products have “Use By” dates measured in years, I can’t bring myself to throw them out. So every now and then we find some way to use up something that we wouldn’t buy today.
So anyway …
My wife melted the butter, but thought it didn’t look like enough for the large pan. She was about to add more, when we noticed how much liquid was left in the pan from the chicken. So the butter went in with that and stirred to pick up any flavor left baked onto the pan.
Then pour that over the bread crumbs. We didn’t go straight from the pan, because it would come out really fast and be hard to control. So first it went into a measuring cup so she could cover the bread evenly.
One thing we forgot (because it wasn’t written on the recipe card … yay for missing steps) was to cover this before baking. Cover with a lid or with foil before baking at 350° for 30-35 minutes.
Ours came out pretty crunchy. Tasted good, but it was supposed to be softer than this. You do still want a little crunch, though. So after it’s cooked, but it back in with the lid off for another 5 minutes or so until it gets a little browned on top.
If you diced up the broccoli, you might be able to lift out nice, square pieces, sort of like a lasagna.
We didn’t. So we got uneven servings that would drive food stylists nuts. Oh, and tasted really good.
And that’s it.
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14 Comments
Your wife contributes to your culinary delinquency more than Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel series contributed to my every day delinquency. Please do me the favor of shaking her hand and congratulating her for me, would you? I'm fixing this for my inlaws on Sunday because they LOVE American food and I LOVE impressing the pants off of them. THANKS!
Drew did your better half precook the broccoli? It doesn't look raw in the picture. Can I use frozen broccoli? Should I defrost it, precook it?
I like crunch, I think your divan looks divine! Thanks
Kate, I'll pass that along.
Katklaw, thanks for asking, I forgot to mention that. It's updated now. (By the way, the answer is "frozen, uncooked".)
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome.
Happened to have everything around, including FRESH Broccoli. Made it with everything, except the Asparagus Soup… (ashamedly used canned creme of celery soup).
Dang, I'm full and so is the wife and kids that were over last night. This is an EASY way to get veggies into kids and have them ask for more. Tricked out Dressing.
Fortunately we don't have to hide the veggies. They both like broccoli, carrots, corn, peas … Now if only I could get them interested in lettuce we could serve them salad.
Mmmm, chicken divan…it was big in my house growing up, too. I cook it for my husband every now and then; it was a family favorite when I was a kid, and I'm working hard to worm it into our regular menu as an adult, haha.
Our recipes look pretty similar (and yes, I am ashamed to admit to usually using canned soup when I make it), except my sauce has a cup of cheddar cheese in it and for the croutons, we get a loaf of the prepared garlic bread (not frozen) from the bakery at the grocery store and cut that up into big chunks. Also, mine bakes for a full hour, 30 minutes covered and 30 minutes uncovered, then we leave it to rest for 20 minutes to let the flavors blend and whatnot (or so I was told, that could have just been my mother's way of keeping us from plowing into it before it was got to the table, haha). The croutons are the best part, too, so you really need to lose the stuffing mix
I love how they absorb the sauce so they're all soggy on the bottom and crunchy on top. Yum!
I'm going to have to make it pretty soon, I'll give your recipe a shot!
What are the chances that two people think to create the same dish from the past in the same week? I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw your post and realized that the meal I had just cooked is called Chicken Divan as well as Chicken-Broccoli Casserole, and that after not having cooked it for more than 20 years, I cook and blog it at the same time that you did. (www.rainforestrecipes.blogspot.com). Your version looks/sounds really delicious … I love the idea of using another flavor of soup and I will try that the next time I make it.
Tamara and Anne, you both have cheese in your versions. I'm pretty sure that will be making an appearance nest time I do this.
Naturally, it should. I can't think of many things that some cheddar can't improve
Ok that's just not true. But in the case of chicken divan, it's a must!
Drew, I love this website…just stumbled upon on today.
I am not a fan of mayo – in fact, it makes me want to puke. Is it necessary in this recipe? Could something else be used? Egg wash?
If you tell me that I won't taste it at all, I might still use it. But if there is any taste of mayo or remnants of the texture, then I probably won't eat it…
TIA!
As far as I could tell there's no remnants of the texture at all. As for the taste, the soup, curry and lemon overwhelm anything that might have been there. If you're using good mayo, then all you should be tasting anyway is eggs.
Looks delicious and I would love an updated post if you make it again with cheddar and bread chunks or croutons.
My family calls this "Chicken on the Sofa." They think they're funny.
I'm liking the asparagus soup/curry powder combination. Yum!
Jenni, you know that says something about their age, right?