Super Easy Baked Cheesy Chicken

Barbara and Anna’s Cheesy Chicken

I’m not sure if I can legitimately name this chicken recipe for my sister-in-law Barbara who made the first batch I ever tasted, or for her youngest daughter who loves it too. It came out of an unnamed magazine and I enjoyed it because:

• it is super easy
• my husband could eat chicken every day of the week while I get tired of the same old
• anything with lots of cheese and butter is going to be tasty

Okay, so it won’t win any awards from the health department. But if you round out the meal with freshly steamed broccoli or carrots or a California mix, your favorite vegetable or fruit salad, and maybe a rice pilaf, it moves up on the nutritional scale. I have made the cheesy chicken twice for large groups. I wanted to have plenty of a main meat dish, so I also prepared baked chicken tenderloins covered simply with an Italian type dressing for those who preferred something lighter and not breaded.

So that makes an easy menu alternative to offer alongside the cheesy chicken when serving a larger group. People seemed to like having a choice, and both were eagerly consumed, with a few leftovers from each choice.

Cheesy Chicken

1 sleeve Ritz (or other) crackers, crushed
6 oz. sharp grated cheese (we swear by Extra Sharp Cracker Barrel Cheese)
Salt and pepper to taste
6-8 boneless skinless chicken tenderloin or breast pieces
4 Tablespoons melted butter

Mix crushed crackers and grated cheese together. Melt butter, place in bowl that you can dip chicken pieces in. Dip each tenderloin first in butter, and then cracker/cheese mixture. Place in lightly sprayed 9 x 12 baking dish. Cover with remaining crumbs, as desired. You may end up with extra crumbs, depending on how big your chicken pieces are.

Bake for 30-40 minutes in 350 degree oven.

Two tips:

1) As easy as this is, don’t screw it up the way I did one time, mixing the butter with the crackers and cheese. Globby mess. Don’t do it.

2) If your chicken pieces are frozen, the melted butter congeals very quickly on the frozen meat; better to use pieces that have thawed in the fridge and aren’t so cold.

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I also wrote about Barbara recently in an Another Way newspaper column, here. One of these days I’ll get one of her talented children to video her as she makes her oft-requested Shenandoah Valley Renowned Macaroni and Cheese.

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My book, Whatever Happened to Dinner? has some family favorites in it, but also recipes from a wider group of families from my office.