Here, the oven does all of the cooking.

This is as classic casserole gets – many of us have been making it for decades, since it’s a crowd-pleasing complete meal in a dish that isn’t too hard to prepare.

This recipe sure does make it a lot easier. There is no need for the broccoli to be blanched and there is no need to prepare a sauce, either. Everything just goes in, gets stirred up and then thrown into the oven. The best part of this “dump and bake” recipe is that everyone who eats it enjoys it.

The original Chicken Divan recipe had a bechamel sauce and Gruyere cheese, but it has been simplified by many cooks over the years by making shortcuts like using cream of ‘whatever’ soups or Velveeta. If you don’t have time to make the original from-scratch version, this dump and bake variation will enable you to make it on any busy weeknight.

Serves 6
5m prep time
30m cook time

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups chicken, cooked and diced
• 1 (24 oz) package frozen broccoli florets, thawed
• 2 (10.5 oz each) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Place chicken and broccoli in baking dish.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together soup, mayo, wine, and lemon juice. Pour over chicken. Top with cheese.
4. Stir together breadcrumbs and melted butter and sprinkle over cheese.
5. Bake until bubbly and cheese has melted, 25-30 minutes.