Instead of making sweet potato pie, which I don’t particularly like, I made sweet potato muffins instead, and I was very happy with the outcome. What about a cupcake? Whether frosted or not? It doesn’t matter; these are truly amazing.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 2-quart casserole |
Ingredients
- 2 cups diced cooked chicken
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 (8 ounce) can sliced water chestnuts
- ½ cup slivered toasted almonds
- 1 (2 ounce) jar chopped pimento peppers
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¾ cup grated Cheddar cheese
- ½ cup crumbled French fried onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Combine chicken, mayonnaise, celery, water chestnuts, almonds, pimento peppers, dried onion, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with Cheddar cheese and French fried onions.
- Bake in the preheated oven until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 481 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 14 g |
| Cholesterol | 50 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 685 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 40 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Made this for a holiday lunch and it was a hit. Guests asked for the recipe.
Delicious and great to serve to company!
Loved this recipe. Always looking for cooked chicken recipes when purchasing a rotisserie chicken. Added sautéed mushrooms and used Ritz cracker/cheese topping with a little olive oil. Topping turned out brown and crispy.
Had to replace water chest nuts, used chopped walnuts. Had to replace French fried onions. Used crushed ritz crackers with melted butter. Didn’t have almonds, but still was very good. Can’t wait to make it the right way.
This made alot! I had leftovers for my lunch and dinner the next day. 🙂 I left out the fried onions,because I didn’t have any,and placed the sliced almonds on top of the casserole instead of mixing them in.I substituted chopped red pepper instead of pimiento, because my hubs doesn’t like pimiento,nor do I. I, like other reviewers thought 1 cup of mayo was way too much,even though the chicken I used was a routissere which I got 2 1/2 cups chopped chicken. I used 2/3 cup mayonnaise and the casserole didn’t come out dry.
It was ok, but not a fan. At first it was good, but became too much.
Wow. My loaves turned out great. Instead of white sugar, I used honey. I found out on researching that for 1 T of sugar, can replace it for 2t of honey. So I used 6 t of honey, to replace 3 T of sugar. I only put 1 1/2 t kosher salt instead of 1 T OF SALT.
Came out fantastic every time; great base for other casseroles as well. —may use 4 cans of solid albacore tuna (water drained) instead of cooked chopped chicken since I always have tuna cans handy. —use 1/2c miracle whip instead of 1c mayo (less fat while keeping the great flavor) —use chopped walnuts instead of almonds —may use 1 red bell pepper instead of pimento pepper —add French fried onions during the last 10 min of cooking to avoid overcooking
My boyfriend did not care for it. I thought it was ok.
This is a tasty dish but I do have some issues with the directions. The fried onions cannot hold up to 30 minutes baking. I should have known better and just added them the last 5 minutes. I had to pick burnt onions off the top of my dish. I agree with other reviewers that one cup mayo is too much. I halved it. I also added garlic powder, basil, and smoked paprika. I sprayed my casserole dish with Pam. I liked the crunch that the almonds and chestnuts gave the dish. I will make it again, with a few adjustments.
love it all good
I pan fried the celery with real onions before I added to chicken mayo mix. Also added a tap of chili paste as I don’t like pimentos. Served with mashed cauliflower. Good! Family likes it and I will repeat it!
Could be very good but too much mayonnaise – I would half the mayonnaise at the very least. It’s delicious but I could be sick off of mayonnaise alone.
Delicious! So easy to make and we all loved the ‘crunchiness’. The only change I made was to use a little less mayo, maybe about 3/4 of a cup (I used half light and half regular). Will definitely make again!
I am so glad I followed my hunch and tried this recipe. The only changes I made: Did not use the almonds, added one garlic clove and used half a cup of light mayo (which seemed like plenty.) It was delicious! Served on top of warm Naan bread. And no it doesn’t make very much….but then again my husband and I eat a lot. A winner.
Easy and quick but the mayo tasted so overpowering. Maybe ill try just 1/2 cup next time.
So quick and easy to prepare! It looks pretty unappealing going into the oven but quickly fills the kitchen with delicious smells, and in the end it was a hit! I only made a few changes to suit our tastes. First, I probably had closer to 2 1/2 cups of chicken because I used both greats off of a salt-free rotisserie chicken. I added 2 minced garlic cloves, bumped the black pepper to 1/2 tspn, used light mayo, and knocked the salt back a bit. I also forgot the almonds (realized they were still sitting on the counter after the casserole had been baking for 10 minutes) but will try them in next time. Mixed everything well in a large bowl before spreading into the baking dish. Baked for 35 minutes and served alongside steamed broccoli and brown rice. It was super tasty, husband loved it and requested it again soon, and I especially liked the crunch the celery and water chestnuts gave. Even with the extra chicken, this was closer to 5-6 servings for us.
9.29.16 It’s so nice to have a tasty, new casserole recipe that doesn’t have a can of soup among its ingredients. I may have had a can of large water chestnuts, so I did halve the slices. I had just enough Mexican 4-Cheese Blend on hand, so I made a substitution there, otherwise, followed the recipe. The casserole has a nice “crunch” from the water chestnuts and celery, and that cheese and little bit of French fried onions was just the perfect topping. I will try cutting back the mayonnaise a bit next time in an effort to reduce calories and fat (this is an indulgence for the way I eat) because I’m not convinced that you really need a full cup of mayo. The one comment I would make relates to the number of servings. I don’t think we’re really big-portion eaters, but this is six servings for us, not eight…but that’s just a personal comment. We enjoyed this, and it definitely will be made again (probably with leftover turkey from the not-to-distance Holidays).