Ours didn't look as pretty as the recipe picture, but it tasted much better than I expected!
Summary of tweaks I made (and whether I'll keep or skip next time):
Split recipe into 2 8x8 dishes and froze one. (Keep)
Added Lawry's seasoning to the chicken while cooking it. (Keep)
Crushed more crackers to sprinkle over the top. (Skip)
Added more poppy seeds to the top. (Skip)
Drizzled butter over the added crackers and poppy seed topping. (Skip)
Stopped cooking after 48 minutes because it was hot and bubbly. (Skip)
Next time:
Just add more crushed crackers when prepping the original crust, butter, and poppy seed mixture. I suspect the butter and poppy seeds will still be plenty.
Leave part of the dish untopped.
Cook the full hour, but maybe on a lower oven rack.
Might try using rotisserie chicken (especially leftovers).
Cut chicken pieces smaller (my preference).
Maybe add chicken?
Possibly add frozen peas or peas and carrots?
I save recipes to try without fully dissecting the instructions and ingredients. As I began making this, I noticed that there were no seasonings added except poppy seeds. That worried me, so I added Lawry's to the chicken that I hadn't realized needed to be cooked (please make this stand out more in the ingredients list, Samsung Food!).
Overall, the flavor was surprisingly good. One son didn't like the topping; he said it was a texture thing, but he also said he didn't notice the "crust." I'm not sure if this is because I added more topping because I had far too little left after making the crust, the crust was different enough because of the mix cooked on top of it, or if he just couldn't tell the difference between the crust and topping. Next time, it will be simple to leave a portion of it without topping.
The chicken/soup/sour cream mix seemed pretty soupy (no pun intended). This could be because I stopped cooking when I saw it was "hot and bubbly" (48 minutes), or it could be that I didn't use enough chicken. Or maybe it came out how it's supposed to be.
My husband doesn't like sour cream, and it's usually pretty obvious in casseroles that call for it. I couldn't smell or taste the sour cream in this, and he didn't mention it either. In fact, he was the first person to say that flavorwise, it was good.
This feels like a great base dish that could easily be modified. I'm sure it would work with frozen veggies added or maybe turkey leftovers and cream of mushroom soup instead. I also like that, for our family, I get one for now and one for the freezer. I'm looking forward to some experimentation with this one.
