Dairy-Free Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole Recipe
This dairy-free Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole is so comforting but much healthier than the original! Gluten-free, paleo & whole30 options!
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 552kcal
Ingredients
Chicken and vegetables
- 1 onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 4 chicken breasts diced
- 1 zucchini diced
- 3 carrots diced
- 1 tsp sage fresh or dried
- 1 tsp rosemary fresh or dried
Chicken Soup
- 2.5 cups almond milk 710ml (see note 1)
- 1/2 cup coconut cream 118ml (see note 1)
- 1 cup chicken stock 235ml
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour 61g
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast 30g
- 1.5 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
Topping (optional)
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 5.5 oz crackers crushed (see note 2 for options), 150g
- 2 tbsp melted butter ghee or refined coconut oil, or olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF.
Chicken & vegetables
- Spray a large frying pan lightly with oil.
- Add the vegetables as you cut them: onion, garlic, carrots, and then zucchini. Add the chicken and sautée everything until the vegetables are softer and the chicken is cooked through.
"Chicken Soup"
- Add the almond milk, coconut cream, and chicken stock to a medium saucepan.
- Remove some of the liquid (a few tablespoons should work) and mix it in a small bowl with the tapioca flour to make a slurry. It should be liquidy and easy to pour.
- Add the tapioca mixture back to the main pot.
- Add the salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.
- Cook on medium heat until the sauce thickens and then remove from the heat.
Assemble
- Add the chicken and vegetables to the bottom of the casserole dish or sheet pan.
- Pour the "Chicken Soup" over the vegetables.
- Sprinkle the poppy seeds over everything.
- Top with crushed crackers (optional).
- Pour over melted butter, ghee, or coconut oil (optional).
Bake
- Bake for 15 minutes at 175ºC/350ºF until the crackers are golden brown and the chicken mixture is bubbly.
Notes
- Milk: If I don't have coconut cream on hand, or I need fewer calories, I skip the coconut cream and replace it with 1/2 cup of almond milk, making the total almond milk 3 cups instead of 2.5. You can also use another dairy-free milk of choice.
- Crackers options:
- Buttery ritz crackers (the classic, really not good for you)
- Gluten-free crackers
- Ryvita (I’d recommend the black pepper one)
- Low carb crackers (these ones from Gnom-Gnom are good!)
- Pork crackling
- Paleo crackers (either store-bought or homemade. This is a great whole30 crackers recipe)
- Some nuts like crunchy almonds or walnuts
- Skip it! You can totally leave the topping off.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 552kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 749mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 22g