Canned chicken recipes

We have a couple of cans of chicken breast meat in the cupboard. Since I’m not at home, I don’t know what brand it is. So what do I do with it?

  1. Make chicken salad for chicken salad sandwiches;
  2. Make chicken enchilada casserole (chicken, cream of mushroom soup, corn tortillas, cheddar cheese, olives)

I’m always up for a meat salad. Tuna salad, SPAM® salad, crab salad, chicken salad… They’re all good, and chicken salad would be a decent default.

I pretty much object to chicken enchilada casserole. I’ll eat it if my wife makes it, but it’s heavy and it’s a carbohydrate bomb.

Of course a chicken pasta salad with grapes and gorgonzola and maybe some chopped walnuts is good, only not good for the diet. I like to avoid pasta, rice, and bread.

I sometimes use canned chicken in soup or stew, and might also add it to fried rice.

The stuff that’s in a tin like tuna? I always make chicken salad from that. Usually a curried version with some fruit component (I like underripe apricot or apricot preserves; sometimes apple; sometime raisins and dates; it’s all good), mayo, celery, cilantro, maybe some green onion or red onion. You can throw in some nuts or seeds in there, too.

Chicken taco meat. Add a couple cans of chicken to a can of El Pato sauce, heat, et voila!

Buffalo chicken dip for Superbowl snacks.

That’s chicken salad/sandwich territory for me. The chicken, some sliced grapes, slivered almonds, tarragon, a little mayo, some pepper.

I’d go chicken salad. I tried to add it to a packaged mushroom risotto. I will never do that again; it made me a bit nauseous. I will not try package risotto again nor will I do much other than chicken salad with canned chicken. Bleh.

I buy it to use in Tuna Helper instead of tuna.

I’d also do salad. But hold the nuts and grapes on mine.

The real treat is slurping off the broth the chicken is canned in.

There’s always Chicken Spaghetti, a dish my gf’s family makes. It isn’t bad.

It sure isn’t good either, unless your chicken spaghetti is light-years better than the versions I’ve had around here at pot-lucks and the like.

The only time I’ve had Chicken Spaghetti is when my gf has made it (once every 3-5 years) and she always apologizes. Likewise, I occasionally make ham barbecue sandwiches just like Isaly’s used to make and I apologize to my gf.

There are never leftovers for any of those dishes, though.

I’ve done chicken salad, a quick chicken and rice soup, a chicken noodle, and added it to other rice/noodle dishes. I never thought of using it in a casserole, largely because I don’t generally make casseroles.

I sometimes make chicken veg quesadillas if I’m short on the onions, peppers, and mushrooms. I drain a can of chicken and add it to the tortilla with vegetables, a little cheese, fold, and saute briefly in a nonstick pan (maybe with a teeny bit of butter or oil). Can also add it to soup, packaged soup like Lipton noodle, or matzoh ball soup.as a base -maybe with some frozen mixed vegetables.

I do a enchilada casserole that’s basically canned chicken, cream of chicken, green chilies and pepper jack with a green sauce. It’s pretty good and the green chilies add a good flavor. Like you, I just don’t do many casseroles anymore so I maybe make it once every two years.

A can of chicken and one of those “Bear Creek” soup mixes are my emergency rations.

You could try stuffing some big shells with a white sauce.

Sounds like something that would work in a pasta (radiatori) dish that I make with chicken, broccoli, crushed almonds, Parmesan and abundant oregano. I usually just grill a thawed chicken breast from the freezer, which sometimes turns out dry. Maybe canned chicken would avoid that problem.

What I like the most from the canned chicken is the broth. It’s quite salty, but so good. So, yeah, it stays quite moist.

In that sense, it might work well in cannelloni, too.

1.make chicken ala king–chicken,gravy over rice or pasta, maybe add peas
2. chicken noodle soup with peas and carrots, celery (you can even use ramen)
3 add to salad, though I prefer chicken strips