Wow! It’s been way too long since I’ve shared a recipe! You probably think I never cook (and depending on who you asked, you might be right ;)
I may not have time to make a gourmet meal every night (or ever), but I can always whip up this Swiss Cheese Chicken in no time flat! I thought this meal was great for Thanksgiving too since it uses Stuffing Mix, and even more importantly leaves you plenty of time to shop those Black Friday Sales!
You’ll notice below that along with showing you how to turn this into a freezer meal, I’ll also show you how to incorporate it into your food storage plan – because after you make it once, you won’t ever want to go without!
I’m a part of a freezer meal group in my area, and they’re probably ready to kick me out because I bring this meal to exchange all the time – but it’s just soooo good I can’t help myself.
I feel like I’m cheating a little, because it’s almost too easy to make! This week we held our exchange and I made 8 of these meals in less than 30 minutes (yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s cheating)!
Swiss Cheese Chicken is also one of those meals that’s great to take to new moms or picky eaters, because it doesn’t have any of the common “I HATE THESE” ingredients in it – like mushrooms, onions, sour cream, or anything green (the things my kids complain about most). But don’t let me stop you from throwing broccoli in or anything else that makes you feel healthy!
All right, let’s get cooking…
Swiss Cheese Chicken
This meal consists of just layering ingredients! If you have a few kids hanging around, have them join in and form an assembly line! You’ll be done in no time!
Layer Ingredients:
- Cover bottom of pan with Chicken. You can leave the breasts whole, or cut as small as you like. You can even make this with about 2lbs of canned chicken – it’s not as scary as it seems ;)
- Layer 6 slices of Swiss Cheese on top of the chicken (I actually tried out Pepper Jack this time, so feel free to mix it up too)!
- Mix the Cream of Chicken with 1/4 cup of Milk – You can also add more milk to have more of a sauce, whatever you prefer.
- Pour the Cream of Chicken Mixture over the Cheese.
- Sprinkle Stove Top Stuffing Mix over the top!
- Drizzle 1/4 cup melted Butter over the Stuffing mix!
That’s it! Now you throw it (or place it gently) in the oven and bake it uncovered at 350 for 45-60 minutes (or until the meat is cooked through).
Once it’s done cooking, serve over rice and eat until your tummy’s happy!
Make it a Freezer Meal:
If you want to turn this into a freezer meal or be a super-mom and give it to someone, make sure to STOP after you put the cream of chicken mixture on top. You don’t want to put the Stove Top Stuffing Mix on or it will get nice and soggy while it sits in the freezer.
If you’re an over-achiever make sure to add some rice to the meal with the directions on it ;) Nothings more annoying then making a meal and realizing you’re missing a key ingredient.
You could also substitute the rice for noodles, or even omit it completely.
Quick Tip: If you make freezer meals a lot, I love these disposable pans & lids! They stack great in the freezer, are the perfect size, and look great too!
The ones I use are:
- 4 Pound Aluminum Oblong Pan – 11.5″ x 7.5″ x 1.5″
- 4 Pound Foil Board Lid – You can’t forget the Lid, that’s what makes them stackable (and of course pretty)!
P.S. Please ignore the fact that my freezer needs a major defrosting party (unless you’re volunteering)!
Don’t forget to attach the cooking directions so others can make Swiss Cheese Chicken too!
Or even better, print off the recipe below and tape it to the pan – otherwise they will be hunting you down for it ;) – That’s what I had to do to get this recipe in the first place!
This post was originally shared on Or So She Says.
- 4 Chicken Breasts (or enough to fill pan)
- 6 Slices Swiss Cheese
- 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
- ¼ cup milk
- Stove Top Turkey Stuffing (about ½ box)
- ¼ c butter
- Cover bottom of pan with chicken.
- Lay Swiss Cheese over chicken.
- Mix 1 can cream of chicken soup and ¼ cup milk.
- Pour mixture over chicken.
- Top with ½ bag (or more) of Stove Top Turkey Stuffing.
- Drizzle ¼ cup butter on top.
- Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes.
- Serve over rice.
Make it a Food Storage Meal:
With a few minor adjustments, you can incorporate nearly any recipe into your long-term food storage plan. Here are some suggestions to make sure you can eat Swiss Cheese Chicken all year long ;)
First, know the shelf-life of the ingredients you are storing, or ways to extend it. My rule of thumb is I look for alternative options for anything that won’t last me at least 3 years.
Second, figure out which option or method you will use to store your food. It doesn’t have to be just one either, you can combine a few different options depending on how often you are rotating through your food.
Ingredient Options With Longer Shelf-Life:
- CHICKEN –
- Can Your Own Chicken (3+ year shelf-life)
- Purchase Freeze-dried Chicken (25 year shelf-life)
- CHEESE
- Freeze blocks of cheese – I know it’s not recommended, but I do it all the time.
- Wax your own cheese
- Purchase some Freeze-dried Cheese (25 year shelf-life)
- CREAM OF CHICKEN
- Buy Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup – Even after the expiration date food is often still good.
- Make a Cream of Chicken Soup Mix from scratch.
- MILK
- Use Instant Powdered Milk (25 year shelf-life)
- STUFFING MIX
- Buy extra boxes or bags of Stuffing Mix
- Make your own Stuffing Mix using shelf-stable ingredients.
- BUTTER
- Once again you can freeze butter (at least I do).
- Use a Butter Powder (3 year shelf-life)
- Or Get Canned Butter (2+ year shelf-life)
- RICE
- Store in Buckets or #10 Cans (25 year shelf-life)
How to Calculate a Year Supply of Ingredients
for Swiss Cheese Chicken:
Now that you know what ingredients you want to use, it’s time to figure out how much you need of each!
Depending on the amount of mouths you are feeding and how often you want to eat a particular meal, be sure to customize the amounts to your family’s needs and tastes!
I don’t want to eat the same meal more than once a month, so I get enough ingredients to make each meal 12 times, but you could do more or less – totally up to you!
| A Year Supply of Ingredients for Swiss Cheese Chicken | ||||
| Ingredient & How it’s Stored: | Shelf-Life: | 1 Meal | 12 Meals | 24 Meals |
| Chicken (canned chicken) | 3+ Years | 2 lbs | 24 lbs (24 pint jars) | 48 lbs (48 pint jars) |
| Freeze-Dried Cheese (FD #10 cans) | 20 Years | 2 cups | 24 cups (3 #10 cans) | 48 cups (5 #10 cans) |
| Cream of Chicken (cans) | 3 Years | 1 can | 12 cans | 24 cans |
| Milk (powdered milk) | 25 Years | 1 Tbsp | 12 Tbsp | 24 Tbsp |
| Stuffing Mix (boxes) | 3 Years | 1/2 box | 6 boxes | 12 boxes |
| Butter (canned butter) | 3 Years | 1/4 cup | 3 cups (3 cans) | 6 cups (6 cans) |
| Rice (#10 cans) | 30 Years | 2 cups | 24 cups (2 #10 cans) | 48 cups (4 #10 cans) |
Once your list is finished all you have left now to do is go shopping!
Are there any meals you have in your food storage that you love?
P.S. Want other simple and easy meals like Swiss Cheese Chicken? Those are the only kind I know how to make ;) Feel free to check-out my FAVORITE RECIPES – the best part is most of them can be made from ingredients already in your pantry!
Jamie, this looks fantastic! My son would love having something other than Cream of Mushroom rice and chicken! Not that I make it every week or anything. But something with a different flavor is so nice to have on hand.
Thanks for another great post!
Be Well–The Lady Kay
I think that’s pepperjack in the pictures, not Swiss.
Yep! You are very observant and know your cheeses ;)
You can use whatever cheese you want. I do mention at the beginning sometimes I like mixing it up and trying pepperjack.
Can this be prepared in a glass pyrex dish instead of the pan shown?
Absolutely!
i know you said use whatever cheese you want but all I have is shredded. Cool?
Definitely, once it’s melted no one will now the difference ;)
What ingenuity! Who could possibly say no to a comforting combination like this?
I’m curious what’s the best way to reheat this?you see I made this for dinner last night only to find out that my oven temperature is off so after cooking for 45 minutes at 350 I had to Cook for another 30 minutes at 375 before it was done. We ended up getting take out because it was too late to eat it so today we want to eat it but not too sure how to reheat it….?
I think that microwaving it would just try it out and I’m not sure what effect putting it back in the oven Would do?
I hate when that happens!!!
You can always microwave it, but I personally think it tastes better when you throw it back in the oven if you have time.
If you’re worried about it drying out, maybe put tin foil over the top or even add a little more milk to it.
This was a huge hit! Absolutely delicious and so simple. I served it over mashed potatoes, although the husband requested rice for next time. And there will be a next time! Thanks for sharing!
That makes me so happy! I prefer it over rice too!
This looks yummy! I have 2 questions. How many does this serve and do you prepare the stuffing before you sprinkle it on or do you sprinkle it on dry? Thanks!
Awesome!
It serves about 4-6 (depending on how much chicken you use, and appetites ;)
I also just sprinkle the stuffing on dry, then drizzle the butter on top.
Hope you enjoy!
Hi, should I cover it when baking?
I don’t, but totally up to you.
I made this dish for dinner last night, it was GREAT! My hunny sad “Good job Baby, This was FLAME!”
Even my 11 year old picky daughter said that it was really good & actually ate all of her food for once!
I will be making this again very soon, thanks!
That makes me soooo happy :)
Very interesting web side. With a lot of useful information.
Interesting is good right ;) Anyways, thanks for stopping by!
Do you have a calorie/nutrition breakdown? I imagine it’s not figure friendly but it sounds so yummy as a special night comfort food.
I don’t, I need to figure out how to do stuff like that ;)
I’ve made this before in the crockpot and it’s luscious.
I’ve been making this for many years, but I add sliced mushrooms on top of the cheese and I use cornbread stuffing mix.. I’m thinking of adding broccoli next time as that would make it a complete meal. It isn’t necessary to put it over rice as the stuffing already has a bunch of carbs.
I’m not a big mushroom fan, but love the broccoli idea!
I made this for dinner last night and my was it yummy! I put it over white rice with green beans, rolls and salad.
Thanks for the great, easy recipe!
So glad you liked it Laura!!!
do I need to thaw it before cooking if I’m making it as a freezer meal?
Yes, I try an put it in the fridge in the morning or night before to let it thaw.
Really delicious and super easy. Thanks for the recipe, I will be making it again.
Thanks Kristen! I love easy meals ;)
I can’t wait to try this! Have you ever cubed the chicken? I have a three year old and was thinking it might be easier to serve to her that way. I also notice you said to leave the stuffing off if freezing or taking the dish to someone. Should I bring the box of stuffing and give to them put on? And tell them how to finish preparation? Thanks!! :)
Yes, you can cut the chicken up as small as you (or your 3 yr old) desire! You may just need to adjust the cooking time, since smaller pieces sometimes don’t take as long to cook.
When I bring the meal to someone I usually just put the box of stuffing with it and write the directions on the pan.
Hope you and whoever you bring it to enjoy it!
I’m currently living overseas and want to make this. However, boxed stuffing is not available today. Do you think I an substitute breadcrumbs for the stuffing?? Thanks.
Yeah, for Texans ;)
There are lots of recipes for stuffing too, here’s one that might work – http://kitchensimplicity.com/stove-top-stuffing/
Hope your enjoying it overseas!
Oops, I meant to put boxed stuffing is not available in the area I live :) by the way, I’m a fellow Texan too!!
You are a very organized person. Wish I could do half of what you do. Trying recipe today will let you kmow what family thinks about it.
You’re too kind. I wish I could get done half of what people think I do too ;)
Sounds great will try today.
Just put it together for dinner tonight could not have been any easier, thank you very busy person.
This looks and sounds so yummy. I am going to make it tonight. I really enjoyed your post and all your tips.
Thanks.
Is it okay to put a finished product like cheese over raw meat? My husband is questioning me on this. It’s true we usually put the cheese on last after most things are cooked, but I’m not the most knowledgeable cook. Thanks
Good questions, I’ve never thought about that before. I’ve always done put the cheese over the raw meat, but you could always cook the chicken first and then put the other ingredients on to bake it long enough just until the cheese melts.
I think it would be ok to put cheese over the raw chicken for two reasons, milk can or may contain salmonella as well as raw chicken. and milk is found in real cheese not sure about the processed cheese, the temperature salmonella breeds is between 40 and 140 degrees so you want to bake it at over 140 degrees to kill any bacteria.
Thanks for explaining Jerry!
Tried this recipe for dinner tonight and it was a total success!! LOVE the crunchiness that the stuffing adds – even my picky eater loved it! Definitely going into the rotation of tasty and easy meals. Thanks!!
Yippe! Glad you liked it! I love the crunchiness the stuffing adds too!
I made this for dinner last night with the pepper jack… It was awesome!! Husband also loved it and wanted it again! Thanks for sharing this quick comfort recipe!!
Made it, it was a hit. The pepperjack cheese was great. Will definitely make again as my husband would say. Thanks
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Finally, a recipe that is cheap, healthy and kid-friendly. I tried looking up “healthy kid recipes” on the web, and all I got were websites with (and these are actual recipes): Cauliflower pancakes, quinoa infused broccoli poppers and some sort of white lentil leek dish. Yuck!
What? Recipes like that exist? Is someone playing a joke on Moms ;)
No wonder we need Prozac!
Glad you found this recipe, and stopped by to comment! Thank you!
I’m excited to try this tonight for dinner. I’m going to do half pepperjack for me because I love it. And half Colby for the kids.
I was wondering how long to cook if I used canned chicken?? Thanks.
I cook just long enough for everything to get hot and melt the cheese. With canned chicken I still cook for about 30 minutes.
Add a layer of thin sliced smoked ham between the chicken and cheese and it is chicken cordon bleu. Super Yummy!!
Brilliant! Thanks for the idea!
Sounds yummy! Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but doesn’t boxed Stove Top stuffing come with a ‘seasoning packet’ separate from the bread crumbs? Do you use both parts or just the bread crumb portion. Or perhaps I’m just wrong about the Stove Top! Totally possible! Thanks for the recipe!
I am going to make this tonight. I am wondering what most of you did with the stuffing? Did you make it first or put it on dry?
I put it on dry, but I’ve never tried making it first. I may have to try that out.
Looks good- can’t wait to try! Two questions- can you use chicken cutlets? And what size pan to use? Thanks!
Chicken cutlets I’m sure would work great too.
I use an 8×11 or 9×13 – just depends how hungry we are ;)
I also sometimes make a 9×9 to eat and then anther 9×9 for the freezer.
Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but doesn’t boxed Stove Top stuffing come with a ‘seasoning packet’ separate from the bread crumbs? Do you use both parts or just the bread crumb portion. Or perhaps I’m just wrong about the Stove Top!
No, it doesn’t have a seasoning packet (at least what I use), so you can just sprinkle on as much or as little as you want.
Thank you! This was so easy and tasty! Made 2 batches ( 1 for my family and one for a sick friend) and everyone loved it!
I’m so glad! You’re such a good friend!
Am I correct to assume the chicken breasts called for are boneless? ust double checking before giving this a go :)
Yes they are! Sorry, I should have mentioned that!
Curious, does it matter the flavor of stuffing? I made my grocery based on the pictures and bought chicken stuffing but now that I’m preparing to make the dish I noticed the recipe calls for turkey stuffing.
It doesn’t really matter, I use whatever I have.
I am thinking you could also use mushroom soup and do a mushroom and swiss chicken.
how does your freezer meal group work?
Ours is very laid back. We have a Facebook group. and each month someone offers to host it at their house. If anyone wants to participate for that month they go ahead and respond so we know how many meals to make. We actually have a freezer exchange tonight, and 5 people signed up so we just show up with 5 meals and swap them.
I made this tonight and it was sooooooooooooooo good! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
Yeah! That makes me super happy!
Hi Jamie: I just finished making this dish for dinner…it was absolutely wonderful. I used the Jack cheese and it added a nice little kick to the dish. This is definitely a keeper. Thanks for a great, fast recipe.
That’s great! It’s definitely a keeper in our fam!
Just made this for tonight’s dinner, all I can say is that it was absolutely lovely and had them asking for more.
I added a few chilli flakes to the breadcrumbs which I made instead of the packet will most definitely make this again.
Oooh, I like the chili flakes idea!
Jamie, this was one of my mother’s favorite “serve chicken to company” recipes so I’ve been making it for years with a few of her alterations. I always use Lorraine swiss and always crush the stuffing in the bag BEFORE I open the bag. But, I think the one alteration which makes the largest difference is the thinning of the soup with 1/2 can of white wine. Love that it is so easy and so impressive.
Fabulous alterations! Thanks for sharing!
I used frozen chicken and put it in as is and didn’t thaw because I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to or not because directions didn’t say. Well, at the end the chicken was not done at all so I cooked it prob another 15-20 min and I’m eating it right now and hope I don’t get food poisoning.
This recipe sounds very versatile. Have you tried it with pork chops? Maybe the boneless ones with perhaps a cream of onion soup. I’m tempted.
Hmmm, sounds yummy! Let me know if you try it!
This was so good and husband approved! I found the recipe after I had already gone grocery shopping but had similar items at home. I had 1 pound of chicken tenders, cream of broccoli and panko crumbs. I’ll definitely make this again with more chicken so that there are leftovers!
I made this for the first time last night after pinning it on Pinterest. Let me just say my guy and his daughter said I can make it again anytime I want! I also used the pepper jack cheese and it was just enough to enhance the flavor.
I only did one thing different from your recipe – I still used chicken breasts, but I cut them into 1″ pieces and arrange on the bottom of my pan. It seemed to make it last longer, and we even had enough left for lunches today.
Thanks Again!
I just prepared this and layered it all wrong. I forgot about the cheese lol so it’s layered chicken, cream of chicken mixture, cheese, then stuffing.. Will it be awful? Never made it before and was hoping my husband would like it now I’m worried.
It might turn out fine. Everything tastes better with cheese, but your healthier version will probably work too ;)
We are saucy people, can this be made with extra sauce? Can I up the milk to 1 cup? Or do you have any suggestions as to how to make this more saucy!!!!
Thanks, Janet
I’m sure you can! I’ve actually made it where I’ve cooked the chicken and sauce separate so you can put as much sauce as you want on!
To make it a little healthy use the healthy heart soup and the stove top has tons of sodium try using stuffing with the lowest sodium possible, depending on what your local stores carry.
If you use a 9×13 pan and more chicken do you double the cream of chicken soup mix?