Chicken for a crowd
 

Looking for a recipe , easy to make, chicken dish. Must feed 15-20 people. Any ideas. Thanks Mary

If no one is worried about fat or calories....take as many pieces as you need. Melt at least (probably more) 1 stick of butter. Coat pieces in butter then bread crumbs. Place on cookie sheet. In 450 degree oven for 45 minutes. No turning. Might want to line sheet with foil for easy clean up. When finished in oven, take leftover melted butter and drizzle over cooked chicken. Chicken is moist and tender. Always a hit at our house.

I love to make Chips and Chicken. It's like a hot Chicken salad but it doesn't need to stay hot. Once it's baked, you can serve it cold.

4 C cooked, diced chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 c. finely cut celery
2 tbsp minced onions
1 cup slivered almonds
1/2 bag regular potato chips, crushed
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2/3 cup mayonnaise
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1/2 box Uncle Ben's wild rice, cooked and drained

Combine all ingredients and place in 9 x 12 casserole. Cover top with additional 1/2 cup crushed potato chips. Bake 450 for 30 minutes. Serves 16

Growing up in the south, that always meant a huge pan of chicken and dressing or an equally huge pot of chicken and dumplings. However, nowadays, it probably would mean a trip to KFC or Hartz. Thee recipes above sound good. Another alternative would be to make a big pot of chicken and spaghetti or to pull out a grill and barbecue sauce. (That last would help keep the house cool. )

I just get the amount of chicken pieces I'm going to need. Put into a large bowl, drizzle a little oil to toss or put small amount on your hands and rub the pieces down with it. In another bowl you can have a mixture of bread crumbs and season to taste. We use Lawry's Garlic salt seasoning. Toss into that lay onto a small rack on a cookie sheet. 450 degrees at 45 minutes. To keep warm if needed, cover with parchment paper to absorb any steaminess/moisture and towel on top of parchment paper.

My choice would be BBQ chicken pieces. Brown in oil, then put in a big roasting pan and pour bottled BBQ sauce on top, cover and bake until tender.

My suggestion would be to do a "Shake 'n Bake" style chicken. There are many recipes on the internet for homemade shake and bake. I like making my own because I can control the salt content and the cost of larger quantities. I like to use a bag of herb seasoned stuffing crumbs (smashed) with a little onion salt and garlic powder. This is something that I find everyone likes. Even our picky grandkids!

This is my sister's recipe--hence the name. She made it for a family gathering and it stayed warm in a crockpot for ages, without falling apart or getting dry. But for that many people, I would be tempted to make a couple or three different recipes.

Rita's Chicken

4 lb. chicken (thighs or drums, if using boneless, a little less.
1 envelope onion soup mix
1-8 oz jar apricot jam
1/2 small bottle Kraft Russian dressing
pepper and garlic powder to taste (no salt needed because of the onion soup mix)

Season the chicken. Combine all other ingredients and pour over chicken. Marinate 24 hours and then bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Great served with rice.

For our camping potlucks, I make a crockpot chicken recipe using a 3 lb. bag of frozen chicken tenders, a bottle of Heinz chili sauce, a jar of grape jelly and a bottle of russian dressing. Cook for 5 hours on high, serves a lot of people.
I have also used a can of cranberry sauce instead of the jelly.

Another alternative, really simple and totally delicious....put chicken in crock pot, sprinkle with lots of dried onion bits and add diluted GOLDEN MUSHROOM SOUP 2 or. 3 cans and cook for several hours. Amazingly easy and soooo very good. Can also be cut down to a much smaller size, just vary the amount of soup used. Very important to use golden mushroom soup. Enjoy!!!!