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!!!!

I make a chicken dish for a crowd. Bake boneless chicken pieces (I like thighs) put out bowl of rice and all the topppings, pineapple, peas, cheese, onions etc. Let everyone build their own.. You can find this and it is often called Hawaiian chicken

Hellman's Parmesan Crusted chicken breasts are super easy and delicious. Instead of bread crumbs for the topping, I use Pepperidge Farms Herbed seasoned stuffing mix over the mayonnaise/parmesan spread. Easy to assemble and they bake up in about 25 minutes at 425 degrees.

How about chicken spaghetti?

Thanks to all for your help. They all sound good and easy. Will try a few of them to see which one I like. Again thanks, Mary

Another quick, easy one is to put desired chicken pieces in a zip lock bag, pour a bottle of Zesty Italian dressing in bag. Turn several times so all chicken is coated. Keep in refrig overnight, take chicken pieces out and grill. The dressing keeps the chicken very moist and great flavor.

This is my "go to" for feeding a crowd.
Diabetic friendly Chicken salad-

1 pound any type pasta, cooked, drained and cooled with cold water to stop cooking.
2 cans chopped black olives
2 16oz cans of any type beans ( black, pinto, kidney, garbanzo, etc) drained and rinsed
2 each red and green peppers (chopped small)
1 big sweet white onion (chopped)
4-8 celery stalks (chopped)
6 -8 oz any cheese (grated)
1 small package frozen peas thawed ( i put them in the colandar before I drain the pasta, and the pasta heat thaws them)

Bake chicken breasts ( 6-8) in a foil packet to prevent drying it out, cool and cut into bite size pieces. Using a huge non-metal bowl, mix all together and top with a large bottle of any salad dressing, (DH prefers the zesty italian) but you could use what you like, just remember that any mayonaise based salad dressing must be kept cold!
Just so you know the volume of this salad for a crowd, I use a big white "dish pan" that I keep just for these large recipes, especially taco salad! ( also makes a great bread bowl)

*any meat will work, we have tried tuna, leftover roast, ham, canned salmon (not pretty, but yummy), even ground turkey.
*This salad is a complete meal, so you can make dinner for tomorrow tonight, and spend the time you have guests, actually visiting with your guests.
* you can put the onions, celery, and peppers in the microwave for a few mintes to soften them for babies or people with teeth problems, and it is still yummy!

I'm not sure how I came up with this but my family and friends love it. Best of all - it's easy!
Spray a baking dish. Take thin chicken breasts (Costco-Kirkland tenderloins work great) dip them in egg and then Parmesan cheese (I double dip them). Put them in the baking dish and top with crumbled Feta cheese. Bake at 350 until chicken is done - approx. 1/2 to 3/4 hr. Don't over-bake. Enjoy!

I have saved this and will try it the next time I have a crowd to feed. Thanks for the recipe!

You're welcome!

Yummy, that is a favorite around here.

A family get together favorite around our house is:

Chicken breast cut into strips, seasoned with a little bit of black pepper and garlic powder. Then pour salsa (your preference) and simmer for about 20 minutes while the Spanish rice cooks in another pan. Serve with tortillas and all the fixings.....shredded cheese, sliced green onions, black olives and guacamole.