Chicken Crunch Casserole – Chicken Casserole with Water Chestnuts and Potato Chips

What’s so special about Chicken Crunch Casserole? Diced chicken and soft egg noodles are combined with water chestnuts, almonds and celery to create a delicious meal. Topped with crushed potato chips, this chicken water chestnut casserole is a perfect option to serve the whole family.

This easy chicken casserole is all about the crunch, and it comes in multiple forms.  For starters, it includes a combination of water chestnuts, celery, and slivered almonds mixed in with the chicken and noodles. And then, the icing on cake is the layer of crushed potato chips that adorn the top.

Chicken Crunch Casserole Recipe

I love how this chicken crunch casserole combines two of my favorite things – casseroles topped with potato chips and casseroles with a whole lot of crunch and texture. My love for casseroles topped with potato chips started with my Mom’s Tuna Noodle Casserole. I went so far as to convert it to chicken form with this Easy Chicken Casserole recipe.

More recently, I discovered how amazing crunchy casseroles are when I found this Cashew Chicken Casserole. The soft texture of wide egg noodles mixed with crunchy ingredients like nuts and celery is a home run.

Chicken Casserole with Water Chestnuts and Potato Chips

This is a super easy dinner recipe for the family.

My kids can get behind a casserole with shredded chicken and potato chips on top. The cool thing is that the almonds, celery and water chestnuts are cut small so they give a crunchy texture, yet they are kinda hidden too.

The secret ingredient in this crunchy chicken casserole is the lemon juice.  It gives a bright flavor that I really love. Feel free to use fresh lemon juice or lemon juice from the container in your fridge.

How do I make a casserole dish?

My favorite thing about casseroles is the versatility.  I can think of a half of a dozen easy substitutions that you can make based on what’s already in the refrigerator or pantry.

For example:

• Use shredded chicken, leftover rotisserie chicken or drained canned chicken instead of diced.
• Instead of wide egg noodles, try elbow macaroni or old fashioned egg noodles.
• If you’re out of cream of chicken soup, try cream of celery or cream of mushroom instead.
• Seasoned croutons, crushed butter crackers or buttered bread crumbs would be a perfect topping as opposed to crushed potato chips.
• Replace slivered almonds with chopped cashews.
• Swap mayonnaise for Miracle Whip and bottled lemon juice for fresh if needed.

Ingredient List for Chicken Water Chestnut Casserole

Celery, diced

Onions, minced

Miracle Whip

Lemon Juice

Cream of Chicken Soup

Salt

Black Pepper

Cooked chicken

Slivered Almonds

Water Chestnuts, drained and chopped

Egg Noodles, par-cooked

Potato Chips, crushed

How to Make Crunchy Chicken Casserole:

1. In a small bowl, combine celery, onions, Miracle Whip, lemon juice, cream of chicken soup, salt and pepper.
2. Mix together cooked chicken, almonds, water chestnuts, and cooked noodles in a separate bowl.
3. Gently combine the two mixtures.
4. Pour into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with crushed potato chips.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

For the full instructions and recipe amounts for Chicken Casserole with Water Chestnuts, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Notes About Crunchy Chicken Casserole with Water Chestnuts:

• Cook the egg noodles a minute or two less than the cooking instructions on the bag since they will continue to cook in the oven. Drain the noodles well before adding to the chicken casserole with potato chips.
• Most packages of wide egg noodles come in 1 pound packages. Eyeball about half a package for this chicken casserole with egg noodles.
• You have the option to leave the water chestnuts as they come in the jar or to chop them into smaller pieces before adding to the casserole. I diced mine into smaller pieces to make sure they would appeal to my small children.
• For a whole list of easy substitutions, see the blog post above.
• Our Amazon Store has lists of our favorite pantry essentials and kitchen gadgets.

More Easy Casserole Recipes:

Spanish Chicken and Rice

Chicken Tetrazzini (without cream soup)

Mom’s Cheesy Ham and Potato Casserole

Savory Sausage and Rice Casserole