Ideas for canned chicken...

[phoenikia]

I've got 5 cans of chicken from Costco and I'm not sure what I can make with it, apart from chicken salad sandwiches.
Does anyone have any recipes that use canned chicken?

[TheGem]

I use it in Cobb salads or Chicken Waldorf salads.
COBB: Chopped canned chicken, head of romaine, black beans, diced avocado, hard boiled egg(s), shredded cheese of your choice, grape tomatoes, and bacon. Then dress with 2 parts your favourite Ranch & 1 part your favourite salsa. Really good!
WALDORF-ish: Chopped canned chicken, apples, toasted walnuts, chopped celery, fold in mayo to taste. You can even make this in smaller pieces and use as a sandwich spread.

[AOMommy]

The canned breads are awesome. We like to camp and I love to use the canned bread for breakfast. Our family favorite is the Bran Raisin. You can eat it cold or toasted with a little butter yummy. It also works great for PB&J. Canned Chicken can be very versatile and cheap. A quick easy meal idea would be a Sheppard’s pie, Chicken chili, soup, Chicken Hash, Pot Pies, Chicken Taco Rice, Fajitas, BBQ Chicken Sandwiches. Basically it can be used in place of almost any meat.

[MrsCheese]

I cook this recipe for quesadillas and use the canned chicken for the "cooked chicken." It's good. I use regular mushrooms and cooked them on a grill pan.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

We also use it for chicken salad, like everyone else. I use mayo, green onion, craisins, and almonds (and sometimes curry if I'm feeling a little crazy).

[thursday]

It's still chicken salad, but we were sick of the traditional kind and experimented, so I thought I'd share our find - drain canned chicken, mix with mayo, ginger, roasted almonds and a dash of honey - we call it Chinese Chicken Salad, though the Chinese might be offended at the abuse of their culture... ;) Serve either in sandwiches, on crackers, or on shredded cabbage for a more salad-y meal.

I find the best uses of canned chicken is in things with thick creamy sauces (mayo, cream of soup casseroles) or lots of spices to mask the slightly metallic/generic taste.

[greygarious]

Chicken croquettes
Chicken Divan
Chicken-Corn Chowder - using a favorite corn chowder recipe, add the canned chicken during the pureeing part of the recipe.

[hotoynoodle]

is it a regional thing?

i saw this blog, please scroll through, and i'm now terrified to ever encounter this product.

http://ihatemymessageboard.com/2009/0...

[yayadave]

Could you stretch your imagination to see this thing as poor man's duck confit? Uhhhh, I thought not.

[hotoynoodle]

lol. it looks like it was hit by a car and then stuffed in the can. i'm afraid of it. other posters here eat it?

[azmendozafamily]

Well, we buy the canned chix from Costco and we've gotten pretty creative with the uses.

One, and it's my personal favorite (being from Mexico City it reminds me of a warm summer day eating street tacos with my family down at the corner stand. Not Norman Rockwell, but it's home to me... Anyway, I digress.)
The Basic stuff you need:
1 Can Chx.
1 Med Onion (finely diced)
Cilantro, also Finely chopped.
Salsa (vary to your taste)
Tortillas. Corn is preferred, it's a little more authentic.

Get yourself a skillet hot enough to make water dropplets dance on it, and plop your drained chicken on it. Let it brown. Remove to a warm plate. I add a little bit of lime juice at the end to sorta deglaze the pan, then add the deglazed goodies to the alsa... yuuum.

Format your taco as you see fit. I like the minimalist, coat the salsa on the tortilla, add chix, onion and cilantro. My wife likes hers with Sour Cream, a slice of avocado, and cilantro. Do as you will.

For a trully authentic meal, turn on a little transistor radio, set up your "taco stand" outside on the balcony rail, or just a paper plate. Eat while standing, and try to avoid getting anything on your shirt. Ok, a little too authentic. At any rate, ENJOY!!

In Mexico, as I remember it, we didn't have a lot of luxuries, so FOOD was a big combo meal of sustenance, entertainment, and socializing.

[jenniebnyc]

Chicken and mushroom crepes

[zeus112999]

I buy the same canned chicken at Costco... there are a couple things that I use it for. The package I bought came with a little recipe booklet. One of the recipes was for Chicken Enchiladas- they were excellent! I have the recipe at home and can post it later.

Another idea is that it works really well to make chicken salad for sandwiches... just take a can of the chicken and drain it. Add chopped celery, lemon pepper and either mayo or ranch dressing and stir together with a fork. The chicken seperates nicely and you have great chicken salad in minutes with no cooking, chopping, etc. Tastes really great when served on a crossiant.

[phoenikia]

Thanks for all your suggestions....
I took the casserole suggestion and used 2 cans last night in a Chicken Chile Verde served over rice- it was a success!

[pamd]

this is the one my friend makes...

2 (10oz) cans chunk chicken, drained
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch dressing
3/4 cup buffalo hot sauce (like Franks)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

carrot sticks, celery sticks, crackers for serving

Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat.
Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. (can also put in a shallow casserole or pie dish in the oven as an alternative to the slow cooker)

[twodales]

Here is my version:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Marie’s blue cheese salad dressing
1/4 cup Frank's Original Cayenne Hot Pepper Sauce, you can add more if you want it hotter
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
Use about a cup of left-over chicken OR rotisserie chicken OR 2 (9.75 ounce) cans Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, drained or 1 (large can, around 14 ounces?) Don’t break up the chicken too much or it will be so smooth no one will know that there is chicken in it! The canned version works if you want convenience.

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F

2. Stir the cream cheese in a 9-inch deep dish pie plate with a fork or whisk until it's smooth. Stir in the dressing & pepper sauce. Add the crumbled blue cheese and stir gently. You don’t need to over mix it. Add the chicken but don’t stir it too much. You want a little texture to the dip.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot and bubbly. Stir before serving.
To make in the microwave: Use a microwavable 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Prepare the dip as directed above. Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH for 5 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot, stirring halfway through the cook time.
This dip can be kept warm in a small crockpot or fondue pot on the buffet table. Recipe may be doubled.

Good with Frito Scoops (large Fritos) & celery.

[pamd]

my friend often makes buffalo chicken dip using the canned chicken. It always seems to go fast at every party

[Kuisine]

I keep seeing mention of this buffalo chicken dip in various threads... anyone point me to a recipe?

Thanks!

[Jonah]

We have used canned chicken in enchiladas before, in a pinch.

[DPGood]

How were they? (The enchiladas)

[Funwithfood]

I added it to a strata once, and it ruined it--threw it out. It tasted like canned tuna (a friend liked it though, so it may just be me).

Based on my experience, I would only use it for making cold dishes. Let us know how it works for you.

[yayadave]

I'll bet there are some nice breakfast stratas or casseroles that use chicken. Oh yeah, you can make biscuits and chicken gravy.

[steinpilz]

canned chicken, that's tough. how about mayo and curry, maybe grapes?

[yayadave]

How about just about any casserole you can think of. For example, chicken & noodle casserole. Or for salads with chicken. Have you ever eaten a Devonshire sandwich? If you really want to try something, make “Phoenikia’s Almost Cassoulet” by using your chicken in place of the duck. You’ll need to add some grease. Maybe chop up some bacon and cook it down for the flavor and the grease. I didn’t say it would be real cassoulet, but it’ll be good to eat. Or just make chicken noodle soup.

[bryan]

could you describe a Devonshire sandwich?

[yayadave]

The basic Devonshire Sandwich would be a slice of toast topped with sliced turkey or chicken, bacon, tomato slices, and cheese sauce. There are variations: 2 pieces of toast, no tomato, and, of course, the cheese sauce. Best is probably a cheddar sauce, but some just use Velveeta and some add chicken broth to the cheese sauce. I'm sure you can see the opportunity to add seasonings. If you pile it up, it's a sturdy lunch.

[twodales]

Isn't this usually called a "Hot Brown"?

[Kuisine]

I second the idea of any sort of old-fashioned hot casserole dish you like that uses chicken. We use it for a "chicken bake" that's pretty unabashadly one of your standard cream-of-whatever soup casseroles, but that doesn't stop me from liking it :)

12 corn tortillas (don't use flour for this, they turn to mush)
2 cans condensed cream of whatever (usually I use mushroom, I think the original calls for 1 cream of mushroom and 1 cream of chicken)
1/2 diced onion (I usually use a whole onion, but we really like onion)
diced green chiles (canned is fine)
2 cans of the pre-cooked chicken
1 c. chicken broth
shredded cheese
S&P
optional: sauteed mushrooms

Preheat oven to 350.

Sautee up the mushrooms, if you're using them.

Mix together in a BIG bowl your chicken, condensed cream soups, chicken broth, onion, green chiles, salt and pepper to taste, and the mushrooms (after sauteeing) if you're using them.

So, all you do is take a casserole dish, spray it down with cooking spray. Layer in 6 of the corn tortillas to cover the bottom and up the sides of the dish a little, they should just barely overlap each other at every edge. Pour in half your chicken/soup mixture and spread so it's fairly even. Top with a thinnish layer of shredded cheese. Layer in the final 6 corn tortillas, barely overlapping at the edges again. Pour in the rest of the chicken/soup mixture, spread evenly. Top with enough shredded cheese to cover.

Let it bake in the oven for 30 min, the cheese should be just getting the slightest bit brown around the edges when you take it out. Let it sit for about 10 minutes before cutting into it to let it "solidify" some, otherwise the soup just runs all over the place.

[kare_raisu]

i'd like to know what people due with those canned whole chickens...what up with that(and the canned brown bread)?

[Euonymous]

I've never seen a canned whole chicken, so I don't know what's up with that either, but brown bread is usually cooked in a can. It's steamed like a pudding. So actually canning it doesn't seem like much of a leap.

[rworange]

Just not to side-track this topic, here's a post on the General Board about Sweet Sue Whole Chicken in a Can.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

As to the OP, once I got over the idea of canned chicken (the normal kind, not whole), I came to love the stuff. Use it for anything where you would use cooked chicken or canned tuna.