Chicken Divan
Post updated: April 17, 2025
This dish is bursting with flavor. It combines chicken and broccoli in a creamy curry sauce, topped with crunchy fried onions. Serve over rice or eat as is.
Why I love Chicken Divan
Lemon is one of my favorite flavors to pair with chicken. This recipe also includes curry, sending it to the top of my comfort food list. This is one of the dinners that I make in a pinch. This easy recipe is in my head, and I know everyone will eat it without complaint. Double bonus! It’s also easy to make in the morning or even the day before and pop in the oven for dinner; it only takes 30 minutes to bake.
The history behind this recipe
I’ve always wondered, “Why the name Divan?”. So, I finally googled it. I also looked at a few other recipes for Chicken Divan Casserole on the World Wide Web; mine is very different from most. The typical Chicken Divan is chicken and broccoli baked in a mornay sauce. Mornay sauce is a creamy sauce made with Parmesan or Gruyere cheese. The Divan Parisien Restaurant at the Chatham Hotel in New York City served the original recipe in the early 1950s. Therefore, the name Chicken Divan. Another difference in my recipe from most is that I do not use any canned soups or Ritz crackers. I found the recipe I use in the First Evangelical Covenant Church Cookbook in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I have tweaked a few things in this recipe over the years. It’s always been a family favorite. Ok, enough with the history lesson, let’s get cookin’!
Gather these ingredients
How to make Chicken Divan
Get all of your ingredients out, and prepare to start making this classic chicken casserole.
1. Fill a medium-sized saucepan 2/3 full of water, salt it, and bring it to a boil. While the water is coming to a boil, trim and clean fresh broccoli. When the water is at a rolling boil, add broccoli florets and cook for 2 minutes, not one second longer. Remove the broccoli from the stovetop, drain it in a colander, and rinse with ice-cold water to stop it from cooking. Set aside and let the broccoli drain. Once cooled and drain spread cooked broccoli out in the bottom of the casserole dish.
2. Trim and cut chicken breast meat into bite size pieces. Sprinkle chicken with seasoning salt. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, add chicken pieces, and cook chicken until just cooked through and no more pink is visible. Remove the chicken and place it in the dish with broccoli.
3. Drain a can of sliced water chestnuts and layer on top of the chicken.
4. In the same pan you cooked the chicken in (there is no need to clean the pan), add one stick of butter and melt it. When the butter is melted, whisk in 1/3 cup flour. Cook the flour/butter mixture over medium heat and continue to whisk for 1 minute. Be careful not to burn the butter and flour. They should be light brown before moving on to the next step. (This flour-oil mixture is called roux.)
5. Gradually add milk to the roux, continuously whisking. After the milk is incorporated and you have a smooth, thick gravy, add the chicken broth, whisking the entire time. You want your sauce to be smooth, not lumpy. If the sauce seems too thick, add a little more broth and whisk. It should be the consistency of a loose pudding.
6. Remove sauce from heat, add salt and fresh ground black pepper, mayonnaise, and lemon juice, and whisk until smooth.
7. Whisk the curry powder into the sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken and broccoli and sprinkle with French-fried Onions. **I use a variety of curry powders in this recipe. We love curry, so sometimes I add a few extra teaspoons. Feel free to add more or less. Taste the sauce. Always taste as you cook, see what you like, and go from there.**
8. Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve over white rice.
Tip & FAQs
- Can I leave the curry out? Yes. You can leave the curry out of this recipe. I never have, however without the curry the recipe would be closer to the original recipe.
- What other vegetables can be used in this recipe? Green beans work well in this recipe. Cook them the same way, blanching them in boiling water before adding them to the casserole dish. Experiment and see what you like. We have only ever made this with broccoli or green beans.
- Can I use canned or frozen vegetables? Frozen, yes. Canned, no. If using frozen, simply layer the frozen broccoli in the bottom of the pan. Make sure there aren’t ice chunks or a lot of ice on the broccoli; this will mess with the consistency of the sauce. If there is ice on the frozen vegetables, rinse them and let them dry off on a towel before adding them to the casserole dish.
- How would you suggest making this recipe vegetarian? This recipe works great as a vegetarian meal! Add more vegetables, combine different vegetables, and get creative. The sauce is so delicious that I think it would complement most vegetables, especially broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, garbanzo beans, and carrot chunks.
- Freezer meal: Chicken Divan does not freeze well, but it is a great meal to make a day or two ahead and cover with plastic wrap. If you are going from fridge to oven, make sure you are using Pyrex or a dish made of borosilicate glassware. Otherwise, allow the casserole to come to room temperature before baking.
- Protein options: Shrimp works well in this recipe. Saute until just pink and remove from the pan. Shrimp can be a little underdone because they will finish cooking in the oven. There are a variety of different chicken options that work. If you want, you can use bone-in chicken; sear in a pan and bake the chicken divan long enough that the internal temperature of the chicken pieces is 165 degrees F. Pulled rotisserie chicken works well in this recipe; use 4 cups.
- Serving and storage: We always eat over rice, however cauliflower rice, brown rice, and wide egg noodles would also be an excellent choice. Store leftovers once room temperature in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to three days
This casserole is one of the great recipes of all time. There are casseroles, and then there are casseroles, and this one qualifies as a dish’. Please take a moment and give this a star rating in the recipe card below, and please share on your social media, making sure to tag me @eat2gather in your posts. PIN this recipe from the recipe card to your favorite meal board! I think that’s everything. Thanks for being here; go forth and feed your people! XO Sheila
Chicken Divan
Equipment
- 1 3 quart sauce pan
- 1 9×13 baking dish
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts cut into bite sized cubes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp seasoning salt I prefer Mortons Natures Seasonings
- 4 cups broccoli tops
- 8 ounce can sliced water chestnuts drained
- 8 tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- 14 ounce can chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed or bottled lemon juice
- 1 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise
- 3 tsp curry powder
- 1 1/2 cups Frenches onions add as much as you like, this is merely a guideline *wink*
Instructions
- Fill a medium-sized saucepan 2/3 full of water, salt it, and bring it to a boil. When the water is at a rolling boil, add broccoli florets and cook for 2 minutes, not one second longer. Remove the broccoli from the stovetop, drain it in a colander, and rinse with ice-cold water to stop it from cooking. Set aside and let the broccoli drain. Once cooled and drain spread cooked broccoli out in the bottom of the casserole dish.
- Heat olive oil on medium heat in a saute pan. Toss in chicken and cook until just cooked through and no more pink is visible. Layer cooked chicken cubes over broccoli in a baking dish.
- Drain a can of sliced water chestnuts and layer on top of chicken.
- Add one stick of butter to the same pan you cooked the chicken in. When the butter is melted, whisk in 1/3 cup flour. Cook the flour/butter mixture over medium heat, continuing to whisk for 1 minute or until the roux becomes light brown in color.
- Gradually add milk to the roux, continuously whisking. After the milk is incorporated and you have a smooth, thick gravy, Add the chicken broth, whisking the entire time. You want your sauce to be smooth, not lumpy. If the sauce seems too thick, add a little more milk and whisk. It should be thick enough to cover the back of a spoon without sliding off.
- Remove the sauce from the heat. Taste, then add salt and pepper. Next, add mayonnaise and lemon juice, whisking until smooth.
- Whisk in the curry powder; feel free to add more if you want. Pour the sauce over the chicken and broccoli and sprinkle with French-fried onions.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve over cooked white rice.
Oh, I have a couple that I can remember (recipes not cute boyfriends). John G's mom made homemade taco shells and then baked them in the oven with the meat in them…OH, MY…I almost married him just for those taco's. But I was not yet 16. Then Joe F's mom's homemade spagetti sauce with Italian sausage links. Another really, really good recipe.
Can't wait to try chicken divan. I am ALWAYS looking for a go to easy recipe!
I received my recipe from a cute boyfriend's mom too! Now she's my mother-in-law. Don't tell her, but your recipe is way better. Hers is good, but it calls for a few soups from a can, you know the type. Can't wait to make yours for my cute boyfriend/hubby!
YAY!! So glad you posted this!! It's one of my fav's of yours and Skeeter loves it too. I tried to make the recipe that is in that old Better Homes cookbook and it just doesn't taste the same but I haven't had it in so long I couldn't recall what was different. Mmmmmm, now will try yours. Sankyuuuuu!
I too love Chicken Divan! It's a household favorite and the receipe is my Grandmother's. I have wonderful memories of having dinner at her house eating Chicken Divan, still LOVE it to this day. I love how specifc food can hold such beautiful memories of one's childhood.
THanks for the post, it's on my menu for the week! PS, I have also used pheasant instead of chicken and it's delicious!
I *adore* chicken divan! But I must admit that it's my mom's recipe not an old boyfriends! :)Hilarious! I love that it's from your old boyfriends mom! This looks delish and different than what my mom makes, can't wait to try it!