This Chinese Chicken Casserole is a quick and easy dinner made with leftover holiday turkey or chicken or your neighborhood grocer's rotisserie chicken. It's easy, healthy and perfect for the busy weeknights.
3-4cupscooked turkey,chopped or 1 rotisserie chicken, chopped or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
Sesame oil(if using raw chicken breasts)
1cupcelery
1cupcarrots,grated (I used a pre-grated package)
1cupsnow peas,fresh from produce section
½cupgreen onions,sliced
1teaspoonminced garlic
1cupcashew pieces
¾cupcrunchy chow mein noodlesGoldbaums makes a gluten-free version(optional)
Pinchof cayenne
1cancream of chicken soupor cream of mushroom (Pacific Organic makes a gluten-free version)
½cupchicken broth
2Tablespoonsrice vinegar
4TablespoonsHoisin sauce(check for Joyce Chen's gluten-free version)
1TablespoonTamari soy sauce
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large oval casserole dish with a non-stick spray.
Using a mandolin, julienne your zucchini with narrow blades into noodles.
Place in a colander, salt generously and let sit over a bowl for at least 30 minutes. This will get most of the moisture out of the zucchini that would dilute the dish. When ready to add to dish, carefully squeeze one last time to get any remaining moisture out of the noodles.
While zucchini is sweating, prepare chicken if using raw chicken.
Season chicken with salt & pepper.
Heat sesame oil in large skillet and cook chicken thoroughly. Drain and place in large bowl.
Follow directions from here for cooked chicken. To the same skillet, add a little more sesame oil, if needed, and saute celery, carrot, snow peas, green onions and garlic for about 5 minutes. Place vegetables in bowl with chicken.
Add zucchini noodles, ½ cup cashews, ½ cup chow mein noodles and pinch of cayenne to the bowl with chicken and sauteed vegetables.
In a small bowl, whisk remaining ingredients together then add to chicken-vegetable mixture. Toss well.
Pour into prepared baking dish.
Bake for 25 minutes then top with remaining nuts and chow mein noodles and cook for 5 additional minutes.