It’s pretty clear that here at 12 Tomatoes, we love comfort food and we love casseroles, and this Comfort Chicken Casserole embodies the best qualities of both. A delicious casserole made creamy by that old cream soup standby, it’s a simple recipe where you stir everything together in the baking dish, top it with some irresistible crunchiness and pop it in the oven. It’s about five minutes of effort for a bubbly hot dish that the whole family is always happy about.

There’s rice and chicken so this is plenty hearty enough, and there’s also celery and sliced almonds for crunch. You gather all of that together in your baking dish, along with some mayo and cream of chicken soup and give it a stir.

It doesn’t really get easier than that, but you still get a ton of lovely flavor. The rice and chicken are blanketed in creaminess and the almonds and celery keep it from being too soft. But of course, the topping helps with that as well. Ohhhh, that topping…

It seems that an unexpected ingredient used as a topping always makes for a tasty treat and that’s just what happens here. Crushed cornflake cereal is amplified by some melted butter and it bakes into a topping that’s airy but crisp and just the thing to top off this simple but comforting bake.