Far too often we have week nights when my husband comes home late from work and we’re left scrambling to come up with dinner at the last minute. The end result of that scramble means fast food more often than I’d like to admit. It doesn’t help that I’m not much of a planner when it comes to meals because I never know what flavors I’ll be in the mood for.
To help avoid our fast food splurges, I’ve been working on a few recipes we can use when time is lacking. This Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Braid is one of those that can be made in less than an hour, doesn’t cost very much to prepare and packs a lot of flavor into one dish (and fits quite nicely on my favorite jelly roll pan).
Recipe: Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Braid
Prep
Cook Time
Total Time
Type: Main Dish
Serves: 5
Ingredients
- 2 cans Pillsbury Original Crescent Rolls
- 2 cups chicken chunks, cooked
- 2 cups cheddar cheese
- 2 cups broccoli, frozen, steamed and chopped
- ½ cup light mayonnaise
- 1 egg yolk
- fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- On a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, spread both cans of crescents length wise to form a long rectangle.
- Press each of the seams to form a single layer of dough.
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, cheese, broccoli and mayonnaise
- Spread mixture over the center of the croissant dough evenly to create a log.
- Using a sharp knife, cut horizontal strips 1 inch apart down each side of the crescent dough.
- Fold the dough strips over the top of the chicken mixture, alternating left and right to create a braid.
- Brush the top of the braid with a beaten egg yolk and sprinkle fresh rosemary on top.
- Bake for 28 – 30 minutes until golden brown.
ABOUT CAT DAVIS
Thanx! This sounds delish and I know my family would enjoy!
This looks so yummy! Thanks for sharing – I will certainly try this recipe!
This looks so yummy! I’ve been wanting to start preparing better meals for myself and my son and also meal plan. This is going on the plan! Thanks for sharing!
This sounds so good. We are going to try this for sure. Thanks!!
This recipe looks great. It is full of ingredients that we keep on hand all the time. It would be great to try with different types of meat and or vegetables too. Thanks :)
YUM!! I have to try this!!
That recipe almost makes me want to like broccoli. It looks delicious! I wonder if I could substitute zucchini, which I love!
That looks delicious! I make one that uses some of the same ingredients but the filling has cream cheese and cream of chicken soup instead of the mayo.
when u do the cream cheese with the soup, do u omit the egg adn mayo then? that sounds even better!
I’ve made a recipe like this with taco filling (a pampered Chef recipe). It sounds really good with chicken and broccli and our grandson would eat it! Thanks for the recipe!
That looks SO good!
Wow, that looks amazing! I’d love to share it as a Monday’s Menu post. Let me know if you are interested. =)
Oh, I am making that this week for sure! This looks amazing!
This sounds so good!
Oh my, this looks fabulous, and so easy! I must eat it!
oh, yum! it looks sooo good. It’s recipes like this one that make me wish I could eat wheat.
Yummmy!!!!! Thank you for this, I stumbled, that way I can come back later when planning something for dinner one night!
wow this looks awesome!
Cat!! You have outdone yourself with this one!! Yum!
This looks absolutely amazing and delicious! I love anything broccoli and cheese and will have to try this.
YUM! I’m about to make this…I can’t wait to have it in my mouth! Thax!
They look great, we’ll have to try them, love broccoli and cheddar, and a lot of times we have the same problem, deciding what we’re in the mood for.
That looks delicious! I’ll have to add it to my repertoire tonight. Thanks for sharing.
This looks so delicious! My mouth started watering the moment I saw it. Can’t wait to try it out tonight!
Just made it. Delish! Whole family enjoyed it!!
Cat, thank you for sharing this recipe. I fixed it for dinner a couple nites ago for my husband and I, and I tell you, it was AWESOME!!! I did sub the mayo with 1/2 can of cream of mushroom soup.
even easier–
http://www.hotpockets.com/images/products/large/HPOrigChickenandCheddarwithBroccoli6.12.08.jpg
I just made this tonight. Fresh diced tomatoes to it also. It was very good and very fast! Thanks!!!
This looks so good and I would love to make it, but I’m having trouble visualizing how to put the dough. Are there any pictures you can post or another recipe that shows how to do it similarly?
Just made this for supper,the whole family loved it.I have a son and husband who dont care for broccoli but they sure enjoyed it in this recipe.I also used italian marinated chicken and added cheese on top with the egg white.Thanks for the recipe thumbs up.The kids will love it!!!!!!!!!
I think this is adapted from a Pampered Chef recipe? I really like your simplified version though.
My mom and I make it with the same amount of chicken and mayo (well maybe a little extra) 1 cup of cheese, 1 cup fresh broccoli, 1 cup chopped orange and yellow peppers. For spices we use about 1/2 tsp of dill, garlic powder, and onion powder each.
Like I said, your version sounds deeelish but the PC additions are super good too!
Oh really? Is the recipe online or in a book? I didn’t know Pampered Chef did recipes too. I’ll have to check it out.
It’s online and in an old magazine they put out.
Here’s a link to the recipe. We never use the almonds, but it’s all about changing it to please your tastebuds!
http://www.pamperedchef.com/recipe_search/recipe.jsp?id=10047
Well, aww be darned, that’s crazy similar. Thanks for sharing it with me!
I went to a Pampered Chef party 14 yrs ago and had this similar recipe. Been making it ever since.
I made this for the family and they loved it! One thing I did to tweak it was add 1/4 parmesan to the mixture. I also used a Colby Jack instead of regular cheddar.
Just made this last night, and my husband devoured it. Even my toddler ate the broccoli and croissant. This is definitely a keeper. Only change I made was that I used very sharp block cheddar (and then shredded it) and I made it into individual portions instead of a big long loaf. It was easier that way since I didn’t have a cookie sheet big enough for the entire 2 cans of dough.
Mine didn’t look as pretty, but boy did it taste good. This is definitely a comfort food keeper!
I’m so excited! I finally bought the ingredients, though I probably had them all along! And I am making this I don’t do mayo so I’m using the cheddar soup instead and SO excited. My daughter is already nibbling on the extra filling (I used super large crescents and stuck w/one package) and it’s great! Happy holidays!
How was it with the soup instead of mayo??
Can’t wait to make this
i wonder what i could use to substitute crescent rolls? we dont have them in australia.
You could also use pizza or bread dough! I’ve made this before using homemade dough and it’s delicious.
I have been looking for this recipe for years. My exboyfriends step mom would make when we went to visit
Thank you for posting it
imagine this with homemade tomato soup, I’m making it tomorrow.
I make this for the superbowl every year. I have always used shrimp instead of chicken. This year I will make one of each and see which they like best. Knowing my crowd it will probally be a draw.
This was so delicious! I can’t wait to make it again!
Is there a reason you used frozen broccoli over fresh? Just curious.
DO you have to use mayonnaise? I was thinking of subbing the broccoli with spinach and mayo with Alfredo sauce would that work? I know Pillsbury can sometime get soggy..
Try sour cream we don’t do Mayo in this house either, but every recipe I have ever ran across that called for mayo I substituted with sour cream and it has always turned out delsih.
I can’t wait to try this recipe!! I have also tied something similar with the crescent rolls, use the filling for beerocks, like ground beef cabbage and onion, just fill inside the create rolls and u have a beerock casserole, way easier than making then from scratch!!
Could this be par-baked, frozen, and then baked from frozen on a really busy/lazy night?
I made this for dinner tonight! Its AMAZING! Just be sure to make it on parchment paper, not foil, it will get soggy. (I ran out and guessed) But other than that it was very very good!
This soundds great. I am going to try it. Thanks for the recipe.
This sounds great. I am going to try it. Thanks for the recipe.
I live in Australia and love the sound of these but what is cans Pillsbury Original Crescent Rolls?
I don’t knew what this is to find a similar thing over here.
I do one very similar with diced ham and swiss cheese instead of chicken and cheddar. I also do 1/4 cup mayo & 1/4 cup ranch with a squirt of honey mustard. Give it more flavor. occasionally I add mushrooms.
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try this.
Just going to throw it out there, if your grocery store has it, they now have “recipe creations” crescents,that is crescent dough in one solid piece without the perforations for rolls. Makes it a little easier to cook stuff like this :)
Mary – those would be perfect for this. I’ve heard of them but I haven’t been able to find them locally yet.
I just made this for my husband and I tonight for dinner. I really like mayo, but he doesn’t. Even I felt like 1/2 cup was tooo much. Ours didn’t look like the picture, everything was very mayo-y! What would happen if you didn’t use mayo at all? Would it be too dry, or would the cheese be melty enough?
If the mayo isn’t a flavor you like I bet you could replace it with a little cream cheese.
Is there a spice I can use other than Rosemary?
You can omit the rosemary if it’s not a flavor you like. This is one of those dishes you can just add/remove ingredients to suit your tastes.
In the oven now!!!
And I halved the recipe….since its just me! Will let you know the results soon!
Just made this for dinner and it was DELICIOUS!!! Used about half the amount of mayo and the recipe creations crescent roll flats. Yum!!!!!!
does any one know how many calories this has?
I made this tonight and it was amazing!!! And super easy! How do you recommend reheating?
Can you substitute the crescent dough for biscuits?
I recently stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest and tried it immediately! It came out really good and would highly recommend anyone to try it — my family loved it! :) I did substitute the mayo with Philadelphia Original Flavor Cooking Creme and it tasted just as delicious. I used the entire container the cream cheese came in to ensure it retained moisture. Thank you for this wonderful recipe and I look forward to trying other things on your site!
This look like something perfect for my family. They love all of these ingredients. I’m sure this will be a hit!! Thank you so much!!
This was great, thank you. Ours turned out a little doughy, so make sure to use all the egg yolk and bake it full time if not longer.
This is SO easy and fast. and it tastes sooooo good. My husband Loves this dish and asks me to make it every other week. thank you so much for Sharing!
I did make a little change to how I wrapped it up. instead of making a rectangle, I laid the dough out as is, pressed the ends together and wrapped the smaller ends over the mixture so that some of the mixture was poking through. the only reason i did this was because it was faster!
Made this last night. Instead of using mayo, I used 10 ounce can Cream of Chicken Soup (no water added). This was my only change. Made with fresh broccoli from our garden. Came out wonderful. Hubby raved over it. Yeah!
This recipe is absolutely as delicious as it looks! One of my family’s favorites!
Just made this tonight after finding on Pinterest and it’s a new favorite in our house! Hubby ranked it as #3 all time! I only made a couple of changes – used fresh broccoli from CSA rather than frozen, and realized I didn’t have Rosemary so used Dill on top instead. It was super yummy! And the egg on top really makes for a nice presentation when you take it out of the oven. Winner! :)
Really.. this looks SO fancy and is as easy as it can get! Add whatever… I added mushrooms and sauteed onions, zucchini would be good also. Broccoli did not need to be steamed beforehand, it will get soft when baking.
We don’t like mayo, sour cream or cream of any soup. Is it absolutely necessary to add one of those? I make a broccoli stuffed cheicken that doesn’t lose moisture, so I am wondering if this would still be good without the added moisture? Has anyone tried that?
I made this last night for the family… they loved it! Made a couple of changes, used one roll of Big and Flaky crescent rolls, added chopped green onions, 1 bag of real bacon bits, and instead of Mayo I used Philadelphia Cooking creme (Savory Garlic) YUMMY! This is on the must make again mom list! Thanks
This looks delicious! Does anyone know a good side dish to compliment?
i totally made this tonight it didn’t look like yours but i hope it turns out yummy!!!
Everyone keeps saying they are going to try this recipe… I actually did and it is AWESOME! I used regular mayo because it’s all I had, and I seasoned the chicken when I cooked it beforehand, but otherwise, it was suuuuuper easy and quick. I’m totally eating it right now as I type, and it’s so stinking good I don’t even know what to do about it except save this recipe FOREVER. Thanks so much for posting! You’re awesome!
Ashley – I’m sooo happy to hear that. There’s a lot of flavor combos you could do with this .. imagine a pizza stuffed one. :)
I made this tonight for the first time and added carrots and mushrooms. I also cooked the chicken with Italian seasoning. Since there is only 3 of us I cut the recipe in half and used only one can of crescent rolls. It was GREAT!!! We are going to make it again and freeze it and then try it with ground meat and taco seasoning and mexican blend cheese.
Oh thats sounds good too. LOL to bad Ididn’t read this before I stuck it all together and in the oven.
This looks yummy and my eleven year old requested it for dinner so we are trying it tonight. I’m all for something new and especially when he suggested it. I knew it a had to try. Will update with the results.
I substituted boiled potato and a little shredded steamed carrot for the chicken and made this for my vegetarian sister-in-law. It was wonderful! I was finally able to serve her something other than veggie burgers or pasta and my carnivore husband even loved it.
Pillsbury crescent rolls makes rolls that are shaped like cinnamon rolls instead of crescent shape… they were perfect for this.. I rolled out the whole “log” flat, and it was presliced for braiding. Worked like a charm.
Yep, if you can find the sheets they will be much easier to work with. I have trouble finding them around here.
I tried this recipe today, it was so easy and it turned out GREAT! Will surely be one of my go to dinners from now on…thanks!
I halved this recipe and used velveeta for my little guy- way way too much velveeta – I used about 4oz chopped fine – I think 2 would have been good- he of course loves it ;)
It’s way yum!
Wow. Looks so yummy and healthy. I would love to try this. Thanks for sharing this great recipe.
This is delicious!! Made it twice now, but had to make a few changes each time.
The first time, we had a ton of extra deli ham, so I used ham instead of chicken and it was DELICIOUS! Made it again tonight because we wanted to try it with chicken. Went to get the mayonnaise and it had FROZEN! We ended up using some leftover alfredo sauce, and it worked just like the mayonnaise had.
Thanks for the recipe!! Maybe next time I’ll have all the ingredients readily available and thawed out :)
Thank you for sharing your recipe, looks very good; I will surely prepare it. Great recipe.
I had the pleasure of eating this wonderful Broccoli Chicken Braid at my daughter-in-law’s home this past weekend and it was very delicious and simple to make. What a timesaver and it is full of nutrition, plus the fact that her children loved it!