How to make a Family Favorite: Chicken Broccoli Braid at home

Our family has made memories in several different homes in the West Georgia area over the years. Part of what makes a house into a home for our family is comfort food. We love to enjoy a meal together around the family dinner table. Whether we were in our early home in Powder Springs, at Family Thanksgiving in Carrollton, or moving into our newest home in Temple, this recipe has remained a favorite. We hope your family will enjoy this recipe. Maybe it will make your new house feel a little more like home too!

What is a Chicken Broccoli Braid?

This family favorite recipe is a delicious mixture of a creamy chicken sauce, soft broccoli florets and melty, gooey cheese, all wrapped in buttery flaky crescent roll pastry crust. Once you make all of the ingredients for the filling, you lay it out on a bed of crescent roll dough. Then, you cut the edges into strips and weave the ends into a braid. When you bake it, it turns into a beautiful masterpiece. This will certainly be a family favorite in your home.

Find your Supplies in West Georgia

Of course, you don’t have to be in West Georgia to enjoy this recipe. But if you just so happen to live in this lovely area and you want to try this recipe at home, you may need groceries and new equipment. Now, this recipe can be made on any flat baking dish like a glass casserole dish or a metal roasting pan However, it turns out the best on a stoneware baking sheet.

Our family favorite at our home has always been Pampered Chef stone dishes, but you can buy whatever you like the most. Or just use what you have! If you are looking for a place to shop, you can find our favorite stores for Bremen, Carrollton, Rockmart, and Temple.

Get your Groceries

Before you begin, you’ll need all of your ingredients. The list is a simple one and everything is easy to find. This family recipe works great as a single dish meal. But, if you really want to create a family memory full of comfort food, you can try serving it with some of our southern favorites.

Whether we have fresh veggies from our garden or we pick this stuff up at the grocery store, it’s easy to createa delicious family supper by adding a few great sides. Our family love to slice a cantaloupe to eat alongside the braid. If you can find them, white acre peas are delicious. This family meal also pairs well with roasted or mashed potatoes. You decide what your family likes best and make that a special meal for your home!

If you’re new to West Georgia, you may be unsure of where to shop. Many of our local grocery stores are regional, so if you’ve moved from another state, you may not recognize them. Ingles is a great Georgia grocery store. Another option that is more well known is Kroger. Of course, there is alway Walmart. Check out our list of grocery stores for Bremen, Carrollton, Rockmart and Temple.

Get your family involved and prepare the ingredients

There are several important steps to take before this family favorite recipe come together completely. If you get everyone in your home involved, you can have it put together in no time. You won’t even realize that you’re making memories in your family home, but trust me: you’ll all remember this recipe for years to come.

Home-cooked Chicken, or a Rotisserie

One person in your family can cook the chicken. It can be roasted with spices, shredded off of a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, or boiled until tender. Whichever way your family cooks chicken, go ahead and cook it and then shred it or chop it into bite size pieces.

Special Cheese Sauce- a family favorite

Someone else in your family can prepare the special cheese sauce. This sauce is similar to our Family Favorite Chicken Casserole sauce. In a saucepan over low to medium heat, this family member will melt together sour cream, any cream-of-something soup, shredded cheese, salt and pepper. You’ll know the sauce is done when everything is melted together into one homogenous mixture.

Tender Broccoli- sneak veggies into your family’s diet

Meanwhile, another family member can take the easy job of cooking the broccoli. It’s not important how it gets cooked- whatever method you use in your home is fine. The goal here is to have tender broccoli that can be be mashed with a fork. Once it’s cooked, and you stir together the other main items, the broccoli will become part of the filling and resin just big enough to get some flavor in every bit.

The Braid Dough

Once all of the previous ingredients are done, mix the three components together in a large bowl to create a filling. Set this aside to cool for a moment. This next step can be done a as a family to enjoy the magic of the braid, or you can send everyone to another room in your home. That way they’ll be pleasantly surprised when you reveal your final braid!

Take 2 full cans of crescent roll dough and lay them out on a pan. Don’t tear any of the triangles apart. You should have a large rectangle of dough on your pan. Pinch or squish all of the seams together so the dough is one solid piece.

Add the filling to your braid dough

With a spoon or spatula, scoop your chicken and broccoli filling into a row down the center of the dough, leaving plenty of dough showing on either side. Use all of the mixture. Once your filling is on the dough, you need to cut the dough into strips that you can braid together. Use a knife or pizza cutter to cut one inch strips in the dough, with each cut running from the out edge of the dough toward the filing. Stop cutting when your knife gets to the filling.

Cut your dough into strips

Make an equal number of strips on either side of the filling. Your family will be so impressed at how this turns out and you will know just how easy it was! Sprinkle some shredded cheese over the filing and get ready to braid!

Now, pick up the matching strips- one form each side. Hold the strips by the end and wrap them over the filling. When the strips meet in the middle, twist them together once, or even twice if you feel fancy. Then gently lay the tail down on top of the filling.

Family Secret: it’s not really a braid!

Continue this wrapping, twisting process with matching dough strips all the way down the length of the filling. This technique will create a braided effect when the dough puffs up during baking. When you have “braided” all of the dough, put it int he oven to bake at 375 degrees until the edges start to brown and get slightly crispy. Don’t take it out too early, or you’ll disappoint your family with a soggy bottom.

When you remove the braid from the oven, it will look like a beautiful, buttery, crispy braid of chicken goodness! Plus, you’ll have some veggies mixed in to feed your family a healthy meal. When you’re ready to serve, slice across the braid in serving sizes of one, two or three twisted strips-whatever the serving size is in your home!

Tips for Making This Family Favorite

• leave the dough in the fridge until your ready to fill it and braid it. If it gets too warm, it will lose it’s strength and fall apart.
• if the filling is too hot, it will make the bottom of the your dough soggy- let it cool a bit so that you’re not putting piping hot filling on cold dough.
• use sharp cheddar cheese if that’s acceptable in your home. This tang will deepen the flavor profile of the whole recipe.
• make a cream-of soup from scratch or a homemade powder for a more Whole Foods approach, or to save money! Cream of chicken and cream of mushroom are family favorites.
• For a more delineated serving slice, instead of laying the excess dough strips on top, you can wrap them back down the side and tuck the tails under the whole thing.

Veggies you can grow in West Georgia to complete your Family Meal

Tomatoes grow very well in West Georgia. Almost any variety will be prolific. A sliced tomato with some salt and pepper is a delicious addition to the recipes. Another great option that adds some nutrients to your family meal is squash. Squash grows great in west Georgia and can be fried, roasted, mashed, or turned into a casserole! Green beans are always a family favorite, and you might even have some home-canned from your garden!

Storing and Reheating at Home

This recipe will store well in your home fridge in a food storage container or zipper bag. You can reheat it in your microwave, on a sheet pan in the oven, or on the stove top with a bit of butter. However you reheat things in your home, that method will work for these leftovers.