A sacred dish of the Lone Star State, the King Ranch Chicken Casserole is a combination of cheesy simplicity and Texas nostalgia. It’s been an irresistible staple at potlucks and family gatherings for decades, and no other Texas recipe rivals it.
The king of the casseroles has a nebulous yet traceable origin story. From early 20th-century food traditions to midcentury cultural and social changes, the King Ranch Chicken Casserole tells a story of when old world meets new, and how Texans created a dish to reflect a time and people.
Initially, the romantic historian in me wanted to believe that Henrietta King, owner of the famed King Ranch in South Texas, was a 19th-century Texas frontier Martha Stewart, building a multibillion-dollar empire while simultaneously cooking and feeding ranch workers with her homemade meals. I wanted to discover that she had created the King Ranch Chicken Casserole, but this is not the case, according to King Ranch representatives.
The casserole is named after the ranch, either because of its proximity to the casserole’s origins or the need to find a catchy Texas-size name. And while this story is not the one I hoped for when I began researching, the reality I discovered was even better.
Many have tried to trace the history of the King Ranch Chicken Casserole, claiming a 1940s or ‘50s origin. Yet without a dated recipe to pinpoint it, I have a hard time believing that the condensed soup version of the casserole we are familiar with today is a creation of the mid-20th century. If the dish was developed during that time, it most likely started off as a bechamel-based casserole.
Early origins
In 1913, The Dallas Morning News printed a recipe significant to American cooking: Creamed Chicken.
“Add a tablespoon of chopped pimento, three or four sliced mushrooms and 3 cups of chicken meat cut in small pieces. Canned chicken will answer. Stir lightly and then add a large cup of rich milk. Cook for a few moments and thicken as usual. Just before serving add a beaten egg yolk, stir it in vigorously.”
This 100-year-old-plus recipe tells us that thrifty, convenient chicken meals were as popular then as they are now. And although this isn’t the dish we know today as the King Ranch Chicken Casserole, this recipe begins to tell us the story because it’s a one-pan dish that contains creamy chicken, mushrooms and peppers.
In 1946, the iconic James Beard wrote The Fireside Cookbook, and nestled into the poultry chapter is a recipe for Creamed Chicken. Slightly different from The News’ version 30 years prior, the recipe is still familiar.
“Combine 1 cup diced chicken with 1 cup Bechamel sauce and heat through. Rectify the seasoning and serve.”
Beard proceeds to list 11 ways to serve the Creamed Chicken — with wild rice, hot biscuits, noodles and even French pancakes. Then he provides variations for the filling, such as adding mushrooms, ham, clams, oysters or bell peppers and pimentos.
Beard demonstrates the versatility and simplicity of this classic, common and basic recipe. Creamed Chicken, like Beard’s version, became the basis for the casserole movement that overtook American kitchens in the second half of the 20th century. Many beloved American casseroles like “the King” are in fact Creamed Chicken with variations.
A popular 20th century Creamed Chicken variation — very similar to The News’ 1913 Creamed Chicken — is Chicken a la King, which Beard provides instruction for in Fireside. A similar Chicken a la King recipe is also found in a 1946 cookbook, Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House Tried and True Recipes. Wakefield adds two cups of chicken stock to four tablespoons of flour and a three-quarters of a cup of cream to create her bechamel filling. She also adds pimentos, mushrooms and chicken.
When recipes like Creamed Chicken and Chicken a la King land in a spot like South Texas, where Tex-Mex flavors abound, the variations to these casseroles would naturally involve regional traditions. Tortillas, cheese, peppers, green chiles, tomatoes and mushrooms are the most natural variants for a Texas approach to Creamed Chicken. Over time, the combination of these ingredients effectively created a whole new recipe: the King Ranch Chicken Casserole.
Bechamel vs. condensed soup
During the ‘40s and ‘50s, condensed soup cooking was just entering the mainstream, and the majority of published casserole recipes during this time were still bechamel based. Early mid-20th-century cookbooks suggest that American home cooks knew what a bechamel was, knew how to prepare it and were still using it to thicken soups and casseroles. If the King Ranch Chicken Casserole was created in this era, it would most likely have contained a bechamel base.
Yet kitchen cooking significantly and swiftly changed in the 1960s and ‘70s. Convenience foods in American kitchens began to alter classic recipes like Beard’s Creamed Chicken and Wakefield’s Chicken a la King. Andy Warhol’s 1962 painting Campbell’s Soup Cans indicates the cultural familiarity and significance that canned soups were having in the kitchen at this point. With the development of condensed cream soups, which also happened during the time of the women’s rights movement, there was no longer a need or desire to create bechamel sauces for casseroles. Not only were canned soups increasing in popularity, so were canned vegetables and fruits. Seasons, gardens and intermediate cooking skills were no longer a necessity in the kitchen. The cans did the hard work. Time was saved, and kitchen skills were lost.
If the King was originally bechamel-based, it was at this point that it transformed into its condensed soup version.
The Texas Julia Child, Helen Corbitt, thrived during this pivotal period in American food history, when home entertaining was juxtaposed with newly popular convenience foods and women’s liberation. Cookbooks had to master a delicate balancing act of upholding the old world while embracing the new.
In 1974′s Helen Corbitt Cooks for Company, there is a Chicken and Green Chiles Casserole that relies on a bechamel base for the sauce, but also Ro-Tel tomatoes and canned green chiles for the filling. The recipe is nearly the same as the not-yet-famous King Ranch Chicken Casserole, but with there’s no condensed soup and no Texas-size name. That came next, with a recipe from Lady Bird Johnson.
Lady Bird’s recipe
Located in the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum in Austin is a recipe card from the first lady titled “King Ranch Casserole,” a dish she often served at the Johnson home in Stonewall, Texas. Coincidentally, the connection between the Johnsons and the King Ranch goes back to the early 1930s, when President Johnson served as an administrative assistant to Congressman Richard Kleberg, heir to the King Ranch.
Lady Bird’s version diverges from Corbitt’s, even though they were cooking this recipe during the same decade. Lady Bird used margarine and condensed soups, and omitted canned green chiles. Corbitt used a blend of convenience and homemade, while Lady Bird focused on convenience.
Both versions, while they vary, are important. The King was thriving and well known enough in Texas in the 1970s to be served by the first lady and to be printed in a cookbook. Even in 1976, The Dallas Morning News was writing about this kitchen staple with a brief mention of the State 4-H Food Show winner’s King Ranch Chicken recipe. It is evident that by the late 1970s, King Ranch Chicken Casserole had become entirely its own recipe — freed from the variations of Creamed Chicken and Chicken a la King recipes that were common 20 to 60 years prior.
Later variations
In 1996, The Dallas Morning News modernized the classic King Ranch Chicken recipe, printing a “healthier” version using Velveeta Light cheese and Campbell’s Healthy Request condensed soup.
By the late 1990s and early 2000s though, condensed soup popularity was losing its momentum. During this time, new mentions of King Ranch Chicken Casserole in cookbooks had returned to a bechamel base, indicating a reawakening of American food traditions and the shift to eating cleaner and with wholesome ingredients.
These days, a herd of King Ranch Chicken recipes can be found online and in cookbooks. These recipes are very similar, differing only in whether or not condensed soup is used and if the tortilla is corn or flour. (It should be corn, by the way).
And even though the King Ranch Chicken Casserole didn’t originate at the King Ranch, the dish still belongs to Texas, and its flavors and evolution showcase the history and people of our state. Texans know the secret ingredient to the casserole, and it’s not condensed soup or bechamel, it’s people. What gives the King its right to reign is not originality or epicurean elitism, it’s emotion — a heartfelt connection to the cook behind the recipe and the joyful moments of having shared this Texas meal with others.
King Ranch Chicken Casserole
Author note: The foundation of the King Ranch Chicken Casserole is convenience. This version, while differing from the condensed soup variations, also relies on 21st-century convenience foods, such as store-bought rotisserie chicken and pico de gallo. And while the condensed soup variation was intended for a quick meal, replacing it with a homemade bechamel only adds about 10 extra minutes of cook time.
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 4-ounce can green chiles (if you can find freshly roasted, use these instead)
1 cup fresh pico de gallo
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups low sodium-chicken stock, plus more for dipping tortillas
1 1/2 cups mushroom stock (if mushroom stock is unavailable, substitute chicken stock)
1 cup half-and-half
3.5 ounces (1 1/2 cups) chopped wild mushrooms
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 rotisserie chicken, cut into bite-size pieces (3-4 cups)
18 quality corn tortillas
1 1/2 to 2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese and mild cheddar
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Once it’s melted, add the onion, green chiles and pico. Let simmer until the onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Slowly add the flour into the melted butter, stirring constantly to incorporate. Add the stock slowly, stirring constantly. Once the cooking liquid is smooth, add the half-and-half, mushrooms, salt and vinegar. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
Once the mixture is simmering, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to scrape the bottom of the pan. While the sauce is reducing, chop the chicken into bite-size pieces and heat the oven to 350 F.
Pour about 1 cup of chicken stock into a bowl wide enough to dip a tortilla in. Dip a tortilla into the chicken stock and place in a large baking dish. Continue this process until the bottom is covered with tortillas, about 6 tortillas. Feel free to tear the tortillas to best fit the shape of your baking dish. Add half of the vegetable mixture on top of the first layer of tortillas, making sure the sauce is evenly distributed. Add half of the chicken and top with a hearty handful or two of cheese.
Add another layer of chicken stock-dipped tortillas. Top with the remaining vegetable mixture and remaining chicken (do not top with cheese). Finish the casserole by adding a final layer of tortillas. Cover the tortillas with a final layer of cheese.
Place into the oven and bake 35 to 45 minutes, or until the casserole is warmed all the way through. Remove “the King” from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cut and serve warm.
Makes 8-10 servings.
Dallas Morning News digital archivist Spencer Bevis contributed to this story.