Cheesy chicken crescent rolls with juicy chicken, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese baked inside flaky, buttery crescent roll dough. This is a favorite recipe that my mom used to make! These roll-ups are drenched in creamy sauce and easy to customize for a family-friendly weeknight dinner.
Cheesy Chicken Crescent Roll-Ups
Ok, get ready to throw back to 1987 (ish). Yep, I’m talking a full-on chicken casserole, complete with cream of chicken soup and crescent rolls. Like Melt-in-Your-Mouth Chicken, chicken crescent rolls are one of my family’s most-favorite chicken recipes. Mainly, my kids’ favorite. They love this simple, cozy dish that is straight from my mom’s recipe box.
Some of you may not be on board with condensed soup, and it’s not an ingredient I use very often either. But, I’ll tell you, for nostalgic casseroles like this one, sometimes there’s just no substitute! One bite of this gooey, cheesy, creamy chicken wrapped in pastry, and I know you’ll agree.
Gather Your Ingredients
Here are the ingredients in this easy chicken crescent rolls recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card for the printable recipe with measurements for each ingredient.
- Cooked Chicken – Grab a Rotisserie chicken or chop or shred cooked chicken breasts. I’ve done it both ways. I also often have shredded chicken in the freezer to use in casseroles like this one.
- Cheese – You will need cream cheese and grated cheddar cheese for this recipe. Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature because it will be easier to mix.
- Seasonings – Garlic powder and seasoned salt are all you need. If you don’t have seasoned salt, make a homemade version with a mix of kosher salt, paprika, and black pepper.
- Heavy Cream – For the filling and the sauce. If you don’t have heavy cream, you can use half-and-half, evaporated milk, or even whole milk. If you use whole milk, the sauce will just be a little thinner.
- Canned Crescent Rolls – You will use 2 cans of rolls. But you can easily cut the recipe in half and use one if you are feeding a smaller crowd.
- Cream of Chicken Soup – You can use Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Celery soup as well. Or you could even use Condensed Cheddar Soup. If you’re set on avoiding canned soup, you can use a thick, creamy soup of your own instead.
Step-by-Step: How to Make Chicken Crescent Rolls
Follow these steps to assemble and bake this cheesy chicken crescent rolls casserole.
- Prep your chicken filling. Chop or shred the chicken and mix it with the cream cheese, butter, grated cheese, and seasonings for the filling.
- Fill the crescents. Roll out the canned crescent rolls. Spoon out small portions of the chicken into the middle of the dough. Then, roll them up just like you would if you were rolling the crescents for baking.
- Arrange them in a pan. Next, place the chicken crescent roll-ups seam side down in a 9×13 baking dish.
- Make the sauce. Combine the sauce ingredients, and cook on the stovetop until melted and creamy. Pour it over the chicken rolls in the pan.
- Finish and bake. Add a little more cheddar cheese on top and then bake in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes, or until the crescent rolls are baked and the top is melted and golden.
How to Adapt This Recipe
There’s more than one way to fill these cheesy chicken crescent rolls. Feel free to adapt this recipe however you’d like. These are some ideas:
- Chicken Cordon Bleu: Replace a portion of the chicken with ham and Swiss cheese for a version inspired by Chicken Cordon Bleu casserole.
- Crack Chicken: Add bacon and ranch seasoning for crack chicken crescent rolls.
- Broccoli Cheese: Add broccoli to make cheesy chicken broccoli rolls. You might also love this chicken broccoli skillet recipe!
What to Serve With Chicken Crescent Rolls
This chicken dish is a meal on its own, but you can round it out easily!
- Veggie sides: This air fryer asparagus would be great, or roasted green beans, or even sautéed peas. A side of my garlic mushrooms would be great too!
- Mashed potatoes: For a hearty dinner, serve these saucy chicken crescent rolls over a bed of fluffy mashed potatoes or rice.
- Bread: Serve with hunks of crusty homemade French bread, hot water corn bread, or garlic knots to sop up any leftover sauce.
- Salad: A green salad or a Caesar salad balances out the richness of these roll-ups perfectly.
How to Store and Reheat
- Refrigerate. Store leftover chicken crescent roll-ups in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Reheat. You can easily reheat these in the microwave or in a covered dish in the oven at 400°F for 15 – 20 minutes.
More Cozy Chicken Dinner Recipes
Cheesy Chicken Crescent Rolls
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: serves 6
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Dinner
Description
This is a classic family recipe. My mom used to make this, and my kids love it. You can switch up the filling ingredients and make these chicken crescent rolls your own!
Ingredients
For the Crescent Rolls
- 5 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 3 cups cooked, cubed chicken (or Rotisserie)
- 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 (8- ounce/8 count) cans crescent rolls
Sauce
- 1 (10.75 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
- 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Prepare the filling. In a large bowl combine the cream cheese, butter, garlic powder, and seasoned salt stirring until smooth. Add in the chicken and cheddar cheese, mixing until incorporated. Add in the heavy cream and stir until combined.
- Open the cans of crescent rolls. Place about 2 tablespoons of the filling onto the larger end of each crescent roll. Roll up and pinch the dough closed, sealing in the chicken mixture. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.
- To prepare the sauce combine the cream of chicken soup, cheddar cheese, heavy cream, and seasoned salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently until warm and smooth. Pour the sauce evenly over the crescent rolls. Top with the remaining 1 cup grated cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes until the rolls are baked and the mixture is bubbly.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- I recommend grating your cheese, rather than buying pre-grated, as it will produce a creamier result.
- Store refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 rolls
- Calories: 368
- Sugar: 2.3 g
- Sodium: 797.3 mg
- Fat: 32.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 7.9 g
- Protein: 12.1 g
- Cholesterol: 94.1 mg
I agree with the baking longer than 30 mins. This was a great comfort food dish and I will definitely be making it again!
Made this for dinner tonight! It was DELICIOUS!
It’s one of our favorite dinners!
This was delicious!
I read the comments about the crescent rolls not seeming cooked through, so I cooked them WITHOUT the sauce first for about 25 min. I then added the sauce and cooked an additional 10 (and put under the broiler for about a min to make the cheese bubble). It came out great!! Enjoying it right now.
This looked so good but mine did not turn out anything like yours. I ran out of crescent roll dough well before the filling was used up and had to use a sheet of puff pastry in addition. Then, after 30 minutes of cooking the top looked perfectly done, bubbly and starting to brown, but the dough was still completely raw as if it hadn’t even been cooked. Unfortunately I won’t be holding onto this recipe as it just didn’t seem so easy for me.
I tried this dish tonight. I followed it to a “t”. However I let it cook 2 min. longer than the 30 mins. because it didn’t look done. Took it out and served it, a doughy mess. I’m cooking it some more right now, but it’s a little frustrating. My boyfriend is such a picky eater as it is. I know all ovens are different, but I’m cooking another 15 mins. possibly….That’s a big difference. The flavor is good, as I couldn’t resist trying the filling but if they don’t turn out after 15 more mins…I’ll be very disappointed.
Certainly all ovens vary slightly in temperature and baking times, so hopefully adding a bit more time will do the trick. The should be no reason the crescent rolls don’t cook!
I have found when I make recipes similar to this using canned crescent rolls, the non-name brand rolls don’t cook up as well when stuffed with something. Maybe this will help.
Made this yesterday, turned out pretty yummy but whenever crescent rolls are involved it’s usually delish. Good job on another yummy one!
can I add fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. our family eat a lot of garlic and I would like to use fresh
This most definitely looks like a recipe from the 80s. I love it! We don’t use condensed soups either but I think I’ll make an exception for this. It looks so good and comforting. Not to much, easy and fast. It’ll be a great weeknight dinner for my meal planning roster.
Oh I’m totally making this! Comfort food to be sure! Maybe I will make an ‘80s theme night for my family hehe
is there a homemade crescent roll recipe anywhere?