Funny thing is going on in Google right now. Folks are typing in “1970s comfort food” like it’s a cure for something, and you know what, maybe it is. I’m picturing an avocado-green stove, a casserole with Ritz crumbs going brown on top, the Crock-Pot gurgling away on the counter, some jiggly pastel thing waiting in the fridge for dessert. Not all of it should come back (tuna suspended in lime Jell-O can stay buried, thanks). But plenty of it was just honest, cheap food for a big family, and it holds up. Below you’ll get the retro dishes I’d happily make tonight, a little backstory on each, and a full recipe for my pick of the decade, chicken divan.
Why 1970s Food Looked the Way It Did
Money, mostly. Beef got crazy expensive at the start of the decade, so General Mills put out Hamburger Helper in December 1970 (West Coast first) with the pitch that a single pound of ground beef could stretch to feed five. Then the gadgets showed up. Rival launched the Crock-Pot in 1971, and here’s my favorite bit of trivia, it began as the Naxon Beanery, a bean pot meant for slow-cooking cholent for the Jewish Sabbath. Stove Top stuffing arrived from General Foods in 1972, thanks to a food scientist named Ruth Siems. And in 1975 Kraft printed a recipe called “Pistachio Pineapple Delight,” until some newspaper food editor rechristened it Watergate salad and that’s the name that stuck.
Put it all together and honestly you’ve got the whole decade, which was basically stretch the beef, open a can, let the Crock-Pot do its thing while you’re at work and finish with something fluffy and pastel in a bowl.
The 13 Old-School ’70s Dishes I’d Actually Make Again
1. Chicken Divan
So this is chicken and broccoli under a cheddar sauce that’s got a little curry in it, and buttery crumbs on top, and I love it. The story goes that it started out at a New York restaurant called the Divan Parisien in the Chatham Hotel, which is kind of hilarious when you think about how many church basements it ended up in. Recipe’s further down, and no, I don’t use the canned soup, the sauce takes like 5 minutes.
2. Beef Stroganoff
My idea of a cold night, honestly, beef and mushrooms and onions in this sour cream gravy, piled on egg noodles with too much butter. A lot of moms back then used ground beef instead of steak because it was cheaper and I’m not judging, I do the same thing on a Wednesday.
3. Hamburger Helper, but from scratch
You brown the beef in one skillet, dump in the elbows with some milk and broth so they cook right there, then throw in a pile of cheddar and that’s it. Same half hour as the box version except you can actually pronounce what’s in it, and it’s a lot less salty.
4. Tuna Noodle Casserole
Tuna, egg noodles, frozen peas and a creamy sauce, plus crushed potato chips on top if somebody remembered to buy chips. People make fun of it and I get why, but if you use good tuna and make a real white sauce it’s so cozy I don’t care what anyone says.
5. Sloppy Joes
Messy, sweet-and-tangy beef on a squishy bun, basically what an entire generation ate after soccer practice. Want a twist? Try our sloppy joe breakfast sandwich, which adds a runny fried egg.
6. Meatloaf with a Ketchup Glaze
Every household had their own and swore it was the best. For a celebrity version, the Bill Blass meatloaf, the fashion designer’s personal recipe made with sour cream and chili sauce, is about as fancy-retro as meatloaf gets.
7. Green Bean Casserole
I know, I know, it’s a ’50s invention, but come on, by the ’70s Thanksgiving didn’t happen without it. Our Durkee’s green bean casserole has the crispy fried onions on top the way it’s supposed to.
8. Boxed-Mix Stuffing, Upgraded
Once Stove Top showed up, chicken-and-stuffing on a weeknight became a thing. If you’d like the bagged-but-better route, there’s Mrs. Cubbison’s stuffing, or let the slow cooker handle it with this chicken stuffing casserole.
9. Pork Chops in Stuffing
Brown some chops, nestle them in a pan of stuffing, bake. The most Tuesday-night-in-1976 dinner imaginable. Ours, the pork chop stuffing bake, keeps it to one pan.
10. Swedish Meatballs
Every cocktail party had a fondue pot or a brand new Crock-Pot full of these with a little cup of toothpicks next to it, right? Tiny meatballs with a bit of allspice in a creamy brown gravy, and whatever was left over got spooned on mashed potatoes the next night, which might be the best part.
11. Quiche Lorraine
Bacon, Swiss cheese and a wobbly custard in pastry. It made the jump from French bistro food to every American brunch in about five minutes flat. Still one of my favorite things to make ahead.
12. Watergate Salad
Pistachio pudding mix, a can of crushed pineapple with the juice, mini marshmallows, nuts and a tub of whipped topping get stirred together and it goes this minty green color. Weird? Kinda. Still showing up at every Midwest potluck? Oh yeah.
13. Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Rings of canned pineapple, a neon red cherry plopped in each hole, all of it sitting in brown sugar goo, and then the flip, which is terrifying every single time. It’s older than the ’70s for sure but that’s when it became the thing at every kid’s birthday party.
If you want a soup with all this I’d go with a big pot of cheese and corn chowder, and if you’re doing a whole retro potluck spread, our funeral chicken and potato casserole totally belongs on that table too.
The Featured Recipe: Chicken Divan
Why’d I pick chicken divan out of the whole bunch? Easy. It’s fifty-something years old and still good! Green broccoli, a cheesy sauce, a little curry in there you can’t quite put your finger on, and also it’s the best way I know to use up leftover rotisserie chicken. The old church cookbook way was a can of cream of chicken soup with mayo stirred in. I keep the mayo because it gives the sauce a tangy, almost hollandaise kind of thing, but I swap the can for a quick white sauce, it’s five minutes and way better.
| Ingredient | US | Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Broccoli florets | 1½ lb | 680 g |
| Cooked chicken, sliced or shredded | 3 cups | 420 g |
| Butter (sauce) | 3 tbsp | 42 g |
| All-purpose flour | 3 tbsp | 25 g |
| Low-sodium chicken broth | 1½ cups | 360 ml |
| Whole milk | 1 cup | 240 ml |
| Mayonnaise | ½ cup | 120 g |
| Mild curry powder | 1 tsp | 2 g |
| Lemon juice | 1 tbsp | 15 ml |
| Sharp cheddar, shredded | 1 cup | 100 g |
| Salt and pepper | ½ tsp each, to taste | to taste |
| Panko breadcrumbs (topping) | ½ cup | 30 g |
| Melted butter (topping) | 2 tbsp | 28 g |
| Parmesan, grated (topping) | ¼ cup | 20 g |
1. Get the broccoli going. Oven on, 375°F (190°C), butter or spray your 9×13. Florets take 2 minutes in boiling salted water, they just need to turn bright green, then into the colander with them since they’ll keep softening while it bakes and mushy broccoli is sad.
2. Now the sauce. Melt your butter, whisk the flour into it, give it a minute of bubbling. Broth goes in a little at a time with you whisking like mad so it doesn’t lump, milk after that, and it needs 4 or 5 minutes at a simmer to thicken enough to coat a spoon. Take it off the burner and stir in the mayo, curry, lemon and most of your cheddar, keep a handful back for the top. Salt, pepper, taste, done.
3. Layer. Broccoli on the bottom, chicken over that, sauce poured all over and poked down into the gaps with a spoon so nothing’s dry. That handful of cheddar you saved goes on top.
4. Top and bake. Toss the panko with the melted butter and Parmesan and scatter it all over the top, then into the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, you want the edges bubbling and the crumbs golden. Let it sit 10 minutes (I know it’s hard) so the sauce thickens back up, and serve it over rice or buttered egg noodles.
Printable Recipe
Chicken Divan
Ingredients
Casserole
- 1 ½ lb broccoli florets 680 g, bite-size pieces
- 3 cups cooked chicken shredded or chopped, about 420 g; rotisserie works
Cheese sauce
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup sharp cheddar shredded, divided
- salt and black pepper to taste
Crumb topping
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- ¼ cup Parmesan finely grated
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Boil the broccoli florets in salted water for 2 minutes, just until bright green. Drain well.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the broth, then the milk, and simmer 4 to 5 minutes, whisking, until thick enough to coat a spoon.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the mayonnaise, curry powder, lemon juice and ¾ cup of the cheddar. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spread the broccoli in the dish, top with the chicken, and pour the sauce over, nudging it into the gaps. Sprinkle with the remaining cheddar.
- Toss the panko with the melted butter and Parmesan and scatter over the top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until bubbling at the edges and golden. Rest 10 minutes before serving over rice or egg noodles.
Notes
- Canned soup version: replace the homemade sauce with one 10.5-oz can cream of chicken soup mixed with the mayonnaise, lemon juice, curry powder and ½ cup milk.
- Make ahead: assemble without the crumb topping, cover and refrigerate up to 1 day. Add the topping and bake about 10 minutes longer.
- Leftovers: keep covered in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
Nutrition
Hosting a ’70s Dinner Night
Going all in? Easy menu, no heartburn required: cheese ball with crackers and deviled eggs to start, chicken divan and buttered noodles for the main, green bean casserole on the side, then Watergate salad in a glass bowl next to a pineapple upside-down cake. Fleetwood Mac on the record player. That’s the night.
FAQ
What were the most popular foods in the 1970s?
Casseroles, mostly! Chicken divan, tuna noodle, anything in a slow cooker, beef stroganoff, Hamburger Helper and sloppy joes were everywhere, quiche and fondue showed up at parties, and dessert was usually some pudding or Jell-O “salad” like Watergate salad.
Can I make chicken divan with canned soup?
Sure, that’s how most people made it back then. Use one 10.5-ounce can of cream of chicken soup stirred with the mayo, lemon, curry and ½ cup milk in place of the homemade sauce, and bake it the same way.
Can I make chicken divan ahead?
Build it without the crumbs, cover, and it’ll sit happily in the fridge for up to a day. Crumbs go on right before it goes in the oven, plus about 10 extra minutes because it’s cold.
So which ’70s dish did your family make on repeat? Comments are open. And I really want to know who’s still making Watergate salad.
