This creamy Chicken Spaghetti is a delicious and hearty baked spaghetti casserole. It’s so simple to make, perfect for an easy weeknight meal. Made with simple ingredients and with a wonderfully crunchy, cheesy topping, this dish is pure comfort food.
What’s in this Chicken Spaghetti Recipe?
This Chicken Spaghetti will hit the spot any day of the week! It’s a super satisfying main dish, and a breeze to whip up. Succulent chicken mixed with a creamy sauce, all topped with a layer crunchy cheesy goodness – so good! It’s one of my family’s favorite chicken casseroles!
- Breadcrumbs: Make the topping crunchy. You can also use crushed crackers.
- Unsalted Butter: Helps bind the topping together.
- Dried Basil: Adds a pop of Italian flavor to the topping.
- Kosher Salt: Enhances the natural flavor of both the topping and the casserole.
- Cheese: Adds creaminess to the casserole and cheesiness to the topping.
- Olive Oil: Helps the onion and garlic cook without burning.
- Onion + Garlic: Add an earthy and sweet flavor to the casserole.
- Chicken Broth: Adds moisture and flavor.
- Water: Adds moisture without increasing the sodium or fat content further.
- Black Pepper: Adds a slightly spicy flavor.
- Spaghetti: Cut it into thirds so it’s easier to scoop!
- Fresh Basil: Adds a fresh flavor and a pop of color.
- Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies: Adds an acidic tomato flavor and makes this casserole a touch spicy.
- Cream of Mushroom Soup: Adds richness, creaminess, and umami flavor.
- Shredded Cooked Chicken: An easy way to use up leftovers from another meal!
Pro Tip: You can use wholewheat pasta. Just make sure you allow a bit of extra time for it to cook to make sure the pasta is done.
Variations on Chicken Spaghetti Casserole
It’s easy to modify this casserole to suit your tastes. As is, it has a bit of a Mexican flair. If you’d like to make it more Italian-style, use an Italian cheese blend, and swap out the diced tomatoes and green chilies for regular diced tomatoes or fire-roasted diced tomatoes. This will also make the casserole less spicy.
For a spicier casserole, opt for a spicy cheese blend, like habanero cheddar, and add chopped jalapeños!
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This creamy casserole is made from spaghetti cooked in chicken broth, cream of mushroom soup, diced tomatoes and green chilies, and spices mixed with cheese and chicken and topped with a crunchy breadcrumb topping.
While both dishes are casseroles, chicken tetrazzini uses fettuccini noodles instead of spaghetti and includes mushrooms, milk, cream, and a touch of nutmeg for warmth. It is creamier and does not have any tomatoes.
Yes! This casserole freezes well for up to 4 months!
How to Store and Reheat
Store leftover chicken spaghetti tightly covered with aluminum foil in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat (covered) in a 350°F oven for 30-40 minutes, or until warmed through.
How to Freeze
Chicken spaghetti freezes exceptionally well, so go ahead and make it in advance. Once you place it in the casserole dish, you don’t need to bake it first– just freeze for up to 4 months.
Line your dish with parchment paper and let it freeze solid, then transfer to a large freezer bag. That way you don’t have to tie up your casserole dish for months. The chicken spaghetti is already pre-formed for the dish, so all you have to do is slide it back in when you’re ready to reheat.
You can cook this directly from frozen (but be careful, most glass dishes cannot go from freezer to oven). Cover it in foil to prevent the cheese topping from overcooking. Cook at 350°F for about 1 hour, or until it is piping hot throughout!
Serving Suggestions
Baked chicken spaghetti is rich and super filling, so it doesn’t need heavy side dishes. You with breadsticks or garlic bread, and a cucumber salad or green goddess salad.
Chicken Spaghetti Recipe
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Ingredients
For the Topping
- 2 cups breadcrumbs or crushed crackers
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted (¼ stick)
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup shredded cheese such as Cheddar, Mexican, Gruyere or a blend
For the Casserole
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ yellow onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 32 ounces chicken broth or stock (1 carton)
- 1¾ cups water
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 16 ounces dry spaghetti broken into thirds (1 box)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil plus more for garnish
- 10 ounces diced tomatoes and green chilies (1 can)
- 10 ounces cream of mushroom soup (1 can)
- 4 cups shredded cooked chicken rotisserie is fine
- 1¼ cup shredded cheese such as Cheddar, Mexican, Gruyere or a blend
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Prepare the crumb topping: Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl until well-combined. Set aside.2 cups breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, ¼ teaspoon dried basil, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, ¾ cup shredded cheese
- Add the oil and onion to a large Dutch oven. Set the pot over medium heat and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and has softened.2 tablespoons olive oil, ½ yellow onion
- Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds, stirring often.2 cloves garlic
- Add the chicken broth and deglaze (click for how-to) the pan.32 ounces chicken broth or stock
- Add the water, salt, pepper, stir and bring to a boil.1¾ cups water, 1½ teaspoons kosher salt, ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Add the dry spaghetti (broken into thirds), reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook the spaghetti to al dente (according to package directions).16 ounces dry spaghetti
- Add the basil, tomatoes, cream of mushroom soup, chicken, and 1¼ cups cheese.2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, 10 ounces diced tomatoes and green chilies, 10 ounces cream of mushroom soup, 4 cups shredded cooked chicken, 1¼ cup shredded cheese
- Bring the mixture just to a low boil and remove it from the heat.
- Pour the chicken spaghetti into the prepared baking pan and sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the top.
- Bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes, or until hot throughout and cheese is melted. If the cheese is browning too quickly, tent with sprayed aluminum foil.
- Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Garnish with fresh chopped basil if desired.
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Becky’s tips
- You can use wholewheat pasta. Just make sure you allow a bit of extra time for it to cook to make sure the pasta is done.
- You can pretty much use any vegetable you want. You’ll want to add harder vegetables (think root veggies like carrots and parsnips) earlier on with the onions.
- For extra spice use a spicy cheese blend like habanero cheddar.
- If the casserole is browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil.
Nutrition Information
The taste of this was great, but 2 cups of bread crumbs was way too much. We ended up with a powdery topping. I’ll try it again with one cup. Or maybe try panko?
Full disclosure, my dog got at the chicken while the spaghetti was cooking so we had to go out and get another rotisserie. In the meantime the spaghetti soaked up a lot of the extra liquid. The topping probably would have been less powdery with more free moisture. Still, when I mixed the topping the butter/cheese ratio seemed low.
Hi Josh, sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy the topping! You could always add a bit more butter until it reaches the consistency/moisture level that you prefer.
I have tried 3 recipes of yours and they are all delicious. I would so far have to say they beat out Pioneer Woman these days (that’s hard to admit). Thanks for the wonderful recipes.
Thank you for the sweet compliment! Ree Drummond is amazing!
Looking forward to cooking some of Thes recipes!
I can’t wait for you to try them!
Hi. I love your recipes, but I made the mistake of looking at one on my work computer and now the website keeps popping up new recipes while I’m working. How do I stop that? Thanks.
https://pushassist.com/knowledgebase/how-to-enable-or-disable-push-notifications-on-chrome-firefox-safari-b/
This link will walk you through it, but you’ll have to use your web browser on the computer!