I’m always a sucker for any pasta recipe — not only are the recipes usually fairly frugal and easy, but I can almost always make them ahead of time and just pop one dish in the oven.
Also, my family LOVES pasta! It’s definitely one of our favorite comfort foods.
A few weeks ago, I had a craving for chicken spaghetti. I’ve made chicken lasagna many times, but it had been years since I’d made chicken spaghetti. At first I thought about using the sauce for my chicken lasagna recipe, but then I decided I was in the mood for something new.
I searched Pinterest, mashed a few recipes together, and substituted with the ingredients I had in my house… in my opinion, the results were a pretty solid success!
Not only did it taste great the night we ate it for dinner, it was amazing the next afternoon warmed up for lunch. Dave and I actually both commented on how delicious it was as leftover (neither one of us usually love pasta leftovers).
Anyway, if you’d love another quick and easy recipe to add to your weeknight roundup, give this one a try!
Recipe for Chicken Spaghetti
serves 6-8 — I make it in a 2 qt. baking dish
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 T. butter or oil
- 1 onion; diced
- 1/2 cup green pepper; diced
- 1/2 c. mushrooms; diced (or a 7 oz. can)
- 1 T. flour
- 1 c. milk (or cream)
- 1 c. shredded cheese (I use Cheddar)
- 1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes with juice
- 2 c. cooked and shredded chicken
- 1/2 c. water or broth (if sauce seems too thick for your taste)
- 8 oz. uncooked spaghetti noodles (or your favorite pasta noodles)
- Salt And Pepper, to taste
- Additional shredded cheese for the top
**NOTE: If your family won’t eat peppers or mushrooms, just leave them out — I doubt it will change the taste of the dish all that much.
DIRECTIONS:
Melt butter in a large rimmed frying pan.
Add onions, pepper, and mushrooms. Saute until veggies are tender.
Add flour and milk to veggie mixture and whisk until thickened. Stir in cheese, tomatoes, cooked chicken, and additional water or broth if necessary.
Turn heat to low to keep warm while you boil the noodles.
Boil noodles according to package directions. Drain and add noodles to sauce mixture.
Serve immediately OR put in a casserole dish, add extra cheese, and bake for 15 minutes at 350ºF (or until cheese is melted).
Refrigerate or freeze leftovers in individual serving sizes.
This dish is a great alternative to “regular spaghetti” and although my kids still prefer red sauce and ground beef or sausage versus a creamier sauce with chicken, they still ate it really well.
If you’re short on time, you could easily prepare the meal the night before, or the morning of, and just pop it in the oven about 30 minutes before you’re ready to eat (I’d probably cover it with aluminum foil until the last 10 minutes so the cheese doesn’t get too brown).
I personally haven’t tried freezing this dish yet, but based on my extensive experience freezing other pasta dishes, I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet it will taste fantastic out of the freezer.
What’s your favorite pasta dish?
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Olivia Brown says
I made this yesterday and the whole family loved it! Healthy and delicious recipe, I will definitely make it again!
Andrea says
yay!! We love it over here too!
Melanie McDonald says
I love pasta, but my protein loving husband does not. I’ve also added corn, grated carrot, summer squash and zucchini to my chicken spaghetti.
Alicia says
This looks yummy! I’ve also tried the velveeta recipe that’s similar to this. I do like it occasionally, but it gets to be a little much. This one looks much more mellow! I’ll have to try it!
Meghan says
I’ll definitely be trying this for a freezer meal. I tried a chicken spaghetti recipe that had processed cheese and cream soup. It came out ok for being frozen, but I’m not sure why I made it – not a cream soup or Velvetta fan!
Andrea says
yeah, I don’t mind processed foods — but cream soup + Velveeta has never been a favorite combo of mine!
Ann says
Now I am seeing that it was added at the end but I still don’t see it.
Andrea says
crazy! try clicking on the Google doc for the “printable recipe” it should show up there for sure. Here’s that link again.
Ann says
Got it now. Will try it another day. Pulled out a freezer meal to defrost instead.
Ann says
I am starting to make this for dinner. Is there no chicken in the Chicken Spaghetti recipe?
Andrea says
ok this is SO weird — I have no idea why people keep commenting about no chicken in the recipe. I see the chicken listed in the recipe, but apparently no one else does!
It’s listed towards the bottom, between the diced tomatoes and extra broth — 2 c. cooked chicken. Does it now show up for you?
This is so crazy!
Caroline says
How much spaghetti do you cook for this recipe?
It sounds really yummy!
Andrea says
I use 8 ounces — which seems to be a good amount for the quantity of sauce (for our taste!)
Chris says
This sounds amazing! I’ll definitely be trying it. Thank you!
Nana says
Did you choose to leave the chicken out of this recipe?
Andrea says
no it’s in there — towards the bottom because I add it at the end.
Molly says
She probably forgot it. Happens to the best of us!
linda says
I didn’t see the amount of chicken.
Andrea says
I added it at the end… thanks 🙂