Easy Baked Chicken Spaghetti

This has got to be one of the easiest and fastest meals I’ve ever made in my entire life. I mean, in the same amount of time (or less) that it takes to pick up a phone, order a pizza or greasy cheeseburger, and wait for the delivery of your fast food order – that will likely be cold by the time it arrives – you could have this hot delicious easy baked chicken spaghetti dinner that will feed your entire family tonight and possibly provide enough leftovers to please everyone tomorrow too.

Ingredients

Chicken spaghetti got to be one of the easiest comfort dinners that we have in our back pockets.  It starts with a rotisserie chicken that we picked up on the way home from wherever we spent our busy day away and a few staples we may already have in our fridge and pantry.  And if you have your groceries delivered, then it’s even easier, right? 

So just how easy is it?  Well, if you can boil water to make noodles, chop previously cooked chicken, then open a jar of sauce, container of cream of chicken soup, a can of tomatoes, and a package of shredded cheese or two, then mix it all up and throw it into the oven, then you can do this!  It’s that simple.

Noodles

Start by boiling water and cooking your spaghetti noodles according to directions on the package.  I chose to use a gluten free pasta that our family loves.  It takes approximately 16 minutes to make these noodles and is just the amount of time you’ll need to debone and either dice or shred your fully cooked rotisserie chicken.  Once cooked, drain and set your noodles aside until you’re ready to assemble the remaining ingredients in a casserole baking dish.

Rotisserie Chicken

An average rotisserie chicken, when deboned, will yield approximately 3-4 cups of meat.  For our easy baked chicken spaghetti recipe, we will use a minimum of 2 cups of diced or shredded chicken meat to make it but have in the past used the entire amount of meat available from one rotisserie chicken.  How little or how much you’d like to use in your dinner is entirely up to you.

I usually use my hands to remove as much meat as I can from the warm (not hot) rotisserie chicken.  Beyond that, my absolute favorite kitchen tool to use is a pair of KitchenAid kitchen shears.  A word of caution though: don’t let these unassuming scissors fool you into thinking they are kid-safe, or anything less than a couple of incredibly sharp killer knives fastened together.  These bad boys are made to cut through bone and though they make amazingly quick work of chopping meat and veggies or even slicing up pizzas in the kitchen, they’ll will be quick to chop off any slow moving fingers that get in the way of your frenzy to get dinner done.

Sauce

The delicious cheesy sauce of this Easy Baked Chicken Spaghetti  is made with a combination of jarred Alfredo sauce, cream of chicken soup, a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, and Parmesan cheese. 

*A note about the cheese:

I prefer the bold taste of a sharp hard shredded Parmesan cheese paired with a mild and creamy softer cheese like shredded mozzarella because it melts so nicely.  Feel free to use your favorite cheese blend in this dish to suit your family’s palate.

Additionally, freshly shredded cheese will melt better than prepackaged cheese which commonly contain one or more anti-caking agents (e.g., corn and/or potato starch or something less desirable like cellulose) that are intended to keep the shreds from sticking together in the package. Although freshly shredded cheese may melt more easily, it comes at a cost considering the additional time required to shred a block of cheese. Prepackaged cheese options are available in most grocery stores and in a wide variety to choose from and will certainly be a time-saver. Whichever you choose to use is up to you and the time frame that you have to work within.

Assemble and Bake

In a large mixing bowl, mix the shredded Parmesan cheese with the chopped chicken, cooked spaghetti noodles, jar of Alfredo, package of cream of chicken soup, and can of tomatoes.  Then, transfer the mixture to a large enough baking dish to hold all of this goodness.  A 13” x 9” baking dish works nicely for a single recipe.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated throughout. 

Remove your casserole dish from the oven and top with shredded mozzarella cheese. 

Return it to the oven for an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted on top.

When it comes out of the oven, you’ll have the perfect combination of cheesy chicken spaghetti – the ultimate comfort food or love on a fork, if you will!

What to Serve Easy Baked Chicken Spaghetti With

Whether serving to a small family or a crowd, this recipe is great when paired with a side salad and if you’re feeling carb crazy, some crusty garlic bread too. If you’re not too stuffed after eating this delicious dinner, then feel free to follow it up with your favorite dessert.  When it comes to comfort food, we don’t count calories, right? You’re secret is safe with me!

Make Ahead Method and in Large Quantities

One of my earliest memories of eating chicken spaghetti was with our family on Wednesday nights at our church’s potluck dinners.  Well, we recently rewound time and I got to be a kid again when our large group of extended family and friends gathered to celebrate our dad’s 80^th birthday at a rented beach house on the warm Texas coast.  When planning this party, the decision to cook for our approximately 50+ guests instead of having it catered wasn’t a hard one to make when we settled on serving something we knew everyone has eaten for years and absolutely loved. 

What’s so amazing about this easy baked chicken spaghetti recipe is that it can be made in advance – even in very large quantities – and served at parties!  It’s that good! 

The process for making this in large batches isn’t any less easy than it is for making it for a single family; the only noticeable difference that will be felt is the amount of time it takes to debone chickens, boil noodles, and bake all the casserole dishes in the oven.  For our large group, we multiplied our single recipe by six to create six massive disposable pans of chicken spaghetti – enough to successfully feed a small army. Needless to say, no one left the party with an empty belly!

Storing Leftover Easy Baked Chicken Spaghetti

You can easily store your leftover Easy Baked Chicken Spaghetti in an airtight container in a refrigerator for up to three whole days or in your freezer for up to three whole months. The consistency of the sauce may not be quite the same after freezing and reheating it, but this can be easily remedied by opening another jar of Alfredo sauce or cream of chicken soup and adding it to your cooked ingredients because it will reconstitute it without diminishing any of the delicious flavor of the dish.

If you enjoyed our Easy Baked Chicken Spaghetti dinner, then you’ll love some of our other favorite chicken dinner recipes!

Fast Chicken Pho

Cheesy Pico Tequila Chicken

15 Minute Chicken Street Tacos