Easy Weeknight Chicken Spaghetti – who says comfort food can’t be easy? I’ve simplified an ARM family favorite to make it perfect for busy weeknights.
EASY WEEKNIGHT CHICKEN SPAGHETTI
Like many of you, I am always on the lookout for easy weeknight meals to feed my hungry family. Who has the time (or inclination) to spend hours in the kitchen after a busy day of work and running kids around to activities?
Favorite comfort foods are usually relegated to the weekend menu due to weekday time constraints. But what if we crave (or need) a little comfort food during the week?
Shortcuts Save Time
Just a few simple shortcuts have transformed Chicken Spaghetti into a weeknight option, without compromising the flavor of the dish.
The use of pre-cooked chicken is the key, lopping off about 30 minutes of cook time. I’ve used rotisserie chicken and Kirkland brand Grilled Chicken Breast Strips from Costco with good results.
And recipe-ready chicken broth makes up for the lack of flavored cooking water you would have it you were cooking the chicken from scratch.
Easy Weeknight Chicken Spaghetti - who says comfort food can't be easy? #comfortfood #easymealsClick To TweetMake Ahead for Busy Days
You can further simplify the process by preparing Easy Weeknight Chicken Spaghetti ahead of time. Prepping the night before or in the morning makes the after work scramble even less stressful.
Follow the steps up to baking, then store the assembled covered dish in the refrigerator until ready to bake (I love these casserole dishes with lids for storing in the frig or freezer).
Remove the casserole dish from the frig about 15 minutes before baking, remove the lid and pop the dish in the pre-heated oven.
Lastly, don’t be put off by the baking time – it’s all hands-off time, allowing you to prepare your side dishes, a salad, spend time with your kiddos or simply unwind with a glass of wine after a busy workday.
*** Pin the Easy Weeknight Chicken Spaghetti recipe for later ***
Although initially posted over 2 years ago,the original Chicken Spaghetti remains one of the most popular recipes I have shared on the blog. And it’s still a family favorite.
Work Smarter: Sometimes the right tools can make or break your cooking experience. These tools will help you make quick work of this recipe:
Pyrex 9×13 casserole – I love my Pyrex casserole dishes.
Big mixing bowl – the right size for mixing ingredients for this dish.
More easy weeknight meals for busy families:
I’ve shared this recipe at Weekend Potluck, Recipe of the Week, Meal Plan Monday, Pretty Pintastic Party.
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Easy Weeknight Chicken Spaghetti
Easy Weeknight Chicken Spaghetti - who says comfort food can't be easy? I've simplified an ARM family favorite to make it perfect for busy weeknights.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound dry spaghetti broken in half, then broken in half again
- 2 cups pre-cooked chicken breast roughly chopped
- 1 10 1/2 oz. can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
- 1 10 1/2 oz. can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
- 1/4 cup green pepper finely diced
- 1/4 cup yellow onion finely diced
- 16 oz. chicken broth
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese reserving 1/2 cup for later use
- 1 tsp. Lawry's Season salt
- Salt & pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
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Cook spaghetti according to package directions until al dente. Drain well.
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While the spaghetti is cooking, combine the pre-cooked chicken breast, 2 cans of soup, green pepper, onion, chicken broth, cheddar cheese (don't forget to reserve the 1/2 cup for later use) and Lawry's Season salt. Mix well.
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Add cooked spaghetti to chicken mixture and stir to combine.
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Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish and top with 1/2 cup of reserved cheddar cheese.
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Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, about 30 minutes.
RECIPE NOTES
- Rotisserie chicken works well with this recipe.
- Make ahead directions: recipe can be assembled the night before or in the morning and refrigerated until ready to bake. Remove casserole from frig about 15 minutes before baking. Bake as directed, allowing for additional baking time.
- Nutritional information is provided as a reference.
I used mushrooms instead of green peppers and 1 cup of chicken broth instead of 2 and Tex mex cheese for a bit of zip. Delicious and super easy!
Your changes sound amazing, Kendel.
Anyone tried with spaghetti squash instead of spaghetti noodles?
I haven’t tried it with spaghetti squash but would love to know your results if you try it.
Just what do you say about condensed milk or evaporated milk?In this recipe just wondering.
Hi Ray! I haven’t made this recipe with evaporated milk, so I don’t know what the outcome would be. If you try it I’d love to hear your results. I don’t recommend using sweetened condensed milk in this recipe.
Made this exactly like the recipe but added cooked mushrooms. I also sautéed the onions and green peppers before had. It came out delicious!
Love the addition of mushrooms, Melissa!
Did not turn out good for me. Kids found it too bland. I am going to try add Pesto sauce to the leftovers and see if that make a difference
Aww bummer, Ambrose. I’m sorry your family didn’t enjoy the recipe.
I made this the other day…I left out the green pepper as we aren’t big fans of them. I added 3 Tablespoons of cooking sherry and some pimento. It was amazing!
I’m happy your family enjoyed Chicken Spaghetti as much as my family does, LAR.
Made this today and my family and I loved it!
So glad your family enjoyed it, DeAnn!
This was sooo good. I didn’t have cream of mushroom, or any of the veggies. I used 2 cans of cream of chicken, and chicken broth 1 can of Rotel (drained) and a whole bag of cheese, with real chicken that I shredded! Turned out awesome, I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms anyhow! (:
Thanks for sharing your modifications, Jessica. The Rotel sounds like a tasty addition.
I made this as written, used canned chicken (drained well) and added 4oz light cream cheese. It adds extra creaminess and flavor. Yum!
That sounds fantastic, Jeannie!
Do you think this dish would freeze well? Maybe assemble it, then freeze and defrost and bake?
I haven’t tried freezing this recipe. If you give it a try, I’d love to hear your results, Mary.
I make mine almost exactly this way and always make enough for 2-3 meals. It freezes great! I use a gallon freezer bag and lay it flat in the freezer. It’s an awesome recipe!
Thank you for sharing your experience with freezing this dish, Kimberly.
Could you make this in a crockpot.?
I haven’t made this in the crockpot, so I can’t say for certain. I’d love to hear your results if you give it a try, April.
This looks sooo good. It’s in the oven right now! I used some leftover shredded chicken that had been cooked in stewed tomatoes and some yummy seasonings. I left out the onion and pepper since I didn’t have any on hand. I cooked my pasta in my Instant Pot and it turned out PERFECT. I had 3 partial bags of cheese so I mixed in a handful of quesadilla cheese, sharp cheddar, and Colby jack. Topped it with more Colby and a sprinkle of paprika. I had to snag a taste before I popped it in the oven. Tasty! And super easy.
Love the blend of cheeses you used, Lauren. Sometimes you have to use what you have on hand. Thanks for stopping by!
Can you use canned shredded chicken?
You can absolutely use canned shredded chicken, Valerie.
Thanks for your reply! I didn’t dilute and made sure to drain it well! I will definitely give it another try. It was even better as leftovers;)
If you ever figure out what happened please let me know. So happy you’re going to try it again, Leslie.
Thanks for your reply! I didn’t dilute them and used just 16oz of broth and did drain the pasta. I will definitely give it another try. It really did have a good flavor and was even better as leftovers!
It had a really good flavor, but mine game out extremely watery, to the point I drained the liquid off twice! I made the recepie to a “t” any suggestion as to what I did wrong?
I’m not exactly sure why yours came out watery, Leslie. The first things that come to mind are not draining the pasta before mixing or diluting the soups.
What size soup cans?
This recipe uses the 10 1/2 oz. soup cans, Briana.
Instead of cream of chicken can you substitute it with more chicken broth.. cream of anything has too much sodium???
I believe you would have better results if you used a homemade cream of chicken soup, Jadda.
This dish looks delicious!! My only problem is that my family doesn’t eat cheese!! My husband and I eat cheese…so I was wondering if I could leave out the cheese and add it to mine and my husband’s after it’s cooked? What do you think?
I think you would get better results by dividing the food between 2 smaller dishes before baking, allowing you to add cheese to one of the dishes. Thanks for stopping by, Angie!
What kind of green pepper is in this? Green bell pepper, chili pepper?
Thanks in advance
I use green bell pepper, Cynthia.
Hey Lori! If I made this Thursday morning would it be okay to cook Friday or Saturday night? Taking a beach trip and everyone is bringing a premade dish for dinner one night!
Hi Rachel! Would definitely be OK for Friday, but not sure about Sat. as I’ve never held this dish more than a day in the frig. A beach trip sounds really fun right now – we are forecasted for snow (yes, snow!) this weekend!
Thank you so much for responding so quickly. I’m making it tonight. It looks so so good can’t wait to try it. So I since the recipe calls for cr of chicken I guess I should add 2 cans to make up for the cream of mushroom? I love your posts and recipes and I plan to visit regularly. Thank you again
I’m sorry I wasn’t able to respond until this morning. Yes, you will use a total of 2 cans of cream of chicken if you’re not using cream of mushroom. I hope you enjoyed this dish.
Can I substitute a different cream soup to replace cream of mushroom. Sorry but I don’t like mushrooms at all. This dish looks absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much. Debby
Absolutely – Cream of Chicken will work well, too. Thanks for stopping by, Debby!
I do not like mushrooms either but I was thinking of substituting it with a can of cream of celery. The cream of chicken also sounds good though. I would use either one just to try it out and see which I like best. The dish sounds like it would be easy to make and yummy to eat. Can’t wait to try it!
Cream of celery should work well, too. I hope you enjoy this recipe, Rosie!
Has anyone ever mentioned that the print is somewhat blurred. I printed out the Chicken Spaghetti. It looks scrumptious. Hopefully the blurred print does not affect other recipes.
I hope you enjoy the Chicken Spaghetti recipe, Susan. You are the first to mention blurred print. Can you provide me with any additional details (i.e. what page is blurry? is it the print out that is blurry?) so I can look into the problem?
This would go down a treat in my household! It looks so good and great for a busy week. Popping over from #recipeoftheweek x
My entire crew loves this dish, too, Kirsty. Thanks for stopping by!