Easy Chicken Spaghetti – who says comfort food can’t be easy? A few shortcuts turn this much-loved recipe into an easy weeknight dinner for families.
EASY CHICKEN SPAGHETTI
Like many of you, I am always on the hunt for easy meals to feed my hungry family. Especially simple recipes I can prepare during the busy week.
Who has the time (or inclination) to spend hours in the kitchen after a long day of work and running kids around to activities? Not me. And I bet you don’t either.
Until now, favorite comfort food recipes have been 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 For An Easy Weeknight Dinner
A couple shortcuts have transformed my Classic Chicken Spaghetti recipe into an easy weeknight option. And it’s done without compromising the flavor of the dish.
The first shortcut is using pre-cooked chicken. This change is the key to lopping off about 30 minutes of cook time.
I’ve successfully used batch-cooked chicken, rotisserie chicken and Kirkland brand Grilled Chicken Breast Strips from Costco.
Next, use recipe-ready chicken broth to compensate for the lack of flavored cooking liquid.
Tips To Make Easy Chicken Spaghetti
Can I substitute other soups? Yes, you can use 2 cans of cream of chicken or mushroom soups.
Can I delete the onion and/or green pepper? Of course! If your people don’t like green peppers or onions, don’t use them.
I forgot to reserve the half cup of pasta water – no problem. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten to save the water. Feel free to use warm tap water in a pinch.
What is the reserved pasta water for? If the pasta mixture appears to be on the dry side, add some of the pasta cooking water. The dish should have a creamy consistency, but not too liquidy.
Don’t be put off by the baking time – it’s all hands-off time, allowing you to prepare your side dishes or a quick salad. Or spend time catching up with your kiddos. Or simply unwind with a glass of wine after a busy workday.
Make Ahead for Busy Days
If you are faced with an extremely busy day or week, you can prepare Easy Chicken Spaghetti ahead of time. Prep the evening before or in the morning to lessen the dreaded after work scramble.
And I’m all about doing things to make evenings less stressful.
To prepare in advance, follow the steps up to baking. Cover the assembled dish and store it in the refrigerator until ready to bake. These casserole dishes with lids are fab for storing food in the frig.
To bake, remove the casserole dish from the frig about 15 minutes before baking and set on the counter while the oven preheats. Remove the lid and pop the dish into the pre-heated oven.
*** Pin the Easy Chicken Spaghetti Recipe for Later ***
This recipe was originally posted on 1/29/17 and updated on 1/24/19.
Share this recipe with a stressed-out Mama. I promise she (and her family) will thank you!
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.
Wooden spoon
Big mixing bowl – the right size for mixing ingredients for this dish.
I’ve shared this recipe at Weekend Potluck, Recipe of the Week, Meal Plan Monday, Pretty Pintastic Party.
More easy weeknight meals for busy families:
***** Pin The Recipe To Your Easy Dinner Recipe Board *****
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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 dinner 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 garlic powder
- 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), garlic powder 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
- Easy Meal Prep Chicken works very well in this recipe.
- 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.
*** Want to make this dish? Save the recipe to your weeknight dinner Pinterest board. ***
sandi says
April 23 at 10:27 AMI also add small container of sour cream, mushrooms. i luv chicken spaghetti
Lori1 says
April 24 at 8:12 AMI bet that tastes great Sandi!
Julie says
April 14 at 11:46 AMThe first time I made this was after Thanksgiving. Instead of chicken I used left over turkey – everyone loved it. Now this is my go to comfort food casserole. I find the best way to enhance all the flavors is use your chicken broth/stock for everything. I first boil my chicken and add some Better Than Bouillon Chicken flavor to the boiling water. When it’s time to boil my spaghetti noodles – I just heat up my chicken stock and cook my spaghetti in that. This way you have your 2 cups of broth for the casserole and some pasta water (mixed together). I’m not a big fan of cheddar cheese so I use Monterey Jack – perfect. What I love about a recipe is the ability to “make it my own” – our blogger shares her recipe and then we can add or delete ingredients to make it our own. Thank you this recipe b/c it really is one of my favorites.
Lori1 says
April 19 at 10:44 AMWay to make this recipe your own, Julie! Thanks for letting me know you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does. ❤
Kendel reich says
November 12 at 6:38 AMI 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!
Lori1 says
November 12 at 8:02 AMYour changes sound amazing, Kendel.
Paloma S Wall says
November 7 at 3:40 PMAnyone tried with spaghetti squash instead of spaghetti noodles?
Lori1 says
November 7 at 8:09 PMI haven’t tried it with spaghetti squash but would love to know your results if you try it.
Ray Ronander says
September 16 at 6:23 PMJust what do you say about condensed milk or evaporated milk?In this recipe just wondering.
Lori1 says
September 17 at 9:25 AMHi 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.
Melissa J. says
August 27 at 8:29 PMMade this exactly like the recipe but added cooked mushrooms. I also sautéed the onions and green peppers before had. It came out delicious!
Lori1 says
August 28 at 7:22 AMLove the addition of mushrooms, Melissa!
Ambrose says
July 25 at 8:45 AMDid 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
Lori1 says
July 26 at 2:43 PMAww bummer, Ambrose. I’m sorry your family didn’t enjoy the recipe.
LAR says
July 17 at 7:33 PMI 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!
Lori1 says
July 18 at 12:32 PMI’m happy your family enjoyed Chicken Spaghetti as much as my family does, LAR.
DeAnn Weber says
July 17 at 2:58 PMMade this today and my family and I loved it!
Lori1 says
July 18 at 12:31 PMSo glad your family enjoyed it, DeAnn!
Jessica says
May 2 at 7:06 PMThis 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! (:
Lori1 says
May 2 at 9:20 PMThanks for sharing your modifications, Jessica. The Rotel sounds like a tasty addition.
Jeannie515 says
April 23 at 1:57 PMI made this as written, used canned chicken (drained well) and added 4oz light cream cheese. It adds extra creaminess and flavor. Yum!
Lori1 says
April 24 at 9:23 AMThat sounds fantastic, Jeannie!
Mary says
April 10 at 3:45 PMDo you think this dish would freeze well? Maybe assemble it, then freeze and defrost and bake?
Lori1 says
April 11 at 9:48 AMI haven’t tried freezing this recipe. If you give it a try, I’d love to hear your results, Mary.
[email protected] says
May 8 at 10:09 AMI 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!
Lori1 says
May 10 at 9:17 PMThank you for sharing your experience with freezing this dish, Kimberly.
April says
February 7 at 5:15 AMCould you make this in a crockpot.?
Lori1 says
February 8 at 8:43 AMI 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.
Lauren says
January 27 at 7:19 PMThis 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.
Lori1 says
January 28 at 7:38 AMLove the blend of cheeses you used, Lauren. Sometimes you have to use what you have on hand. Thanks for stopping by!
Valerie buck says
January 11 at 8:55 AMCan you use canned shredded chicken?
Lori1 says
January 11 at 9:50 AMYou can absolutely use canned shredded chicken, Valerie.
Leslie says
January 4 at 5:37 PMThanks 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;)
Lori1 says
January 4 at 7:38 PMIf you ever figure out what happened please let me know. So happy you’re going to try it again, Leslie.
Leslie says
January 4 at 5:35 PMThanks 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!
Leslie says
January 2 at 7:03 PMIt 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?
Lori1 says
January 2 at 7:58 PMI’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.
Briana says
November 21 at 5:31 PMWhat size soup cans?
Lori1 says
November 22 at 7:55 AMThis recipe uses the 10 1/2 oz. soup cans, Briana.
Jadda says
November 18 at 1:32 PMInstead of cream of chicken can you substitute it with more chicken broth.. cream of anything has too much sodium???
Lori1 says
November 18 at 3:36 PMI believe you would have better results if you used a homemade cream of chicken soup, Jadda.
Angie says
September 10 at 7:55 AMThis 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?
Lori1 says
September 10 at 9:00 AMI 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!
cynthia says
June 3 at 9:41 PMWhat kind of green pepper is in this? Green bell pepper, chili pepper?
Thanks in advance
Lori1 says
June 4 at 9:44 AMI use green bell pepper, Cynthia.
Rachel says
May 14 at 1:39 PMHey 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!
Lori1 says
May 16 at 2:47 PMHi 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!
Debby says
March 25 at 3:55 PMThank 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
Lori1 says
March 26 at 8:36 AMI’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.
Debby says
March 25 at 7:56 AMCan 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
Lori1 says
March 25 at 8:10 AMAbsolutely – Cream of Chicken will work well, too. Thanks for stopping by, Debby!
Rosie says
June 16 at 1:10 PMI 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!
Lori1 says
June 16 at 2:37 PMCream of celery should work well, too. I hope you enjoy this recipe, Rosie!
Susan Renaud says
February 10 at 8:33 PMHas 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.
Lori1 says
February 19 at 9:54 AMI 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?
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
February 8 at 4:38 AMThis would go down a treat in my household! It looks so good and great for a busy week. Popping over from #recipeoftheweek x
Lori1 says
February 19 at 10:01 AMMy entire crew loves this dish, too, Kirsty. Thanks for stopping by!