Chicken Spaghetti

This dish has been a part of my cooking life since I was a young wife. One of my good friends from high school brought it to me when I had a baby, and I asked her for the recipe. It’s evolved a bit, and I’ve added this or that over the years, but it’s still basically the same. I used to make it for every gathering or every time a friend had a baby. Unfortunately, now I make it for funerals or if my husband requests it. It was a favorite of our boy, and when he’d come home from college, he would request it or meatloaf with Mac and cheese. Those were his favorites. So, chicken spaghetti has a special place in our house and is a favorite and probably will be until I lose the ability to make it.

Funny thing is, I thought it was a well known dish, but no. I’ve learned that it’s kind of a southern thing. If I’m wrong, please correct me, but I’ve never seen a recipe for it except in southern cookbooks, blogs and websites. I knew I could not have a blog without including my chicken spaghetti, so here it is!

Chicken spaghetti, cheesy garlic bread and green salad

What you’ll need:

1 whole chicken or 4-5 good sized chicken breasts
1 pound of spaghetti noodles
1 can rotel
2 cans cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 half block of velvetta (large block)
Garlic salt
Salt
Pepper
Flat Parsley chopped for garnish (optional)

Step by step:

I do one of two things. I either boil the whole chicken and then boil the noodles in the broth of said chicken OR I bake chicken breasts and add a bullion cube to the pot before I boil the noodles for flavor. You don’t have to, but I just feel like it adds extra flavor layers. You can do whatever feels right to you. There are no rules. The baking of the breasts, is definitely faster and it may be all you have – like this time, for me. NOTE: I’m doubling my recipe here so don’t let the amount you see in the pics throw you off.

So cook your chicken, then boil your noodles. Either debone and spread your whole chicken or cube your chicken breasts.

Drain your noodles then add them back to the hot pot.

Now, it’s pretty simple, add your chopped up cheese, cubed chicken, all the canned soups, the rotel, garlic salt, salt and pepper. I didn’t give you amounts on the spices on purpose because everyone is different. I love garlic, so I’ll put about a Tablespoon of the garlic salt per single batch but if you don’t like strong garlic, add a little at a time and taste until it’s where you want it. Go easy on the salt, too, tasting along the way. There is sodium in the soups and the cheese and it can easily become too salty really quickly.

Stir all the ingredients until the cheese is melted and it’s well combined.

Once it’s all melted, you can actually serve it just like this, but I put it in a casserole pan and heat it through before serving at 350 degrees. Cover the pan with foil or the top will get too crunchy. It’s great as leftovers, and you can freeze it and defrost it and warm it through in a 350 degree oven. It’s great served with some garlic bread and a green salad. I hope it brings you joy and your family loves it.