Chicken Spaghetti

If I could sum up my childhood in one food it would be casseroles.

Birthdays, church fellowships, middle of the week meals.

Casseroles for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, thrown together for dinner.

My mom will always be known for her chicken casserole (and fudge pie), but my Mammaw is a different story.

She’s got a few dishes that are totally Mammaw and no one else.

Macaroni salad, roast and noodles, cocoa fudge, Texas sheet cake, green spaghetti, birthday cakes, ham gravy, and her chicken spaghetti.

I guess she’s kind of the queen of casseroles.

If there’s a dish that you can double or triple and freeze for later, she makes it. If you think it’s the perfect thing to make for 50 people, she has.

This chicken spaghetti is no different. I grew up eating this casserole and it’s sticking with me from now on.

Just don’t tell her that I changed her recipe – she told me that I had to use the stick of margarine to cook the onions and peppers, but I didn’t.

And you know what? It tastes almost exactly like the original.

Margarine or no margarine, Mammaw’s recipes are always tasty.

Chicken Spaghetti

Makes: 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound whole wheat spaghetti noodles
  • 2 Tbsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • 3 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 1/2 cups cream of chicken soup
  • 28 oz. crushed tomatoes
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 2 cups cooked chicken, diced
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 2 Tbsp salt and the whole wheat noodles. Cook, stirring occasionally 7-9 minutes until the pasta is just tender.
  3. While the pasta is cooking, put a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil.
  4. Saute the chopped onion and green pepper in the olive oil for 5-6 minutes until the veggies are softened.
  5. Stir the chili powder, cream soup, tomatoes, salt, and pepper in with the veggies.
  6. Drain the cooked pasta, pour it back in the pot, and add the tomato mixture and the diced chicken. Toss everything together to coat the pasta.
  7. Pour the mixture into a greased 9×13 baking dish and top with the shredded cheese.
  8. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes until the cheese is melted and browning and the edges are bubbling.

17 comments

  1. Mom mom is famous for her chicken casserole too! It must be a mom thing. :) This baked spaghetti looks awesome!

  2. Oh myyyy what a comforting dish! This sounds really really good, I’ve never had anything like it with the cream of chicken and crushed tomatoes before!

  3. We had this tooooooo! I’m starving for it now.

  4. Omigosh I’ve never seen a casserole that had spaghetti in it! It sounds awesome! I love your healthified version too! The next time I need to feed a lot of people I will def be giving this a try!

  5. I LOVE CASSEROLES! the end.

  6. sounds good! i love a good comfort food casserole, especially if it’s cold, rainy, or i’m feeling under the weather. i think we have a couple stormy days coming up – might be the perfect time to try this!

  7. This looks soooooooooooooo good! Casseroles are my FAVE!

  8. Pasta casseroles are totally the food of my childhood too! We used to eat one with the super-original name of “macaroni casserole”: ground beef, macaroni, marinara, and lots of mozzarella. I can’t say we ever used cream of chicken soup, though. :)

  9. Awesome! I love hearty, heart-warming casseroles like this. Just reminds me of mid-week meals with my family growing up.

  10. I’m a big fan of casseroles but I’ve never had one quite like this! Looks delicious :)

  11. Looks delicious!!!

  12. Looks delicious! I hear what you say about casseroles. I grew up on them too. My niece’s husband always laughs about always using campbells soups in the recipes. That is what makes them tasty! :)

  13. casseroles are definitely something i haven’t made enough of! looks great :)

  14. Yum! My Grandma Dixie (clearly a Southern casserole-loving woman) also made baked spaghetti like this — though hers certainly did not contain whole wheat noodles or anything healthy! This will be a fun version to try.

  15. My kids who say they don’t like spaghetti with tomato sauce on it, actually did a “tasty dance” when they took their first bite. Thank you! (I did add 2 cloves of garlic though. Don’t tell Mammaw…)

Comments are closed.