Chicken Spaghetti

My dear friend Kayla recently made this for a gathering at her house, and we all fell head over heels in love with it. Her Chicken Spaghetti is delicious. To die for. And best of all, easy! Please welcome my first guest poster!

When Jamie was trying to come up with recipes for her “Basic Recipes Everyone Should Know” list, she polled a few of her friends, myself included, for their favorite and fallback recipes. When I suggested chicken spaghetti, she asked if I’d guest post it, since apparently I’m famous for it. It’s quick, simple, and delicious and you only need a handful of ingredients to make it, most of which you probably have on hand.

I forgot the cheese

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts (I use 3 usually)

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

3 cups dry spaghetti (broken into 2″-3″ pieces)

1 yellow onion

2 cups chicken broth (homemade or store bought)

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Optional ingredients:

1 4oz jar of pimentos
1 green bell pepper

First fill and boil one stock pot of water. Add your chicken and boil for a few minutes then simmer for 30-45 minutes. When your chicken is done reserve two cups of the broth that it was cooking in (or use 2 cups store bought broth). Shred your chicken, if you have a stand mixer – USE IT, if you don’t, go ahead and shred it by hand this time but buy a stand mixer before you make this again.

Stand mixer? No this is my chicken shredder

Next break your spaghetti into 2″-3″ pieces until you have about 2 1/2-3 cups uncooked (I suppose you could do this while your chicken is shredding). Cook the spaghetti in the remaining broth (that you cooked the chicken in) until al dente. While the spaghetti is cooking, go ahead and dice your onion.

Looks like 3 cups to me

Don't cry, it really is a simple recipe

When the spaghetti is cooked drain it and dump it into a large mixing bowl (I use a giant snack bowl that I got during Halloween a few years back, it’s the perfect size. I’m sure they sell them during other holidays too). Add the chicken, soup, onion and 1-2 cups of cheese and stir.

There's only about a cup of cheese in here. I don't always measure (shhh)

You’re going to have a thick goopy mess at this point that is going to be relatively difficult to stir. That’s where the chicken broth comes in. Slowly add the broth (starting with 1 cup) until the spaghetti is stir-able but not soupy. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish and top with the remaining cup (or however much you want) of cheese.

Don't forget the cheese!

You can cover it and freeze it for up to 6 months at this point, or refrigerate it for up to 2 days, but I usually want mine right away. Tent the dish with foil (so your cheese doesn’t burn) and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes – until hot and bubbly. Take the foil off for the last 5 minutes of baking et voila – chicken spaghetti! Serve with garlic bread and vegetable of your choice.

I stuck mine under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the cheese a bit, but then I forgot about it so I didn’t end up with deliciously stringy melted cheese this time. It still tasted great though!