Cheesy, rich and comforting, this Cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini is a dinner recipe that everyone will love. This baked chicken spaghetti casserole is made from scratch and comes together quickly by using cooked chicken.
We love baked pasta dishes! If you are the same, this Baked Penne is always a hit. My kids devour it! This Cheesy Kielbasa Pasta Casserole is one of my personal favorites.
This is a funny time of year as a blogger. I typically blog mostly dinner recipes. Because as much as I love to bake, I usually only bake once a week. But dinner? Yep, you have to prepare for that one every night.
But here’s the thing – I’m not thinking about dinner recipes when November and December are around. It’s all about the Thanksgiving pie, the Christmas cookies and the New Years appetizers. But then my kids keep reminding me that I have to actually feed them.
So I’ve been posting a lot of side dishes and desserts lately, but I’m still going to sneak in a few dinner recipes when I can, because we all have to eat. And this Cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini is perfect since it works well with leftover Thanksgiving turkey instead of the chicken.
What is Chicken Tetrazzini
I actually had to look this one up, because in my head, I was thinking this was an Italian dish. But I was wrong. Chicken Tetrazzini was invented in the early 1900s by a chef at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. He made this dish for opera star Louisa Tetrazzini. Chicken Tetrazzini has spaghetti (or a similar long and skinny pasta) that is coated in a creamy cheese sauce. There are a lot of variations out there. Most of them use a cream of something soup. But this recipe is from scratch! I have no problem with canned cream soup, but I personally just don’t really like them. But really, it takes so little time to make it all from scratch, you won’t even miss the ease of the canned soup.
How to Make Chicken Tetrazzini
- To make this Chicken Tetrazzini recipe, you start by making your creamy sauce. Melt some butter and cook the mushrooms until they are soft.
- Stir in the flour, and after it has cooked for a minute or two, start stirring in the chicken broth and the half and half. Let this sauce thicken up a little bit.
- Remove the pan from the stove and stir in 3/4 of the shredded cheddar cheese. Then stir in your cooked noodles and your shredded chicken.
More Can’t Miss Easy Chicken dinner recipes:
Cheesy Sour Cream Chicken
Easy Chicken Divan Recipe
Chicken Pot Pie Ragu
Creamy Crunchy Chicken
Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
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Cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Cheesy, rich and comforting, this Cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini is a dinner recipe that everyone will love. This baked chicken spaghetti casserole is made from scratch and comes together quickly by using cooked chicken.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup half and half
- 4 cups (16 oz) shredded medium cheddar cheese
- 1/2 pound spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained
- 4 cups cooked chicken, shredded or cut into a small dice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, salt and pepper and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Gradually add the broth and the half and half, stirring until blended. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, 3-5 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add 3 cups of the cheese and stir until the cheese melts. Stir in the pasta and the chicken. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheese over the top of the casserole. Bake, uncovered, until the sauce bubbles and the cheese is melted, 35-40 minutes.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts.
Nutrition
- Calories: 534
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 547 mg
- Fat: 32 g
- Saturated Fat: 18 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 26 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 34 g
- Cholesterol: 116 mg
Kim says
Thank you for such a delicious recipe. My family loved this recipe!! They agreed it was a keeper.
★★★★★
Shaheen (Coco) says
Looks very delicious, Deborah.
glamah16 says
You know I never had this until recently, and it was good. So now I have your recipe I may give it a go.
Paula says
Oh boy, I like this recipe. It’s just loaded with chicken! Four cups of cheese and a cup of cream, well, that’s just helping you meet your daily dairy requirement! That bread crumb topping would find it’s way onto my plate. YUM!
PheMom says
Oh I had to smile! That sounds exactly like me – I am not a good meal planner anymore – but look at those delicious results!
Kevin says
Cheese, mushrooms, pasta… this sounds great!
Grace says
anything with that much grease is bound to make me a happy camper. i like it, deborah. i like it a lot. 🙂
Rosie says
You made a great recovery of a meal Debs and this looks delicious!
I understand about menu planning and that things in my house don’t always run to plan either.
Rosie x
Prudy says
We have tetrazzini every year the week after Thanksgiving with all the t leftovers. I love the stuff, decadent feast that it is.
Darius T. Williams says
Cheesy and creamy – now this looks good!
-DTW
http://www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com
Caroline says
That looks good! Yeah, butter and cheese makes everything yummy.
Elle says
That’s a lot of cheese! Calcium is good for expecting moms, so it’s a good thing, Sounds yummy, too.
Sophie says
Yay for butter and cheese! This looks so yummy. 🙂
Dawn says
This is perfect for me. I love this creation. We are having our first cold snap tonight–so, everything will die outside. I’m not ready for winter, I am ready for summer already.
Emiline says
Now I’ve forgotten what I was going to say!
Oh, I was going to say that I wouldn’t feel too bad about the cheese. It’s good for you! All that calcium.
This is coming from a person that ate fried chicken and onion rings for dinner last night.
Emiline says
Testing…
Mrs. L says
I see nothing wrong with 4 cups of cheese and all that butter. It sounds delish. Who needs to be able to see their feet anyway….
Chocolate Shavings says
Your basil incident made me smile because I’ve been in similar situations so many times. It’s great that you were able to try out this great Tetrazzini though!
Beth says
Ive made a turkey tetrazinni before and it was gorgeous. Ive bookmarked this one
Peabody says
This sounds good. I never make Tetrazzini since it is usually with turkey and my husband is not a turkey fan. I think we shall make this tomorrow night!
Birdie says
Funny… I just made Turkey Tettrazini, it’s in the oven now!
Mandy says
What a recovery! This looks awesome.
Lisa says
This looks delicious! Cheese and butter always makes things great.
Maria says
Wow, that is a lot of cheese and butter! I guess this would be a real treat for dinner…but only once in awhile!