4.57 (599 votes)

Thin spaghetti, four cups of chicken, and a creamy sour-cream sauce under melted mozzarella — one 13×9, forty minutes in the oven, and the pan comes back empty.

Before you boil the spaghetti

Three things that keep it creamy, not mushy

The whole recipe is one bowl and one pan, and these are the three places it goes right or wrong.

Cook the pasta al dente: It bakes another forty minutes in the sauce, so soft noodles going in come out mush.
Use cooked chicken: Four cups of shredded chicken you already made, and the hard part is done.
Hold the Panko: It goes on after the first thirty minutes, so it toasts for the last ten instead of soaking.

This chicken tetrazzini casserole is one of my favorite meals to take to a family with a new baby – everyone loves it and it’s always a big hit!

It is the dinner I show up with when someone has a newborn and no free hands. It reheats well, the flavors are mild enough that every kid at the table eats it, and the pan comes back empty.

Need an easy chicken casserole dinner that can be made ahead? This is it!

This chicken tetrazzini is simple, yet full of flavor and every single person (kids and adults alike!) that eats it loves it.

Easy Chicken Tetrazzini Dinner Casserole:

16 oz thin spaghetti cooked
½ cup butter plus more for buttering pan
4 cups chicken cooked and shredded
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
½ cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 T parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
½ to 1 cup Panko bread crumbs

Directions to make this Chicken Tetrazzini:

Combine butter, cooked & shredded chicken, soup, sour cream, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese and milk. Add cooked noodles.
Pour into a sprayed/greased 13×9 casserole dish. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes
Top with Panko bread crumbs, bake ten minutes more.

What Makes the Sauce Work

The sauce is butter, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, milk, and parmesan all stirred together. No roux, no whisking on the stove, nothing to break or curdle.

The sour cream is what makes it taste like more than a can of soup. Two full cups give the sauce a tang that keeps all that creaminess from feeling heavy.

What I Have Learned Making This

Cook the spaghetti al dente and stop there. It bakes another forty minutes in the sauce, and softer noodles turn to mush.

Use chicken you already cooked. Four cups sounds like a lot, but it is the difference between a pasta bake with some chicken in it and a real dinner.

Do not add the Panko at the start. It goes on top after the first thirty minutes, so it toasts for the last ten instead of soaking up sauce the whole bake.

Making It Ahead

This is a true make-ahead dinner. Assemble the whole casserole, cover it with foil, and it can wait in the refridgerator for up to two days before you bake it.

A cold casserole straight from the fridge needs a little longer in the oven. Add ten to twenty minutes to the bake time and check that the middle is hot.

Why does the Panko go on at the end?

Bread crumbs added at the start absorb the sauce and never crisp. Adding them for only the last ten minutes gives you a golden, crunchy top over a creamy middle.

Can I make chicken tetrazzini for someone else?

This is my go-to meal for a family with a new baby, and it travels well. Assemble it, cover it with foil, and hand it over with the baking directions – 350 degrees, thirty minutes, then Panko on top for ten more.

This is not a fussy dinner and that is the point. It is a big, warm pan of creamy pasta that picky eaters actually finish, whether it lands on your table or somebody else’s.

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