A creamy chicken spaghetti recipe that uses a tub of pimento cheese from the deli department to add and extra layer of cheesy goodness. Pimento cheese chicken spaghetti will give you the traditional tastes of baked spaghetti but elevated to the next level.
Does your family have a few go to recipes that are used for special occasions? When I was growing up, my mom’s lasagna, manicotti and chicken spaghetti were always top picks for family birthday dinners and other special events.
These go to casseroles are great because they feed a bunch, are relatively cheap and are crowd pleasers. As a mom of a blended family, our dinner table can have up to 7 people at it at any given time. So anything that makes everyone happy is a major accomplishment.
My husband chose chicken spaghetti for our Saturday night dinner this week. So my mom’s chicken spaghetti came to mind. Her casserole is made with pimentos, bell pepper, cream soups and shredded cheese. Another popular variation on the dish is rotel chicken spaghetti which includes Velveeta and a can of Rotel. I have made both many times but I wanted something a little different.
Not too long ago we went on a day date to a restaurant in a trendy area of our city. They had pimento cheese loaded fries and I had to try them. Those fries were amazing. Full of flavor and melty, cheesy goodness.
So when trying to come up with a spin on our traditional chicken spaghetti, pimento cheese chicken spaghetti seemed like a great choice. I mean if it works on French fries and bread, why not pasta?
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Pimento Cheese Chicken Spaghetti Casserole
The pimento cheese chicken spaghetti was deliciously creamy and cheesy. Our kids from almost 2 years old to 18 all happily cleaned their plates.
And here is the best part. My husband said it was the best variation of chicken spaghetti that I had ever made. The kicker? He doesn’t think he like pimento cheese (insert evil laugh here!).
Simplify the Prep
To make pimento cheese chicken spaghetti much easier, use the meat of a rotisserie chicken. Using a precooked chicken will drastically cut down on your prep time and make this easy enough for a weeknight meal.
Another way to cut down on prep would be to use a pre-chopped, frozen seasoning blend of bell peppers. You could get the pepper and onion combo to really make this amazing but my husband despises onions so I skip those.
I might be able to sneak pimento cheese into chicken spaghetti but I never sneak onions. It is a cardinal rule of our marriage. Plus he can find one onion speck in an entire casserole so it would never work even if I wanted to try.
By using the pimento cheese, you also cut down on having to heat the cheeses together. When you make rotel chicken spaghetti, you have to melt down that Velveeta before putting it in the oven. Since the pimento cheese is already chopped small, it will melt enough when you add it to the hot spaghetti noodles. No need to warm on the stove before baking!
What Do You Need To Make Pimento Cheese Chicken Spaghetti?
To make this yummy baked spaghetti, you need just a few basic ingredients.
- Rotisserie Chicken or 2-3 Chicken Breasts
- 12 ounce prepared Pimento Cheese
- 3 Tablespoons Butter
- Bell Pepper (and onion if you don’t have an onion hater like I do)
- 2 cans cream of something soup (you can totally sub whatever you have, cream of mushroom, celery or chicken would all be fine)
- Cup of shredded cheese
- Box of Spaghetti noodles
Can I Freeze It?
Absolutely! Chicken spaghetti is a great casserole to freeze on a freezer cook day. You can also build up your freezer stash without a huge freezer cooking day by prepping one for dinner and one for the freezer without a ton of extra effort.
To freeze, prep the pimento cheese chicken spaghetti all the way up until the baking point, but don’t bake it! I like to use disposable foil pans when making things for the freezer.
This is what it looks like unbaked. Look at those little chunks of pimento cheese. Don’t worry that cheese melts down perfectly in the oven (in case you have some pimento cheese haters in your house too).
You can also line your glass pyrex dish with aluminum foil. Then spread the spaghetti mixture in the pan and freeze until firm (an hour or two). Once it is firm enough to pop out of the pan, wrap it well with additional foil. When it is time to thaw and bake, just unwrap and place it back into your pan.
The leftovers warm up well in the microwave too! I just drizzle about a teaspoon of water over that top before warming to help prevent the microwave from drying the pasta out.
| Prep Time | 30 |
| Cook Time | 30 |
| Servings |
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- 2 cooked Chicken Breasts shredded
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 can cream of celery soup
- 1 12 oz prepared Pimento cheese
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 3 Tbsp Butter
- 1 cup Shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 16 oz box spaghetti cooked al dente
Ingredients
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|
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Saute the chopped bell pepper in the butter until soft.
- Cook spaghetti noodles and drain. Do not rinse.
- In a medium bowl, combine the shredded chicken, pimento cheese, bell pepper, cheddar cheese, and cream soups to the hot spaghetti noodles.
- Stir until the pimento and cheese is mostly combined and melted.
- Spread the spaghetti mixture into a greased 9x12 pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until hot and bubbling.
