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Looking for a new family favorite recipe to add to your collection? This Monterey Chicken Spaghetti is an easy and comforting meal that’s easy enough for a weeknight meal, uses simple ingredients and it reheats well for leftovers.
Monterey chicken spaghetti is a pasta bake that will quickly become a highly requested recipe in your family. It’s creamy and cheesy with a crispy fried onion topping. This hearty pasta is also loaded with spinach and even if you aren’t a spinach lover, it tastes so good and just blends right in. This is a pasta recipe that the disappears quickly and it’s one of the most requested pasta dishes in our house.
Key Ingredients
Monterey chicken spaghetti tastes a lot more intricate than it is to make. This short recipe list is also very easy on the wallet!
Chicken – you can use rotisserie chicken or cook up some chicken breasts and dice them up
Spaghetti – or use linguini, fettuccini or bucatini
Cream of Chicken – two can of cream of chicken
Sour Cream – sour cream acts as the base of the sauce
Frozen Spinach – thaw the spinach and be sure to squeeze out all the excess moisture
Garlic – freshly minced garlic cloves add lots of flavor
Monterey Jack Cheese – shredded off the block for better meltability
Fried French Onions – one container of French’s fried onions is incorporated in the pasta and used as a topping
How to Make Monterey Chicken Spaghetti
Make the Spaghetti
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti to al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Butter up a 9×13 casserole dish, coating it on all sides to to prevent the pasta from sticking.
Make the Sauce
Drain the pasta and into the same pot, add in the sour cream, cream of chicken soup, spinach, garlic, 1.5 cups of cheese, and half of the fried French onions. Mix the ingredients well, then add in the pasta and the chicken. Use tongs or a spatula to toss everything together until well combined, adding the pasta water to thin out the consistency.
Bake
Pour the spaghetti mixture into the buttered casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and fried onions. Bake uncovered for about 40 minutes or until edges are bubbly and top is browned.
We love to serve this Monterey Chicken Spaghetti with this easy garlic bread that uses just a can of Pillsbury pizza crust.
The crunch texture of the French’s fried onions truly compliments the creaminess of the pasta and some garlic bread on the side sops up some of the excess sauce on the plate.
How to Reheat Monterey Chicken Spaghetti
Once pasta is cooled and refrigerated, you’ll probably notice it’s never as saucy when you reheat it. That’s because the pasta absorbs the liquid leaving it tasting dry upon reheating.
The best way to fix this is by adding a few splashes of milk or chicken broth and 2 teaspoons of butter before you warm it in the microwave. Your pasta will come back to life as if it was just made! Use this tip on any pasta you are reheating.
Looking for More Pasta Recipes?
Blackened Chicken Alfredo
Italian Sausage Pasta Bake
Cajun Chicken Lasagna Roll Ups
Chicken Scampi Stuffed Shells
Seeing your recreations makes my day!I hope you enjoyed this recipe for Monterey Chicken Spaghetti Bake. Be sure to comment below with any questions or feedback!
If you make these or any other recipes, don’t forget to tag me on IG @BadBatchBaking to be featured on my story.
Monterey Chicken Spaghetti Bake
Ingredients
- 3 cups rotisserie or diced cooked chicken
- 1 lb. Spaghetti linguini, fettuccini or bucatini all work
- 2-10.5 oz cans Cream of Chicken
- 1-16 oz container sour cream
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 10 oz bag frozen spinach thawed and well drained
- 3 cups Monterey jack cheese, shredded
- 16 oz can French's fried onions
- Butter or non cooking spray for greasing baking dish
- salt and pepper, to taste go light on salt as the cheese and cream of chicken is salty.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter up a 9x13 casserole dish, coating it on all sides to to prevent the pasta from sticking.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti to al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water.
- Drain the pasta and into the same pot, add in the sour cream, cream of chicken soup, spinach, garlic, 1.5 cups of cheese, salt and pepper, and half of the fried onions.
- Mix the ingredients well, then add in the pasta and the chicken. Use tongs or a spatula to toss everything together until well combined, adding the pasta water to thin out the consistency.
- Pour the spaghetti mixture into the buttered casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and fried onions. Bake uncovered for about 40 minutes or until edges are bubbly and top is browned.
This looks wonderful! Do you think it would taste good using turkey?
This makes a TON so be prepared for lots of leftovers or invite the neighborhood! Definitely delicious and retains the yummy the next day when reheated. It’s very filling so you really don’t need a side of any kind. Winner winner chicken dinner!
Made this dish and it was definitely a hit. Was a lot so would like to know if I can freeze this dish.
Hi Terry – I currently have this in the freezer now. Once I baked and cooled it, I added portions into freezer bags. To reheat, I allow it to defrost in the fridge the day before serving. Add it into a baking dish with a few splashes of chicken broth to rehydrate the absorbed liquid. Then bake covered with foil at 350 for 20 minutes or until warmed through. You can also reheat in the microwave by cooking at half power for 2 minutes, again with a few splashes of liquid. Then heat for 1 minute at full power.