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This Chicken tetrazzini is the kind of dinner that makes everybody linger for the browned cheesy edges. You’re going to love how four simple ingredients turn into a creamy, comforting casserole with a golden Parmesan top. It feeds a whole table with minimal prep and lets the oven do the work.
Why You’ll Love It
- Just four ingredients — rotisserie chicken, spaghetti, canned soup, and Parmesan do all the work.
- Feeds a crowd — one 9×13-inch casserole makes 10 to 12 servings.
- Minimal prep — boil the pasta, stir everything together, and let the oven take over.
- Golden cheesy top — shredded Parmesan melts into a bubbly, browned crust.
- Easy to serve — add a crisp salad, garlic bread, or simple vegetables and dinner is done.
Ingredient Notes
The beauty here is that every ingredient does a lot of work. Use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store — one large bird should give you the roughly 4 cups of shredded meat you need. I like a well-seasoned one, and I use both the white and dark meat. Dark meat makes the casserole a little richer, in my opinion. Though I’ve also said I “don’t really like dark meat,” which is apparently a lie I tell myself.
For the condensed cream of mushroom soup, use it straight from the can. Do not add milk, water, broth, or anything else. I know it feels wrong when you’re standing there with three thick cans of soup, but trust the process. The spaghetti gives off what it needs in the oven, and the sauce becomes creamy instead of soupy.
Parmesan is important here, and I mean shredded Parmesan, not the dusty shelf-stable stuff in the green canister. No disrespect — that canister has saved many a bowl of spaghetti in this house — but you want proper shredded Parmesan for the melt and the browned topping. Romano can replace some of the Parmesan if that’s what you have, but keep the cheese total the same.
And salt your pasta water well. Not ocean-water well, perhaps. We are cooking dinner, not reenacting the Gulf of Mexico. But don’t be timid.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry spaghetti, broken in half — yes, break it; it fits the pot and casserole better, and nobody has ever filed a complaint
- 4 cups cooked shredded chicken, about 1 large rotisserie chicken with the skin and bones removed
- 3 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup, 10.5 ounces each — undiluted, just as they are
- 3 cups shredded Parmesan cheese, divided — about 12 ounces total; I save 1 cup for that nice golden top
Instructions
Heat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray. I generally use spray because I am already washing a large pot and a mixing bowl, and I have limits.
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the broken spaghetti and cook it until it is just shy of al dente, about 1 to 2 minutes less than the package says. This matters. The spaghetti finishes cooking in the oven, and if you cook it fully on the stove first, it can turn soft and a little sad in the casserole. Been there. Fed it anyway.
While the pasta cooks, put the shredded chicken in a very large mixing bowl. Add all three cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup. Stir until the chicken is evenly coated and everything looks creamy. Make sure you removed all the little bones and cartilage from the rotisserie chicken. Those little surprises are not the kind we want at supper.
Drain the spaghetti very well. Give the colander a few good shakes — more than you think you need. Extra pasta water can thin the sauce, and while this casserole should be creamy, it should not slosh. Add the hot drained spaghetti to the bowl with the chicken and soup.
Add 2 cups of the shredded Parmesan and toss the whole business together until the spaghetti is coated and the chicken is distributed throughout. It can look like a lot of spaghetti. It is a lot of spaghetti. Keep stirring.
Transfer everything to the prepared baking dish, spreading it out in an even layer. Press it down gently so there aren’t big empty pockets hiding underneath. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup Parmesan evenly over the top.
Cover the dish loosely with foil, tenting it a bit so the foil doesn’t weld itself to the cheese. Bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges are bubbling and the Parmesan is golden with some deeper brown spots.
If you want a crisper, more dramatic cheese top, broil it on the top rack for 1 to 3 minutes at the end. Do not walk away. I mean it. Broilers are basically tiny kitchen grudges waiting to happen.
Let the tetrazzini rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. It thickens up during that time, and the scoops hold together better. I know everybody will be hovering, but they can survive ten minutes.
Variations
Sometimes, if I want the casserole a little looser and saucier, I stir in up to 1/2 cup of hot pasta cooking water when I’m combining the spaghetti with the chicken mixture. Not every time — most of the time I prefer it as written — but it’s useful if your noodles seem especially thirsty or your Parmesan is very dry.
Part Romano cheese gives it more bite. Keep the total cheese at 3 cups so you still get that browned top.
I did try a version once with extra mushrooms, thinking I was improving things. They released water and made the middle oddly wet. It was not my finest hour. Leave it alone. Four ingredients is enough.
If you want to assemble it ahead, put everything in the casserole dish, cover it tightly, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. When you bake it, add 10 to 15 minutes to the covered baking time so it heats through properly.
Storage & Reheating
Cool leftovers within 2 hours and store them in shallow containers in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. I usually divide it into smaller containers because a giant cold slab of tetrazzini in one dish is not especially convenient at lunchtime.
To reheat, put a portion in an oven-safe dish with a small splash of water, cover it, and warm it in a 300°F oven until hot. The water helps bring back a little creaminess. Reheat leftovers to 165°F, especially since we’re dealing with chicken.
The microwave works in a pinch — of course it does; we are not made of stone — but the oven keeps the pasta from going rubbery and gives the cheese a fighting chance. I’ve eaten it cold from the refrigerator once or twice while looking for something else. Not recommending it exactly. Just being honest.
Final Notes
This is the kind of casserole I make when the house feels too quiet, and also when it feels much too loud. Funny how that works. A pan of chicken tetrazzini won’t fix a bad week, though it may get dinner on the table with cheese involved.
The last time I made it, the kitchen lingered longer than usual. There was salad nobody really touched. There were crumbs all over the counter by the end of it.
And for one ordinary evening, that felt like plenty.
Oven Baked 4-Ingredient Chicken Tetrazzini
Ingredients
- Butter or nonstick spray for lightly greasing a 9x13-inch baking dish
- Salt for well-salted pasta water
- 1 pound dry spaghetti broken in half
- 4 cups cooked shredded chicken about 1 large rotisserie chicken, skin and bones removed
- 3 10.5-ounce cans condensed cream of mushroom soup undiluted
- 3 cups shredded Parmesan cheese divided, about 12 ounces total
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray.
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil, add the broken spaghetti, and cook until just shy of al dente, about 1 to 2 minutes less than the package directions.
- While the pasta cooks, place the shredded chicken in a very large mixing bowl, add all three cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup, and stir until the chicken is evenly coated and creamy.
- Drain the spaghetti very well, shaking the colander several times so extra pasta water does not thin the sauce, then add the hot drained spaghetti to the bowl with the chicken and soup.
- Add 2 cups of the shredded Parmesan and toss until the spaghetti is coated and the chicken is evenly distributed throughout.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish, spread it into an even layer, press it down gently, and sprinkle the remaining 1 cup Parmesan evenly over the top.
- Cover the dish loosely with tented foil and bake for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges are bubbling and the Parmesan is golden with deeper brown spots.
- For a crisper cheese top, broil on the top rack for 1 to 3 minutes at the end, watching closely the entire time.
- Let the tetrazzini rest for at least 10 minutes before serving so it thickens and the scoops hold together better.