This the BEST, easiest, most delicious cheesy chicken spaghetti recipe you will ever try! Creamy, flavorful and full of cheesy goodness, your family will love it!
10.5ouncescanned diced tomatoes and green chilesDO NOT DRAIN!! Rotel brand is the best
Homemade Cheese Sauce
1/4cupsalted butter
1/3cupall purpose flour
1cupheavy cream
1cup chicken broth
2cupsshredded aged cheddar cheese
8ouncesVelveeta cheese
2-3tablespoonssour cream
1/2teaspoongarlic powder
Topping
parsley or cilantro for garnish, optional
Instructions
Cook the spaghetti in a large stock pot according to the package directions to al dente. You want to cook the noodles until they are just soft on the outside but still have some toothsome texture on the inside!
Once the pasta is done, drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Rinse the large pot with cold water to cool it down, drain, then place the spaghetti into the pot again.
Homemade Tomato Cheese Sauce
Melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan on medium heat. Stir in the flour slowly, until the butter has melted and is combined with the flour, forming a doughy, balled up mixture.
Slowly and rapidly whisk the chicken broth into the flour,making sure to continuously whisk to ensure that there are no lumps. Once all of the broth has been added, keep whisking and add in the cream. Keep cooking on medium heat, whisking, until the white sauce has thickened, around 3-4 minutes.
Remove the sauce pan from the heat and stir in the 2 cups of grated old sharp cheddar, the Velveeta, the sour cream and the garlic powder.. Keep stirring until the cheese sauce is smooth and creamy. Make sure that all of the different cheeses have melted in completely - sometimes this will take a while!
The cheese sauce will be very thick at this point.
Once the cheese sauce is smooth, add the tomatoes JUICE AND ALL to the cheese sauce and mix in, then add in the chicken. The tomatoes have now made the sauce thinner and it's ready.
Pour the cheese sauce over the spaghetti in the pot and stir gently to combine all of the ingredients and to coat the spaghetti noodles completely with the cheese sauce,
Serve as is, creamy, not baked and seriously the BEST chicken spaghetti ever!
Baking Instructions if Desired
Preheat your oven to 350 °F. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish and set aside.
Follow the above cooking instructions to prepare the pasta and the cheese sauce, stopping you have combined the pasta and the cheese sauce,
Gently spread mixture into the prepared 9x13 pan.
Cover the casserole with tinfoil and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the casserole is heated through.
Notes
Make this ahead of time and wrap it in tinfoil and refrigerate until the next day.
Baking this with the tinfoil on helps this to not dry out in the oven while baking!
If you don't want to use Velveeta, use more shredded cheese instead. You WILL lose all the creaminess though!