Chicken Tetrazzini is a creamy, cheesy pasta dish that the whole family will love. Easy to make and freezer friendly, it’s a great casserole to share with friends.
Use up some leftover turkey breast and whip up a dish of this easy, cheesy Turkey Tetrazzini for the holidays!
Easy Chicken Tetrazzini Recipe
All my children have left the nest, and this recipe for Chicken Tetrazzini is what they always request when they come home.
What is chicken tetrazzini? Delicious comfort food, a great recipe, and easy to make ahead of time too!
I like to have this recipe ready when I need to bring a comforting meal to a family or new mom. I keep it on hand for those occasions. It gets rave reviews, and I even made a video tutorial to show you how to make chicken tetrazzini!
This cheesy, creamy pasta needs to happen in your kitchen. It makes a 13×9-inch pan, but you can split it into two dishes (2qt or 8-inch square) and share it with a neighbor or friend in need!
This pasta bake ALWAYS gets people asking for the recipe, and once you try it, you’ll understand why our family loved it!!
FAVORITE PASTA DINNERS: Penne Rosa | Pizza Stuffed Shells
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken breasts or rotisserie chicken- we love this easy shredded chicken recipe!
- Cream of Chicken Soup- Every instinct is going to make you want to sub for something homemade and from scratch, but this is one of those times that comfort food wins. Here’s our favorite homemade cream of chicken soup though.
- Unsalted butter
- Sour cream– or plain greek yogurt
- Dry white wine– (or chicken broth)
- Salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
- Spaghetti noodles – can also use any other pasta of choice.
- onions, garlic, and mushrooms optional
How to make Chicken Tetrazzini
- Cook the chicken. You’ll want to start by baking chicken or using leftover turkey, rotisserie chicken, or leftover cooked chicken. When I’m in a rush, I boil chicken breasts in water with salt and pepper to use in this cheesy dish!
- Cook the pasta. Pick your favorite kind of pasta and cook it until al dente.
What is al dente pasta? It just means that the pasta is still slightly firm. Because you will be baking this dish, you don’t want your pasta too soft and mushy!
- Combine Ingredients. While you are cooking pasta and chicken, combine the remaining ingredients in an exceedingly large bowl. Add your hot pasta and your cooked (diced) chicken to the bowl of creamy sauce and mix until blended.
- Assemble and Bake. Pour into a large 13×9 baking dish (or two smaller pans). Bake covered for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake for 15 more minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted.
Make in Advance: Refrigerate and cover until ready to heat. If cooking from cold, add bake for one hour, then uncovered for 20 minutes. ENJOY.
What to Serve with Chicken Tetrazzini
Chicken Tetrazzini is one of those easy dinner recipes that goes great with any green salad or garlic bread!
- Easy, buttery Beer Bread recipe to serve with dinner! Also great to cube into bite sized pieces and use for dips!
- This delicious Spinach and Bacon Salad is a breeze to prepare! The sweet dressing with the salty bacon keeps you wanting more!
- Looking for a fresh bowl of homemade applesauce for dinner tonight? This Instant Pot Applesauce recipe is super quick and easy!
- Don’t forget to finish the meal with a fresh batch or rice krispie treats!
Storing Leftovers
Store Leftovers- allow tetrazzini to cool completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, in the refrigeratore.
Freeze Chicken Tetrazzini- Assemble the tetrazzini casserole in a freezer safe dish (foil pans work great for this). Cover with foil and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Bake according to recipe below.
More Easy Chicken Recipes
- Panda Express Orange Chicken
- Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo
- Buffalo Chicken Pasta
- Massaman Curry
- Chicken Taco Soup
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Chicken Tetrazzini
Ingredients
- 16 ounce thin spaghetti cooked (or any of your favorite noodles)
- 2 cups cooked chicken about 1 pound
- ½ cup unsalted butter plus more for buttering pan
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups sour cream
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Combine 1/2 cup butter, cooked chicken, soup, sour cream, salt, pepper and white wine. Add cooked noodles.
- Pour into a buttered 13×9. Sprinkle both cheeses on top.
- Bake in a 300 degree oven for 45 minutes, covered with foil. Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes.
- May be made in advance and refrigerated (before cooking). However, add time if that is the case to heat thoroughly! Enjoy!
Notes
- Can you freeze Chicken Tetrazzini? Yes! Assemble the chicken tetrazzini casserole in a freezer safe dish. When opting to freeze this dinner, I usually choose a foil pan for freezing. Cover with foil and freeze for up to two months.To serve, thaw in refrigerator overnight, and bake accordingly.
- Can I make tetrazzini with or without mushrooms? Absolutely. Leave out the mushrooms or add in extra depending on your taste buds. You can also add in fresh cut broccoli florets!
- Can Chicken Tetrazzini be made ahead of time? Yes. Before baking, cover with foil and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.When ready to bake, remove from fridge and add 10-15 minutes baking time.
- See blog post for more recipe tips, tricks, and ingredient substitutions.
Video
Nutrition
Easy Dinner Recipes
Creamy baked Chicken Tetrazzini recipe is the best weeknight dinner recipe your family will love! Easy and delicious.
I made this tonight. We absolutely loved this recipe. It’s now a favorite. I did however make a white sauce using chicken broth and cream. I don’t like canned soups. Thank you for this winner!
I see by the original date of this post I’m late to the party! But hey better late than never cause mmmm. Mmmm
MMMM holy deliciousness!!! Simple and quick with leftover a large chiclen breast from night before this hit the comfort food spot!! I scaled recipe down for two…basically halved it minus a little less spaghetti and used whatever wine i had a fruity white and bravo and thanks for sharing!! I used to make a version of this 20 yrs ago but this is so much easier!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!!!!
I am cooking it right now and can’t wait to try it after all the positive comments. I’m thinking of adding crushed ritz crackers with a little melted butter on and garlic mixed in
Those additions sound fantastic. Hope it turned out great!
Hi. Can anything be substituted for the wine? Thanks!
You can use chicken broth if you prefer! It will definitely change the flavor (it loses some of the twang) but it’s still very delicious!
This recipe looks amazing! I love that it uses spaghetti as that is one type of pasta that I always have an abundance of due to couponing! I will definitely be trying this the next round of freezer meals I make. Thank you!
You’re welcome. ENJOY!
Should I under cook the spaghetti a little.
I cook it to al dente 🙂
Oops…..I sauted the ‘holy trinity’ in the butter…..
What size of cans do you use for the cream of chicken soup? I’m excited to try this recipe, it looks so tasty! =)
I am making this tonight in two pans. Any thoughts on freezing one of them?
You can totally freeze this recipe!
This was a delicious dish, but it was way more than I expected in terms of amount! I didn’t even have a single pan large enough to hold it and ended up breaking it down to three 8×8 pans and froze two. The single pan fed two adults dinner and gave left overs for lunch!
I did add sautéed onions and mushrooms to mine, a little nutmeg and I had to use a dry sherry since I didn’t have any white wine on hand. Otherwise followed the recipe. But at the end when I mixed it all, it seemed too dry, so I added a cup of heavy cream I needed to use up. The final product was creamy and wonderful! Thank you so much for a versitile and delicious recipe for one of my all time favorite dishes.
This recipe looks super awesome and delicious. I plan on making it very soon but, honestly, some of the tips and quips in your article are really what sealed the deal for me.
I love that you added the bit about your kids calling it white spaghetti because tetrazinni sounds too scary. oh my gosh, i literally laughed out loud because it sounded like you were talking about my kids. especially my super-picky 4 year old. If i used that truck i could probably get her to eat it as well.
And a good friend of mine just had a baby like 4 days ago and I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of what i can dump in my crock pot and bring to her. Tricky since they have a family of 11. but this dish looks and sounds filling enough to feed everyone. Thanks so much!
I’m so glad you loved my tips! And this is the PERFECT dish to bring the new family (of 11, oh my gosh!!!!). I don’t know how old all the kids are, but you may need to double the recipe, or make 1 1/2 of it 🙂 It really does go a long way though. ENJOY!!!
Do you use grated or shredded parm??
I usually use shredded, but I’ve used grated too 🙂
I’m really wishing the nutrients lists were on here I make this quit often my family loves it but I starred a new diet and I saved up my calories Soni could enjoy it but I really want to know how many calories are in each serving
There are some online nutritional calculators that you can plug recipes into. Hope that helps!
Someone asked about not using cream soup. The real recipe was invented by an Italian Female Chef and uses a heavy cream ect. I know this one is totally different. One can search the Internet for the recipe. It truly taste different not to mention divine. Once you’ve had it nothing else will do. The only reason I mentioned this is someone responded ,”What else would you use instead of Cream soup.
Making this tomorrow! Thanks! I’ll have to throw some mushrooms and peas in to make my boyfriend happy…he’s a fan of veggies. This recipe is a great excuse to buy a bottle of wine. It will also go great with the meal.
I made this and it was AMAZING!!
I figured out what happened to the lady who had her’s come out dry a few years back. She put the pasta in dry and it soaked up all the liquid.
Also, since it is much too hot in my house to even think about turning on the oven, I mixed half a batch of all the “not noodles” and a handful of frozen peas into a really awesome sauce and served it over boiled noodles. Still AWESOME!
Do you have to cook the chicken first? Or can it cook while its in the oven?
For this recipe, the chicken needs to be cooked first. You can even boil it in a separate pot while you boil your noodles.
I use this recipe all the time. I love it, and it’s so simple. I dry poach my chicken in the oven, so it’s tender and juicy. Have tons of left overs for a few days. Also is delicious served with garlic bread.
Thanks for the feedback!! Glad you love the recipe 🙂
Do you happen to know how many calories are in 1 serving of this?
Too many if you are counting 😉
Is there a substitute for the white wine
You could use chicken broth 🙂