Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

Okay, before you see the word casserole and just write this off, I am going to tell you it's good. This was one of my favorite meals growing up and I still think it is a great comfort food. It's spaghetti in a creamy white sauce with green peppers. Now that's not so scary is it? The recipe originally called for a large chicken but I just use boneless, skinless chicken breast. You could also use a rotisserie chicken to speed things up. It can be made a day ahead and refrigerated until you are ready to cook it. Just make sure to increase the cooking time a little bit. Sometimes to change things up a bit I use diced green chilies in place of the green peppers.

Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

1- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

2 or 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

10 tbsp. butter, divided

1 c. chopped celery (I leave this out because my husband doesn't like it )

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

2 1/2 cups milk (I usually use 2 percent for this, not skim)

12 oz. spaghetti noodles, broken into 2 in pieces

1/2 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. chopped green pepper

5 tbsp. flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 cup cheddar cheese for top of casserole (optional)

salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste (for seasoning chicken)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Season chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Cook chicken breasts in 1-1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil until browned and cooked through. Let cool and shred or cut into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

Meanwhile, break spaghetti into 2 inch pieces and cook according to package directions.

Saute onion, celery and green pepper in 5 tbsp. butter until soft. Add 2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup.

In a separate pan make a white sauce. Melt remaining 5 tbsp. butter. Whisk in flour and milk until smooth. Add salt and pepper. Cook about 7-10 minutes until slightly thickened. Add to vegetable mixture. Add chicken and spaghetti. Mix well to combine. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees until bubbly.

*Pioneer Woman has a similar recipe on her website (I'll have to try it). She uses cream of mushroom soup so I'm sure you could use that in place of the cream of chicken with good results.*