Baked Chicken Spaghetti casserole has tender chicken and pasta with Parmesan and mozzarella cheese—all in a delicious, homemade red marinara sauce. This simple chicken spaghetti bake will be a new family favorite.
A simple Italian casserole you will make over and over.
🐓Ingredients
Chicken—skinless boneless chicken breasts
Spaghetti—or other pasta
Aromatics—garlic, onion
Canned products—diced tomatoes, tomato paste
Pantry ingredients—vegetable oil, oregano, dry basil, salt, black pepper, crushed pepper (optional)
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Featured Comment from Georgeann:
"I cooked just as the recipe called for… so good! My husband's favorite thing is chickend parmesan but this was just as good and easier to make and store."
This chicken spaghetti with marinara sauce makes a comforting casserole that can be made a few days ahead and baked fresh when you need an easy weeknight dinner. Or make it for a freezer meal for months later.
I started with my excellent chicken marinara with a few changes. I then undercooked 8 oz of spaghetti a bit. Mixed in some grated Parmesan and topped with mozzarella and more grated Parmesan. It is then baked until browned. It came out perfect in about 25 minutes.
👨🍳How to Bake Chicken Spaghetti
- Trim and cube chicken breasts, crush garlic, and dice onion.
- In a large pot, brown chicken with onion and garlic in hot oil for 8-9 minutes.
- Mix in diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasoning. Simmer while the pasta is cooking.
- Cook spaghetti or other pasta to al dente minus a little.
- Add Parmesan cheese to the sauce, mix well, and then mix in the cooked pasta.
- Move the mixture to a prepared casserole dish and top with mozzarella and grated Parmesan cheese.
- Bake until sauce is bubbling and top brown—about 25 minutes for me.
This is a summary of the steps and ingredients. See the recipe card or the step-by-step photo instructions below for complete instructions.
✔️Tips and Options
- This recipe has you cooking raw chicken using skinless boneless chicken breasts, but you may use thighs.
- Precooked shredded rotisserie chicken is fine. You need 3-4 cups. To use rotisserie chicken, cook the onion to start to clear, then add the chicken and garlic for a few minutes.
- The recipe makes a very nice red marinara sauce—much better than jarred. But if you want, use jar sauce. You may also use Alfredo sauce. The whole recipe needs 4 cups of sauce.
- Other options are adding chopped bell peppers or mushrooms with the tomato products.
- Other cheese may be used if you want different flavors.
⬇️How to make this a more "for two" friendly recipe
This is an easy recipe to cut in half. The full recipe makes eight servings and fits in a 2 ½ quart casserole baking dish or a 9 by 13 baking pan.
To make a half-recipe
- Use the recipe card and adjust the servings from 8 to 4.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
- The half recipe will fit a 6 by 9 or 8-inch square baking dish.
- Cook to brown and bubbling, but it will be a few minutes faster.
Related and serving recipes
Check out these other easy Italian casserole dishes, like Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage, Chicken Baked Ziti, Smoked Sausage Pasta, and Parmesan Chicken Alfredo.
Serve with side salad and bread like Yeast Dinner Rolls or Stand Mixer Peasant Bread.
Making ahead for later
To make this chicken casserole ahead, assemble it, but don't bake. Seal tight with foil and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for 2 months.
To bake, thaw completely in the refrigerator before cooking. Cooking time will be a few minutes longer since the casserole is cold.
Storage of leftovers
Store leftovers sealed in an airtight container. Refrigerate for 4 days or freeze for 3 months.
To reheat, cover with aluminum foil and reheat in the oven. A microwave may be used, but will affect the texture of the chicken.
❓FAQs
The answer is two things. Use standard pasta and undercooked a bit before adding it to a casserole. Standard box pasta will hold up well during baking. Specialty pasta may absorb more fluid or cook faster.
Al dente pasta is firm, holds its shape well, and is a bit chew. Perfect for serving to my taste. For a dish where the pasta is cooked more, undercook the pasta by 10-20% from al dente.
No, every component is already cooked to a safe temperature for serving. If you want to skip the baking, cook the pasta to al dente and serve topped with sauce and a sprinkle of cheese.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350° convection or 375° conventional.
Trim, pat dry, and dice two medium chicken breasts—about 1-1 ½ pounds. You can use precooked chicken, and you will need 3-4 cups and add when the onion is clearing.
Chop a medium onion.
When the oil is hot, add the chicken and the onion. Cook until chicken is 165° and cuts easily with a wooden spoon—about 8 to 9 minutes. Add the crushed garlic. Break apart any large pieces of chicken. If using precooked chicken, then don't add the chicken until the onion is translucent.
Add two 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes, one 6 oz can of tomato paste, 2 teaspoons of dry basil (or 2 tablespoons fresh basil), 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper (optional), ½ teaspoon of oregano. Simmer over low heat while you cook the pasta. Stir occasionally.
Cook 8 oz of spaghetti or other pasta according to instructions on the box for al denta or a bit less and drain.
Add ½ cup Parmesan cheese to the sauce and mix well. Mix the sauce and the pasta and move to the casserole dish.
This fits nicely in a 2 ½ quart size, or use a jelly roll pan. Top with ½ cup each of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. You may cover and refrigerate at this point for up to 2 days.
Bake until sauce is bubbling and top brown—about 25 minutes—longer if you have refrigerated the dish.
📖 Recipe
Baked Chicken Spaghetti
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Ingredients
- 1 to 1 ½ pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts - medium cut into 1 inch cubes
- 8 oz spaghetti
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 2-4 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 onion - medium diced
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 28 oz diced tomatoes
- 6 oz tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 2 teaspoons dry basil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoons crushed red pepper - optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° convection or 375° conventional.
- Trim, pat dry, and dice two medium chicken breasts—about 1-1 ½ pounds. You can use precooked chicken, and you will need 3-4 cups and add when the onion is clearing.
- Chop a medium onion.
- When the oil is hot, add the chicken and the onion. Cook until chicken is 165° and cuts easily with a wooden spoon—about 8 to 9 minutes. Add the crushed garlic. Break apart any large pieces of chicken. If using precooked chicken, then don't add the chicken until the onion is translucent.
- Add two 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes, one 6 oz can of tomato paste, 2 teaspoons of dry basil (or 2 tablespoons fresh basil), 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper (optional), ½ teaspoon of oregano. Simmer over low heat while you cook the pasta. Stir occasionally.
- Cook 8 oz of spaghetti or other pasta according to instructions on the box for al denta or a bit less and drain.
- Add ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese to the sauce and mix well. Mix the sauce and the pasta and move to the casserole dish.
- This fits nicely in a 2 ½ quart size, or use a jelly roll pan. Top with ½ cup each of mozzarella and grated Parmesan cheese. You may cover and refrigerate at this point for up to 2 days.
- Bake until sauce is bubbling and top brown—about 25 minutes—longer if you have refrigerated the dish.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- You can use precooked rotisserie chicken. You will need 3-4 cups and add it to the sauce when you add the tomatoes.
- You can decrease your work and use premade sauce. You need about 4 cups. But you will love my sauce.
- Vary the cheese any way you want.
- An easy recipe to cut in half and bake in a 1 ½ quart baking or a 6 by 9 casserole.
- You can refrigerate for a couple of days before cooking if you want. It will take a few minutes longer to cook since it is going in cold.
- Leftovers are good refrigerated for 4 days and can be frozen for 3 months.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.
Originally Published September 29, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Beverly says
Do I have to bread my chicken
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Beverly,
Welcome to the blog.
No, not breaded.
Dan
Steve Armistead says
What a great dish, thank you! I added a handful of roughly chopped mushrooms, which added another layer of flavor. Wonderful recipe, wow!
Tammy says
Was wondering do you cover it when baked. And removed last 5mins, or just baked uncovered?
DrDan says
Uncovered until nicely brown which will be 20-25 minutes.
Dan
Marbeli says
Hi I have a question how long do I have to refrigerate it before I baked it???
DrDan says
There is no refrigeration needed but before going in the oven, if you want to delay cooking you may refrigerate for up to 2 days.
Zainab says
Hi, this looks awesome. Can I skip the baking part and just serve plated spaghetti with the sauce poured over?
DrDan says
Yep, it would taste good. The baking does give it something extra though.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Angie says
I just made this today . It was very good!
I used a rotisserie chicken and I will definitely be making this again.
Thank you!
Georgeann says
I cooked just as the recipe called for... so good! My husband's favorite thing is chickend parmesan but this was just as good and easier to make and store.
DrDan says
I always forget about this recipe. I have to do it a bit more.
DrDan
Chris says
Baked spaghetti, chicken or otherwise, always makes me happy. Odd thing is my kids don't care for it (although they love regular spaghetti) so we don't make it often. Can I just have some of yours? ha ha
Sharon @ Red Poppy | Pink Peony says
Hi DrDan: I just came across your blog when searching for slow cooker recipes for 2. I've only been on your site a few minutes now, but everything looks great and I will definitely be visiting often and trying these recipes! Thank you!
Dr Dan says
Since everything is precooked, you can somewhat cook it like you want. 350 but increase the time by a few minutes. Or 375 and about the same time. If you are not sure your chicken was fully cooked then take it to an internal temp of 165 plus. Mine was 170 with a nicely browned top (350 convection for 25 minutes). Please note ovens can vary so don't cook by time alone.
ReaderWoman says
Loving your recipes - you use a convection oven for this baked spaghetti? What would be the cooking time for a conventional oven?
What's Cookin Stacey?? says
Sounds so good! Will have to give it a try this week! Love your blog!