Rotel Chicken Spaghetti

This Rotel Chicken Spaghetti recipe is an easy casserole you can make with less than 10 ingredients and less than 20 minutes of prep time!

We can never have too many easy casserole recipes, right? This Chicken Spaghetti is so easy to throw together with just a few ingredients – it’s definitely one of my staple meals to make when I’m short on time.

I’ve also brought this to friends and neighbors in need. Just don’t take it to a new mom, the chiles, garlic and onion powder are not so newborn nursing friendly 😅

Ingredients you’ll need

This is just an overview of the ingredients needed – scroll to the recipe card at the bottom for exact quantities and instructions.

Ingredient notes

• Chicken: You can use pre-diced chicken or just cut chicken breast into approximately 1 inch cubes. Diced turkey or even leftover turkey meat (or rotisserie chicken) would work. Just stir everything together and heat in the pan if you’re using already cooked meat!
• Processed cheese: Any processed cheese works, I mostly use Velveeta but this time used Laughing Cow wedges because that’s all I had in the house 😅 Works just as well! You can even use cream cheese if you want to stay away from the processed cheese kind.
• Seasoning salt: I always always have this on hand because it makes seasoning dishes so easy without having to measure out a million spices. If you don’t have this, use regular sal, some ground paprika, and black pepper.
• Butter/margarine: I use stick margarine for most of my cooking/baking that usually calls for butter, better for a tight food budget… Feel free to use butter, though. Vegetable oil is a good substitute, too, it just tastes a little less rich.

Step by step photos

First, you’ll need to cook the diced chicken in a little butter or margarine. I sprinkle the seasoning over the chicken right after adding it to the pan and stir it right away. Then I let it cook and brown a little on all sides. You don’t need to cook it fully through yet, but it should look white all around.

Then just stir in the Rotel, condensed chicken soup and processed cheese. Simmer until the cheese has melted and then switch off the heat!

Now stir in the cooked spaghetti. Then either use 1/2 – 1 cup spaghetti cooking water, or just fill the chicken soup can with water and use that if you forget to keep a cup of the spaghetti water. Add the water gradually to the sauce and spaghetti while tossing well, until you have your spaghetti and sauce creamy enough to your liking.

Spread the spaghetti in a casserole dish and bake until bubbly. Dinner is ready!

Serve it straight away for the creamiest and tastiest spaghetti!

Recipe tips

• Add enough spaghetti water (or just regular water if you forgot about the spaghetti water) to make a creamy sauce that coats all the spaghetti. Make sure you don’t add too much, or your spaghetti will be watery instead of creamy!
• Make sure you only simmer the sauce over medium heat while the cheese melts, don’t let it burn or the taste of the entire casserole will be ruined!
• Don’t overcook the spaghetti, else they will turn to mush as the casserole bakes.

Serving ideas

I like to serve this with a veggie on the side, but to be honest it’s mostly frozen peas or frozen mixed vegetables I throw into the microwave. Sometimes I make glazed carrots in the instant pot, that’s a hit with the kids!

Sometimes I’ll make a three bean salad or a corn salad to go with the dish, those are really nice side dishes. Creamed corn or creamed spinach are delicious, too!

More easy casseroles

If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to add a review by tapping the stars in the recipe card below!