Cheesy Chicken Rigatoni – CRAZY good! The whole family cleaned their plates and went back for seconds! Such an easy weeknight casserole recipe! Can make ahead and refrigerate or freeze for later too! Chicken, rigatoni, cheese soup, evaporated milk, heavy cream, garlic mozzarella, and cream of chicken soup. SO good! I wanted to faceplant into the casserole dish!! LOL! #chicken #casserole #cheese #pasta
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Pin This RecipeEasy Chicken Pasta Casserole
Stop what you are doing and get the ingredients to make this Cheesy Chicken Rigatoni right now! This is seriously delicious!! Like, I want to face plant into the casserole dish delicious. I am already planning on making this again next week. We just can’t seem to get enough of it!! Serve this with a salad and some bread and WOW! Better than any restaurant!
How to Make Cheesy Chicken Rigatoni
This Cheesy Chicken Rigatoni only takes a few minutes to whip together and is ready to eat in under an hour. I used rotisserie chicken in this casserole to cut down on time. I made the quick cheese sauce while the pasta boiled and then just tossed everything together. Super easy!
- I use rotisserie chicken in this casserole.
- Here is our recipe for Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken: https://www.plainchicken.com/slow-cooker-rotisserie-chicken/
- Feel free to add some mushrooms and spinach to the casserole.
- Can Cheesy Rigatoni be made in advance? Yes! You can make this casserole ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to bake.
- Can Cheesy Rigatoni be frozen? Yes! You can freeze the casserole unbaked for an easy meal later. To bake after freezing, thaw completely and bake as directed.
- To freeze the baked casserole, cool the casserole completely. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. To reheat, thaw, and baked covered in the oven until heated through.
- This makes a lot of pasta. Feel free to split the casserole between two 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch pans and bake one and freeze one for later.
What to Serve with Baked Chicken Pasta
This Cheesy Chicken Rigatoni is definitely a new favorite in our house. It is hard to beat warm cheesy chicken and pasta. YUM! Comfort food at its best!! It makes a ton. It would be perfect for a crowd! All you need is a salad and some bread and dinner is done.
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Cheesy Chicken Rigatoni
Ingredients:
- 12- oz Rigatoni (4-½ cups dry)
- 4 cups cooked chopped chicken
- 1 (10.5-oz) can Unsalted Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
Cheese Sauce
- 1 (10.5-oz) can cheese soup
- 1 (5-oz) can evaporated milk
- 1¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray.
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
- In a large saucepan, combine cheese soup, evaporated milk, heavy cream and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until sauce comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 to 7 minutes, until sauce thickens. Remove from heat. Stir in mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and pepper.
- In a large bowl combine cooked pasta, cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup and cheese sauce.
- Spoon pasta into prepared dish. Sprinkle casserole with remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and ¼ cup parmesan cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, until bubbly and cheese is golden brown.
Notes:
- I use rotisserie chicken in this casserole.
- Here is our recipe for Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken: https://www.plainchicken.com/slow-cooker-rotisserie-chicken/
- Feel free to add some mushrooms and spinach to the casserole.
- I suggest using Unsalted Cream of Chicken Soup in this dish to control the sodium.
- You can buy it by the case at Amazon: https://amzn.to/49n4uZE
- Need Gluten-free Cream of Chicken Soup? You can buy it here: https://amzn.to/3MtqQ1s
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-cream-of-chicken-soup/
- Can Cheesy Rigatoni be made in advance? Yes! You can make this casserole ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to bake.
- Can Cheesy Rigatoni be frozen? Yes! You can freeze the casserole unbaked for an easy meal later. To bake after freezing, thaw completely and bake as directed.
- To freeze the baked casserole, cool the casserole completely. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. To reheat, thaw, and baked covered in the oven until heated through.
- This makes a lot of pasta. Feel free to split the casserole between two 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch pans and bake one and freeze one for later.
Steph
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Pin This Recipe
I made this for dinner and the family loved it! I only made one substitution. I didn’t have evaporated milk so I used regular milk instead. It turned out great and so cheesy. Thank you for sharing the recipe. It will go into our dinner rotation.
This casserole is the bomb! The only thing I changed was the process of putting it together. After being on my feet all day in the kitchen, I decided to just mix everything together then put it in the casserole dish. I also covered it with foil, removed the foil for the last 15 minutes to brown it. We love dried onions on our chicken casseroles so I put those on it the last 10 minutes. Don’t pass over this recipe! It’s the ultimate comfort food.
I didn’t have or buy evaporated milk (do most people?) so I just subbed milk/ cream for amount called for. Didn’t have mozzarella so used Monterey instead. Doubled the garlic as I do for any dish that calls for garlic. For sure used rotisserie chicken & pulled it so we got chicken in every bite of the casserole. This was reminiscent of a heartier version of the Pizza Hut baked chicken Alfredo penne. Made 3 days worth of food for 3 people, huge hit with my 2 year old & my carb & cheese-loving self. Sharing the recipe with a friend! Thank you!!!!
This was delicious! Made it in the crockpot because my oven wasn’t working and it still turned out great. Added everything to the crockpot except the rigatoni. Also added 2 cups water. Cooked on high for 2 hours. Then added the uncooked rigatoni and continued to cook on high 1 hour. Everyone loved it!
Just made this tonight. Delicious!!! I used cream of cheddar cheese. Will definitely make again!!!!
I don’t have cheese soup. Substitute?
Can you use milk instead of heavy cream?
Has anyone tried this in a pressure cooker?