Overnight King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese

Overnight King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese – a new family favorite! It is on repeat in our house! It is like chicken tetrazzini with Velveeta and Rotel. YUM! Just dump everything in the casserole dish and refrigerate overnight. No boiling the noodles! Chicken, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, milk, chicken broth, Velveeta, Rotel, taco seasoning, elbow macaroni, and Mexican cheese blend. Use a rotisserie chicken for quick prep.

spooning chicken pasta casserole from baking dish

Remember this recipe.

Pin this recipe to your favorite board now to remember it later!

Pin This Recipe

Easy Chicken Pasta Casserole

This Overnight King Ranch Chicken Pasta is a favorite in our house. It is like chicken tetrazzini with Velveeta and Rotel. All of my favorite flavors combined into one dish. This might be my favorite chicken casserole ever! I love everything about this casserole; especially that I don’t have to boil the pasta noodles! I love easy no-boil pasta casseroles like this. They are PERFECT for easy weeknight meals!

cheesy chicken pasta in casserole dish

How to Make Overnight King Ranch Chicken Pasta

This Overnight King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese Casserole is very easy to make. I like to start with a rotisserie chicken. Rotisserie chicken is my secret weapon in the kitchen. I always have some pulled rotisserie chicken in the freezer for quick meals.

Since this casserole uses Velveeta cheese, I like to heat the sauce ingredients on the stove just until the Velveeta cheese is melted. You can skip this step if you wish, but you will just have pockets of cheese instead of a creamy cheese sauce.

Once the sauce is heated, simply mix together the sauce, chicken and uncooked pasta and pour it into a lightly greased baking dish. Cover the dish with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate overnight. It will be ready to bake the next day.

Please note that you don’t cook the pasta before assembling the casserole. The excess liquid in the casserole will soften the noodles overnight and they will be perfect once cooked.

Also, this casserole uses a can of Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles. We didn’t think this was too spicy. If you are worried about the heat, please use a can of mild tomatoes.

a spoonful of cheesy chicken pasta

Can I Freeze Overnight King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese

Sure! You can absolutely freeze this casserole for a quick meal later! I prefer to freeze this particular casserole after it has been baked. Since there are only two of us, I split the casserole into two pans. I bake one and freeze one for later. When you are ready to eat the leftover casserole, just thaw and either cover and bake in the oven or microwave the dish to reheat the Queso Smothered Chicken Pasta.

spooning cheesy chicken pasta from casserole dish

What to Serve With Overnight King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese

As I said this Overnight King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese was a HUGE success in our house. We’ve made this several times over the past few months and just can’t seem to get enough of it. You really need to add it to your menu ASAP! I promise it will be a hit!!

This is a pretty hearty casserole. You don’t need very many sides to go with it. Here are a few of our favorite side dishes that go great with this easy chicken casserole:

Frozen Strawberry Margarita Pie

Frozen Strawberry Margarita Pie – seriously delicious!! No-bake! Easy no-churn ice cream pie. Graham cracker crumbs, sugar, butter, sweetened condensed…

Mexican Chopped Salad

Mexican Chopped Salad –  the perfect side to all of your favorite Mexican recipes! Lettuce, corn, black beans, tomatoes, avocados,…

Overnight King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese

Yield: 6 people
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Overnight King Ranch Chicken Mac & Cheese – a new family favorite! It is on repeat in our house! It is like #chicken tetrazzini with #Velveeta and #Rotel. YUM! Just dump everything in the #casserole dish and refrigerate overnight. No boiling the noodles! Chicken, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, milk, chicken broth, Velveeta, Rotel, taco seasoning, elbow macaroni, and Mexican cheese blend. Use a rotisserie chicken for quick prep. #texmex #mexican #freezermeal

Ingredients:

Instructions:

  • Spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray.
  • In a saucepan over medium heat, combine soups, milk, chicken broth, diced tomatoes and green chiles, and Velveeta. Cook just until Velveeta melts.
  • Combine cooked chicken, sauce mixture and taco seasoning. Stir in uncooked pasta.
  • Pour pasta mixture into prepared pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
  • Remove casserole from refrigerator and uncover.
  • Preheat oven to 350ºF.
  • Top casserole with shredded Mexican cheese blend. Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour.

Notes:

  • I suggest using Unsalted Cream of Chicken Soup in this dish to control the sodium.
  • Here is our recipe for Homemade Taco Seasoning made with chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-taco-seasoning/
  • Can freeze leftover casserole for later. To reheat – thaw and either cover and bake in the oven or microwave the dish until warm.
  • Use mild diced tomatoes and green chiles if worried about the heat.
  • I used a bag of shredded Velveeta cheese. Walmart sells it.

Steph

Remember this recipe.

Pin this recipe to your favorite board now to remember it later!

Pin This Recipe
baking dish of king ranch chicken pasta
spoonful of cheesy chicken pasta
spoonful of cheesy chicken pasta

Categories:

Tags:

You Might Also Like

See All Mexican

Beef Fajitas

Beef Fajitas Recipe – Get ready to elevate your dinner game with these mouthwatering Beef Fajitas! Marinated in a zesty…

Rotel Rice

Rotel Mexican Rice – effortless to make and packed full of amazing flavor! White rice, butter, chicken broth, taco seasoning, cumin,…

Comments

    1. You can try it. My guess is that it would be fine. Might just need a few extra minutes of cooking time.

  1. So am I suppose to use 8oz of the velveeta cheese you make queso out of or 8 oz of shredded cheese or is either ok to use and are they the same measurement of 8 oz?

    1. I used an 8-oz package of SHREDDED VELVEETA cheese. If you can’t find shredded Velveeta, you can use a block of Velveeta and cube it.

    1. NO, NO, NO. 2 cups of shredded cheese is 8 ounces. You are thinking of liquid measurements. Liquid and dry ingredients do not weigh the same. For example – cheese is 4-oz in a cup, four is 4.5-oz in a cup. Water is 8-oz to a cup.

  2. I had some elbow noodles already cooked and wanted to try this. Could it be mixed by recipe but have already cooked noodles instead of not cooked ahead of time?

    1. I’ve only tried this with uncooked pasta. If you use cooked pasta, you will need to adjust the liquid in the casserole.

  3. This is a new family favorite! My picky teenager said this is a keeper! Really easy — it made a lot so I made two and froze one. Sometimes these casseroles separate and aren’t as good after they’re frozen, but this one turned out great!

  4. I notice you only use 8 oz. of macaroni when it comes in a 16 oz box… can you double it to feed more… would it still fit in one 9 x 13 pan or would you use two pans?

Leave a Comment

Recipe Rating