Monterey Chicken Spaghetti Casserole – my whole family went crazy over this easy chicken casserole!! Even our super picky eaters! Chicken, spaghetti, sour cream, cream of chicken, spinach, Monterey Jack Cheese, and french fried onions. Makes a great freezer meal! This is the most requested dinner in our house. #casserole #chickendinner #chickencasserole
This Monterey Chicken Spaghetti is THE BEST!!! Chicken spaghetti loaded with spinach, Monterey Jack cheese and french fried onions. Seriously delicious! I wanted to lick my plate this was so good. I’m not a big spinach person, but this was the perfect amount. If you like lots of spinach, feel free to double the amount. I am of the opinion that a little spinach goes a long way!
This Monterey Chicken Spaghetti can be made ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen for later. I usually make it the day before and heat it up for dinner. This makes a lot of chicken spaghetti. You can easily split the pasta between two pans and bake one now and freeze one for later.
We served this Monterey Chicken Spaghetti with a salad and some garlic bread. This was one of our favorite meals. So yummy and cheesy. I also LOVED the crunch from the french fried onions. Give this a try. I know it will be a hit – even with the spinach haters!
WATCH How to Make Monterey Chicken Spaghetti
Monterey Chicken Spaghetti Casserole
Ingredients:
- 12- oz dried spaghetti
- 4 cups chopped cooked chicken
- 1 (16-oz) container sour cream
- 2 (10.75-oz) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 (10-oz) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 (6-oz) can French's French Fried Onions, divided
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray.
- Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain.
- In a large bowl, combine cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, drained spinach, 1 cup cheese, garlic and 1/2 can of French’s French Fried Onions.
- Stir in cooked spaghetti. Pour into prepared pan.
- Sprinkle remaining shredded cheese and onions on top of pasta mixture.
- Bake, uncovered, for 40 to 50 minutes.
Notes:
Steph
This was great! I customized by adding 4 packed cups of fresh baby spinach sautéed(no chopping needed!) Also I added 8 oz of sautéed & chopped button mushrooms, doubled the garlic, added abt 1/3 c Chardonnay, used light sour cream, plus a little extra salt & fresh ground pepper. My house smells amazing. Thanks!
I made this today! Dee-lish!! I split it in half and froze the other half. I did add a small can of sliced water chestnuts and a very small jar of pimiento for additional color. Next time I will try it with broccoli instead of spinach, although it was very good with the spinach. Thank you for sharing your recipe!!
Can I split this into 2 8×8 pans? Will it change the cooking time? Looks so good! Thanks.
You can split it between two pans. I’m not sure if it would change the cooking time or not.
Not a fan of the taste of sour cream… could you substitute an equal amount of heavy whipping cream”
I’ve only made this as written. A common sour cream substitute is plain Greek yogurt. I’ve never made this with heavy whipping cream, so I can’t say how it would work.
I've made this 3 times now and there's only me and my husband! It makes a ton! But we enjoy it and I do enjoy not having to cook every day. The leftovers are just as good as fresh out of the oven. I did find it to be dry the first time I made it. I compensated by adding maybe a cup of chicken broth to loosen it up. Yesterday when I made it, I discovered I was short a cup of sour cream so I threw in a cup of buttermilk I needed to get rid of anyway. Couldn't tell the difference. Nice to know the recipe is adaptable.
Steph, first thing I'm happy to say is that I've never been disappointed by any of your recipes. I've made a multitude of them, serving them to my minister and his family (eight bio children!), as well as to other members of our church, and every recipe has been a hit.
The French fried onions–I think I'd have to pass on those, there being five gluten intolerant children among the total ten present for meals, but I thought maybe using something like Lay's French Onion dip with the sour cream (LOVE sour cream!) would compensate for the missing onions. OR…what do you think 'sour cream and chives' flavored Ruffles would do? That would be both crunch and onions! I'll have to try that. Thanks for the idea 😀
I'll have to try this with both of those changes. Sounds delicious!! Enjoy!
My grocery store (Kroger) has a gluten free option for the onions. I've used them before, and they're great! What do you use for GF cream of chicken, because the Campbell's has wheat flour?
We will be cooking this for the St. Louis Fisher House at the VA hospital this week! I'm sure it will be a hit!
Does this freeze well in portions after you’vevbaked the whole casserole? Thanks!
I haven’t done that, but it should work just fine
I was wondering the same. If making ahead to freeze, is it best to freeze before baking?
Thank you for this recipe! How long would you cook a pan from frozen?
Since you're starting with already cooked ingredients, why does it bake for so long? Wouldn't 30 minutes would be sufficient?
Bake it however long you wish
This turned out really good; used fresh spinach and used a ranch packet. Husband said he wanted more spinach and maybe use sun-dried tomatoes the next time I make it. I wonder what it would taste like using french onion dip instead of sour cream…
Sour cream haters here…..any substitution suggestions. (They don't like cream cheese either!)
Greek yogurt
I didn't use the full container of Sour Cream because I was afraid it would be too rich. Also it took me a lot longer than 10 minutes to put together. The spaghetti takes 7 minutes to cook. Next time I will probably cut the recipe in half or freeze half for a later meal because this really makes a lot. It tastes awesome before it even went into the oven. I also added some chicken broth to mine because it looked to dry.
How many people would you say this full recipe serves?
How many people would you say this full recipe serves?