Chicken Spaghetti

I had been eyeing this recipe on Ree's site for quite awhile. It was one of the very first things she posted, and it is also in her cookbook. So I finally decided to make it. Now, I had never heard of Chicken Spaghetti before, but Matt and Garret both proclaimed "I love chicken spaghetti" when I told them about it. Though I got the feeling it is one of those meals that can vary greatly, because the one Matt told me about was nothing like this one.

Regardless, this one was great. Really great. As in, I expected it to taste good, but it tasted awesome. And Sean liked it. If Sean exclaims that something is really good multiple times, I know it's a winner. I'm actually glad that Garret went out for dinner with his dad that night because it meant more for us.

So enough hyping, let's make the darned thing!

I'll note right now that the original recipe calls for you to put your chicken in water, boil it till cooked, then pick the chicken off the bones. THEN you boil your spaghetti in the chicken broth you created by boiling your chicken. I always planned to do this step but when the day finally came, I was feeling crappy and I just didn't want to bother with it. So I bought one of those deli rotisserie chickens and picked THAT clean. Then I added some chicken bouillon cubes to the pasta water. Not a lot of them, you just want a faint chickenish flavor. Anyway, here we go!

You'll need chicken meat, green pepper, thin spaghetti, chedder cheese, a 4oz jar of pimentos, 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, seasoning salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Simple stuff! Oh and the original used 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup. Yuck!

Speaking of jarred pimentos. Have you ever used them? This was my first time. I used to associate pimentos with olives, because they were stuffed with them, but it was only last year that I looked them up and found out they're just a kind of red pepper. They were yummy, and I found them pretty cheap at THA WALMARTS.

Dice up your pepper and drain your pimentos. I went ahead and minced up 3-4 cloves of garlic too. I also omitted the onion in the original recipe and instead just added the whole green pepper.

I had some water on to boil while I prepped the veggies, and when it was boiling, I added about 4 little bouillon cubes to it. I didn't measure my water and I had a pretty huge pot so I just kept adding them until I could just barely taste the chicken. You could also add some canned chicken broth to your water. Just be careful you don't make it too salty.

Break your thin spaghetti up into about 2 inch or so pieces. I went ahead and put them in up to 4 cups because I love me some noodles.

Then you boil you some noodles according to package directions. Don't overcook the noodles, as they'll be baking in the oven for around 40 minutes. Before draining them, reserve about 2 cups of broth. I somehow managed to get almost exactly 2 cups in my first try. Go me.

Then you drain your noodles, put them in a large bowl. Add your chopped cooked chicken in..

And then all your veggies and the soup!

Stir it around a little to get that soup coating the noodles.

Add 2 cups of chedder to the mix.

Stir it around, then add your seasoning salt, ground black pepper and cayenne.

Mix it up, taste and check your seasonings. I wound adding a touch more seasoning salt and a lot more black pepper. And cayenne. It had a delightful spice to it but next time I would probably not be so heavy handed with it, as it was a little spicy for Sean.

Then, slowly add your reserved chicken broth a little at a time, stirring it in to make the noodles more.. uh stirrable. You don't want it to get soupy though, so don't add it all at once. I wound up using only 1 cup and it was plenty stirrable.

Then you put it in a casserole dish, and spread your last cup of chedder over top. I forgot to take a picture of this so I snuck one when I put it in the oven.

I had tasted it beforehand and was excited for dinner. Sorry! Bake at 350 degrees.

Then 35-45 minutes later, it's bubbly and yummy! If your cheese starts to brown a bit early, put some foil on top, it'll be okay.

Ohhh baby.

And it's this ooey gooey yummy cheesy peppery chickeny delicious casserole. Oh man. Oh my lordy lord.

MAKE IT. Make it, you won't regret it.

Chicken Spaghetti (adapted from Pioneer Woman's here)

• 2 cups Cooked Chicken
• 3 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
• 2 cans Cream Of Chicken Soup
• 2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Finely Diced Green Pepper
• 1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
• 2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• ⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).
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I expected it to be good. It contained nothing that tasted bad. But it was great. And so simple, aside from playing with the chicken broth noodles. And even that wasn't a big deal. Use a deli chicken, big time saver! I'm so sad I just ate the last of the leftovers.

So very very sad.