All-American Chicken Spaghetti Recipe: Savory and Slightly Spicy

Today we’re sharing our easy-gourmet version of the All-American Chicken Spaghetti Recipe. We like it savory and slightly spicy, making it the only spaghetti my husband will eat.

Chicken Spaghetti swept the Americas in the 1980s. Until then, believe it or not, it was mostly known in Mississippi. It seems it was invented in a boarding house run by Craig Claiborne’s mother. Claiborne, a food writer for New York Times, wrote 20 cookbooks gleaned from his travels at home and abroad.

And no, Mr. Claiborne did not find pasta with chicken recipes in Italy, where pasta began and we like to think all our pasta recipes originated. In fact, they rarely eat chicken in Italy. So all the lovely recipes we eat in American/Italian restaurants were invented on this side of the Atlantic and rarely have any resemblance to genuine Italian dishes.

Read America’s Test Kitchen’s article if you’re interested in Rome’s 4 classic pastas. Which you won’t find in most American restaurants. And since pork fat plays a large part in three of them, it would be a learning curve to try making the dishes. Do you use pork fat in your cooking on a regular basis? This is not bacon, my friends. It’s cured but not smoked. Our grandparents likely kept it in their “larders” all the time, using a glom of the fat to fry all their goodies, like hash browns and eggs.

So now you know that we can’t lay any claim to fame with a Chicken Spaghetti recipe. I’d love to think our version of the recipe deserves a fancy foreign name, since it’s savory and slightly spicy. But, well, it’s all-American and as easy gourmet as I always cook. Nothing fancy in my kitchen!

All-American Chicken Spaghetti Recipe

Ingredients:

• Baked Chicken Tenders.
• 16 oz. al-dente spaghetti boiled in chicken broth (I usually use chicken bouillon in water.)
• Creamy sauce:
  • 1 can cream of celery soup
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 can Tomato Rotel
  • 2 cups cream
  • 1 cup milk
  • diced green and yellow pepper, 1/2 of each
  • Seasoned salt, seasoned pepper, parsley flakes, garlic powder to taste (more or less 1 tablespoon of each)
  • Reserved chicken bouillon broth from boiling the spaghetti
• Shredded cheese of your choice.

Directions:

1. Bake the chicken while cooking the pasta and making the sauce.
2. Keep the pasta hot in a little cooking water on a warm element.
3. Thin the sauce with some of the pasta cooking water. The bouillon in the water adds a good flavor.
4. Heat the cream sauce altogether and then season to taste.
5. Warm a serving dish or bowl with hot water.

To Serve:

1. Dump the hot water from the serving bowl.
2. Add the pasta, and then top with hot cream sauce.
3. Top with chicken tenders, then sprinkle with cheese as desired.
4. Place it in the oven just until the cheese melts. Or, if you use parmesan cheese, serve right after placing it all in the pasta platter/bowl. The last time I made this I forgot all about using cheese, and got compliments anyway.
5. Serve with a spaghetti fork or tongs.

I hope your family loves our

All-American Chicken Spaghetti Recipe.

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