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Chicken Tetrazzini is made with creamy béchamel sauce, tender chicken, and pasta, all baked under a crunchy crumb topping. This simple casserole is ready in under an hour or can be made ahead or frozen.
A classic chicken casserole with American roots, this recipe used to be made with a couple cans of soup. Below you’ll find an updated version that’s fresh, absolutely delicious, and completely made from scratch. The recipe makes a lot, so you might just have leftovers.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Bread: Or substitute 1 ½ cups bread crumbs for the sliced, toasted bread. Combine with the butter as directed in Step 1.
- Salt and pepper: If you don’t season the sauce before you add back the noodles, your casserole will be bland! Taste the sauce and season it until you LOVE IT. Now’s a good time to add hot sauce or red pepper flakes if that’s your thing.
- Spaghetti: Any pasta will do, but I prefer a long-stranded pasta: linguine, or fettuccine, snapped in half while uncooked for easy serving.
- Chicken: Leftover rotisserie chicken, grilled chicken from the weekend, or poached chicken, shredded or cut up.
Step-by-step instructions
- Tear the slices into 2-inch pieces. In a food processor, process the pieces until finely ground. In a small bowl, add bread crumbs and melted butter and toss until evenly coated. Set aside.
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large pot or Dutch oven, bring 4 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 7 to 9 minutes. Drain well and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.
- Return the same large pot to medium-high heat and melt butter until foaming. Add onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in flour and cook until golden, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Whisk in broth and half and half. Bring to a simmer and continue to whisk until sauce thickens, about 1 minute longer.
- Remove from heat and whisk in Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and hot sauce if desired. Do not skip this step or your casserole may be bland!
- To the pot with sauce, add cooked pasta, chicken and frozen peas, and toss to combine. Pour into a 2-quart baking dish and sprinkle with breadcrumb topping.
- Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the topping has browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes about 2 quarts of casserole, enough for 8 servings, 1 cup each.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: This casserole can be made up to two days ahead. Assemble it, pour it into the baking dish, but don’t add the breadcrumbs or bake. Instead, wrap it up and store it in the fridge. add the breadcrumbs when ready to bake.
- Freezer: Just cover, wrap, and freeze it before baking. Thaw overnight in the fridge and bake in a 400 degree oven until the temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- Cover with foil to prevent over-browning: Since everyone’s oven is a little different, place a layer of foil overt the casserole to keep the breadcrumbs from burning if needed.
- More vegetables: This recipe is nothing if not versatile. Sauté some mushrooms alongside the onions, if you like. In place of peas, add a couple handfuls of baby spinach or thinly sliced leeks.
Recipe FAQs
What does “tetrazzini” mean?
“Tetrazzini” means prepared with pasta and a white sauce served au gratin (“au gratin” means sprinkled with bread crumbs or cheese, or both, and browned).
How to Make Rotisserie Chicken
Learn how to make rotisserie chicken at home with my super simple spice rub (4 ingredients plus salt & pepper). Or, recreate that same delicious flavor for your next oven-roasted chicken!
View Recipe
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Chicken Tetrazzini
Chicken Tetrazzini is made with creamy béchamel sauce, tender chicken, and pasta, all baked under a crunchy crumb topping. This simple casserole is ready in under an hour or can be made ahead or frozen.
Ingredients
For the topping:
- 2 slices high-quality sandwich bread lightly toasted (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
For the casserole:
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper (see note 2)
- 8 ounces spaghetti broken in half (see note 3)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup half and half
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- hot sauce to taste, optional (see note 2)
- 2 cups cooked chicken chopped or shredded (see note 4)
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Tear the slices into 2-inch pieces. In a food processor, process the pieces until finely ground. In a small bowl, add bread crumbs and melted butter and toss until evenly coated. Set aside.
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large pot or Dutch oven, bring 4 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 7 to 9 minutes. Drain well and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.
- Return the same large pot to medium-high heat and melt butter until foaming. Add onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in flour and cook until golden, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Whisk in broth and half and half. Bring to a simmer and continue to whisk until sauce thickens, about 1 minute longer.
- Remove from heat and whisk in Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and hot sauce if desired. Do not skip this step or your casserole may be bland!
- To the pot with sauce, add cooked pasta, chicken and frozen peas, and toss to combine. Pour into a 2-quart baking dish and sprinkle with breadcrumb topping.
- Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the topping has browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Bread: Or substitute 1 ½ cups bread crumbs for the sliced, toasted bread. Combine with the butter as directed in Step 1.
- Salt and pepper: If you don’t season the sauce before you add back the noodles, your casserole will be bland! Taste the sauce and season it until you LOVE IT. Now’s a good time to add hot sauce or red pepper flakes if that’s your thing.
- Spaghetti: Any pasta will do, but I prefer a long-stranded pasta: linguine, or fettuccine, snapped in half while uncooked for easy serving.
- Chicken: Leftover rotisserie chicken, grilled chicken from the weekend, or poached chicken, shredded or cut up.
- Yield: This recipe makes about 2 quarts of casserole, enough for 8 servings, 1 cup each.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: This casserole can be made up to two days ahead. Assemble it, pour it into the baking dish, but don’t add the breadcrumbs or bake. Instead, wrap it up and store it in the fridge. add the breadcrumbs when ready to bake.
- Freezer: Just cover, wrap, and freeze it before baking. Thaw overnight in the fridge and bake in a 400 degree oven until the temperature reaches 165 degrees.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cupCalories: 336kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 19gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 349mgPotassium: 387mgFiber: 3gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 606IUVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 135mgIron: 2mg
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Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
A must make! I’m thawing chicken right now. What if, once the sauce has bubbled for a couple of minutes, then you sprinkled the breadcrumbs on top until they browned? That may alleviate the over browning problem without the foil tent.
That’s how I do cheese toppings that I want stringy but not chewy from browning.
Me, I’d likely use Panko crumbs for a better crunch. :-)