Sunday meals should always be comforting, something that makes you feel good on the inside and relaxed going into a new week. I love making anything with a sauce, and most often those sauces are accompanied with pasta… my favorite food group. Growing up, my Mom would make many meals with Velveeta, and to this day I believe it is a necessary staple in all casseroles. This recipe I have modified over the years, each time finding a new technique or ingredient addition that makes it that much better. I have found that making the base sauce then tossing it with the baked chicken and pasta creates a better end product than if you bake it all together in the oven. Sometimes baked pastas tend to become dry and not as good left over. The base sauce I make is a homemade cream of mushroom sauce, with fresh mushrooms, milk, chicken broth, butter, and flour. So much better than using canned cream of mushroom. I then add the Velveeta, Cream Cheese, Rotel, and cooked chicken breast into the sauce. Whatever sauce is left can be frozen and saved for another night! This dish is a no-fail comfort food and can feed a crowd. Who doesn’t love a cheesy pasta?
Ingredients for the Baked Chicken:
- 2-4 Chicken Breast (depending on the size and how much chicken you want in your sauce)
- Garlic Powder
- Kosher salt
- Lawry’s Seasoned Pepper
- Olive Oil
Instructions:
Lay the chicken in a roasting pan and coat with olive oil. Season the breasts with the above seasonings to your liking- bake at 350 for approx. 30 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your breasts. Once the internal temperature is at 165, let the breasts rest for a little bit then slice it or cube it.
Ingredients:
- 8oz Velveeta
- 1, 10oz can of Rotel tomatoes
- 1, 16oz package of spaghetti
- 4oz cream cheese
- 4oz chopped button mushrooms
- 4tbsp butter
- 2tbsp flour
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup chicken broth
Instructions for the sauce:
To make the base, I start by melting the butter in a saucepan on low heat. Once melted I whisk the flour into the melted butter. For a traditional béchamel sauce, there would be more flour and more milk, but for this recipe I take into account that the cheese will thicken the sauce so I put less flour. Honestly, I eyeball it every time so add more flour for your consistency likeness. I then add the chopped mushrooms and sauté in the butter and flour, then add the milk. After it begins to thicken and bubble, I will add in the chicken broth. Stir this constantly on medium heat so it does not stick to the pan.
Once this has all been emulsified and is at a nice consistency, I will add the velveeta and cream cheese in cubes so that it melts quickly. After draining the can of Rotel, add it to your sauce. If needed, you can add more chicken broth as the sauce thickens. Add the cubed chicken breast into the sauce.
After boiling the spaghetti and the noodles are cooked, I will toss them in a bit of olive oil so they don’t stick together. Then you can add your sauce to your desired portion of pasta and reserve your leftover sauce for another time if you wish.
Happy Sunday!
The Texas Table 