Chicken Tetrazzini is a big, bubbly pasta bake with a creamy cheese sauce, juicy chicken and buttery garlic mushrooms. It’s about as classic as a creamy pasta bake can get!
Chicken Tetrazzini
I call Tetrazzini an Italian pasta bake just because it sounds good to say so, but in actual fact, there is nothing Italian about this creamy-oh-so-cheesy pasta casserole other than the fact that it’s named after an Italian opera singer, Luisa Tetrazzini.
It is said that a Chef at a hotel in the States invented this dish especially for her, and you’ll never find it in a (real) Italian cookbook. But that doesn’t make this any less delicious. Juicy chicken with garlic butter mushrooms smothered in a béchamel sauce, tossed through slick pasta and baked until bubbly…. UGH! I’m torturing myself just writing about it!! 😂
This pasta casserole bake is made from scratch. Canned soup has no place around here!!
What you need for creamy Chicken Tetrazzini Sauce
Here’s what you need to make the cream sauce for Chicken Tetrazzini: butter, flour, chicken broth/stock, milk, cream and cheese.
The basis of Tetrazzini sauce is a béchamel sauce. While a basic béchamel is made with just butter, flour and milk, for Tetrazzini, we dial up the deliciousness by adding chicken stock (for flavour), cream (for richness) and cheese (a good thing in anything!).
What goes in Chicken Tetrazzini
As for the pasta bake itself, here’s what you need:
Pasta – long strand pasta like spaghetti is traditional, but this recipe works perfectly with short pastas like macaroni, penne, ziti, rigatoni, spirals. Just avoid tiny pasta like risoni/orzo, ditalini, tiny shells or novelty pastas like alphabet pasta – they are too small;
Chicken – thighs are best because they stay juicy even after the double cook (seared then baked), but breast and tenderloin are fine too. Buying pre-cooked chicken will speed things up, but the sauce won’t be as nice because it gets a flavour boost by cooking the sauce in the same pot the chicken is seared in (the golden bits left in the pan from the chicken is a free flavour boost for the sauce);
Mushrooms – anything sliceable is fine, I’ve just used normal button mushrooms here;
Butter – used to cook the mushrooms, and also as the fat into which the flour is mixed which thickens the liquids to make the creamy sauce;
Garlic and onion – essential flavour base.
How to make Chicken Tetrazzini
Cook the chicken first because the golden bits left in the pot will dissolve into the sauce which adds a stack of flavour. The chicken doesn’t need to be fully cooked through – once chopped into small pieces, it will take mere minutes to finish cooking in the oven.
Skip the shortcut store bought roast chicken. Cooking your own is so much tastier because the sauce gets a massive free flavour boost from deglazing the pot.
After the chicken is cooked, we cook the mushrooms and onion, then mix in the flour before adding the liquids. This is an easy method to ensure your creamy sauce comes out smooth rather than with flour lumps without the need of a whisk or slowly pouring the milk in. By mixing the flour into the cooked mushrooms, it gets dispersed which makes it far less prone to lumps when the milk is added. Tip of the day! 😎
How to tell when the béchamel sauce is thick enough
Use the “path” test (Step 5 above) – coat the back of your wooden spoon with the sauce, hold it vertically (so the sauce is dripping off it). Then use your finger to draw a line across it – it should hold briefly before the sauce runs down to cover the line up. This means the sauce is thick enough.
TIP: The sauce should not be very thick – it thickens more when cheese is added and again when baked.
Plenty of sauce – because nobody likes stodgy pasta bakes!
As with all my pasta bakes, I make more sauce than most recipes because I like my pasta bakes to come out of the oven molten and bubbling, smothered with sauce rather than a dried up stodgy block that you can cut like cake. No thank you!!! I want THIS ↓↓↓
What to serve with Chicken Tetrazzini
I’d strongly urge you to add a side of greens – have a browse through my Vegetable Sides (newly organised by vegetable!).
Then if you’re going all out, add a side of Garlic Bread or if you want to blow the cheese-meter, add a side of Cheesy Garlic Bread.
For dessert, try Tiramisu if you want to keep with the Italian theme, or if you’re going for a cosy Winter meal, make a pudding! Try one of these:
Winter Puddings and Cosy Dessert suggestions
Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Chicken Tetrazzini (creamy chicken mushroom pasta bake)
Ingredients
- 500g / 1lb spaghetti or other long pasta, cooked per packet (penne, macaroni, ziti ok too) (Note 1)
Chicken
- 2 tbsp (30g) butter
- 500g / 1lb chicken thighs , skinless boneless (Note 2)
Creamy Sauce
- 4 tbsp (60g) butter , unsalted
- 500g / 1lb mushrooms , sliced 1/2 cm / 1/5" thick
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 4 tbsp flour
- 2 cups milk , any fat, any type
- 1 cup cream , heavy / thickened (sub more milk)
- 2 cups chicken stock/broth , low sodium (or water + 2 stock cubes)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups cheese , shredded (cheddar, jack, colby – not mozz)
Instructions
Sear chicken
- Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large pot over high heat. Add chicken, sprinkle with pinch of salt and pepper. Cook 1 1/2 minutes until golden.
- Turn chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 1 minute until golden then remove onto plate – doesn't need to be fully cooked (will cook more in oven).
- Rest 5 minutes, then chop into small pieces, or shred.
Sauce & pasta
- Preheat oven to 160°C / 325°F.
- Cook mushrooms: Melt 4 tbsp butter over high heat in the same pot. Add mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes until starting to go floppy but not yet golden.
- Add onion: Add garlic and onion, cook for 3 minutes until mushrooms are golden. Add a pinch of salt and pepper halfway through.
- Add flour & milk: Turn heat down to medium. Add flour. Stir for 30 seconds. Add milk and stir for 10 seconds or until it thickens (see video at 52 sec).
- Add cream and broth: Add chicken stock, cream, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Stir, then let the mixture heat up, stirring every now and then so it doesn't catch on the base, and cook until the sauce thickens enough so you can draw a path on the back of the spoon (video at 1.04). Do not make it very thick – it gets thicker in next steps.
- Add cheese & pasta: Turn stove off. Stir through half the cheese (will melt in oven), then add pasta and chicken. Toss to mix, taste and add more salt if needed.
- Bake: Pour into 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13" pan, smooth surface. Top with remaining cheese. Bake 25 minutes until golden and bubbly. Serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
- Butter – sub margarine. Sub with olive oil + switch 1 cup of the milk for cream (if you can, to make up richness/flavour). Butter is flavour, so try not to skip this.
- Flour – any type of flour fine here, white, wholemeal, self raising, gluten free. Cornflour/cornstarch gluten free sub: Mix 3.5 tbsp with splash of water and add that in with the milk. And obviously, use GF pasta!
- Milk – any type. Dairy, non dairy, full fat, low fat, fresh, long life, milk powder (reconstituted). Up to 1.5 cups milk can be substituted with water.
- Stock/bouillon powder or cube or seasoning instead of liquid stock/broth – use 2 cubes or 4 tsp powder, chicken or vegetable (Vegeta is my fave). Sub with 1/2 cup extra parmesan + salt to taste.
- No cheese? Add 3/4 cup / 75g shredded parmesan, or 1 – 1.5 tsp chicken stock powder.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
One of his best features. (Minus what looks like a big boogie up his nose 😆)
Very good…..I think I’d like to add a little white wine in place of some of the chicken broth the next time I make it.
I love all your recipes. They are easy to make and delicious. Do you have hard copies,ie recipe books available.
This is one of my short group of comfort foods, but it’s missing a critical ingredient: bread crumbs. (My comfort foods were mostly from Stouffer’s, cooked in my college dorm room in a toaster oven. My mother couldn’t cook, except for roast chicken with celery salt, one of my comfort foods.) I only have panko in my kitchen, so made a trip for italian bread crumbs. Healthy layer on top for last twenty minutes. NOW it’s perfect!
This was delicious, made it for 2 servings and was still heaps. Added bacon when I cooked the mushrooms and would potentially add a little parmesan to give it a bit more sharpness and salt. Was so good and will make again!
Ok.love your recipes, but totally love Dozer. He’s a star. Probably spoiled but totally loved.
Simply perfect. I will use more chicken the next time I make it though.
Two thumbs up!
Love it.
Another winner – Thank you Nagi – I have found that my past attempts at pasta bake to be a little dry. This recipe has a great amount of tasty and slurpy sauce. The tip to add butter and cool the pasta before baking is a game changer too I think. Thank you!
What a great recipe. Very easy to follow. The note section is excellent, very explanatory. A beginner in cooking would feel comfortable making the yummy dish. Well done 👍😀😀
I just made this for dinner tonight and judging from my family’s “mmmm!…”’s, it’s a success! Much thanks for the easy to follow recipe!… BTW, I combined mild cheddar and Parmesan cheeses for the topping.
I made this tonight and it was great. Your directions are very clear and easy to follow. Thank you for sharing it with us. I am looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Made this last night for my birthday dinner.. It went down a treat..delicious … even my little apprentice chef ate the mushrooms.. A miracle!!
Wahoo!!! That’s great to hear Ross! N x
Made this last night for my birthday dinner.. It went down a treat… even my little apprentice chef ate the mushrooms.. A miracle!!
Oh my goodness I could eat the entire pan. And I had no clue the backstory behind chicken tetrazzini, thanks for sharing!
Delicious, nice and creamy. My good old Betty Crocker recipe was always much more solid…cooling the pasta really worked! I did freeze half of the recipe as it makes a huge amount especially for just the two of us.
I love hearing this Peggy!! N x
Hi again, been reading the comments below and I believe that I’ve found the answer. Add some bacon! Will try this with the leftovers. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.
Cheers,
Don x
Hello All! Does anyone know what the white cheese that was used in the video? I know that Nagi said to stay away from mozzarella.
Hi April, as listed in the ingredients, cheddar, jack, colby – not mozzarella will work here. Cheddar has been used in the video. N x
Hi Nagi, I sent an email earlier, however, this seems to be the place to comment. I cooked the Chicken Tetrazzini tonight and thought it was needing some oomph. Perhaps a little chilli, I’m not sure. Anyway, love your recipes and have cooked many of them..
Cheers,
Don x
I tried this with locally made rigatoni. It was delicious. I think our grandkids would love it too.
There is a reason you won’t find this in an Italian cookbook, there are no chicken pasta dishes because the flavours don’t work. Use rabbit
Hi Loz, if you read my post I actually state: “in actual fact, there is nothing Italian about this…” 😉
Just cooked this for dinner and i added spinach, my 2yo loves it too. Its really amazing, crazily delicious.
Will definitely make it again sometime soon, easy ingredients easy cooking
Thanks for another great recipe, Nagi 😊