Slow Cooker Chicken Tetrazzini
39 Comments Aug 29, 2016
Updated Nov 28, 2022
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Comfort food at its finest! Slow Cooker Chicken Tetrazzini has tender shredded chicken in a creamy sauce with mushrooms. A one pot meal the entire family will love.
Table of Contents
Having dinner together with my family is most important to me. We try as much as possible to eat dinner at the table, so finding a meal we all love makes dinner time run smoother (remember I have a very picky 13-year old).
This recipe uses cream cheese and chicken broth as the base, you won’t find any condensed cream of chicken soup (or mushroom soup) in this meal.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken: Use boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Cream Cheese: Often, cream cheese is used in slow cooker recipes to create a thick sauce without having to use flour and butter.
- Chicken Broth: A touch of chicken broth is added to the sauce base.
- Vegetables: Sliced mushrooms and diced white onion are classic vegetables for chicken tetrazzini.
- Seasonings: Salt, pepper, dried tarragon, and garlic powder will season the chicken and noodles perfectly.
- Cheese: Shredded mozzarella cheese is used (can use parmesan cheese too).
- Spaghetti Noodles: You can use a different noodle than spaghetti noodles, but I strongly recommend the spaghetti noodle for it soaks up the sauce perfectly.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – I start by adding the chicken, seasonings, mushrooms, and onions to the slow cooker. I let that cook all day.
Step Two – When I am ready to serve dinner, I add cream cheese, shred the chicken then stir in a half-pound of cooked spaghetti.
Step Three – Add a bit of mozzarella and cover the slow cooker until the cheese melts.
Recipe FAQs
This meal is great with 1/3 less fat cream cheese and reduced-fat mozzarella cheese, make it to accommodate your family’s diet!
Yes, if you can find a small turkey breast or turkey tenderloin, that would work great in this recipe.
For this recipe, raw chicken is best for it lets off some natural juices into the sauce. If a rotisserie chicken is used, you may find you need to add broth.
What I love about this crock pot chicken tetrazzini is that it’s great for spaghetti night, but a fresher spin on pasta.
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Slow Cooker Chicken Tetrazzini
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, can use 1-2 lbs.
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 1 ½ tsp. dried tarragon, or oregano
- 1 cup diced white onion
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, ⅓ less fat or regular
- ½ pound dried spaghetti noodles, 1/2 a box, cook according to package directions
- 8 oz. pkg. mozzarella cheese, grated (reduced-fat or regular)
Instructions
- Add the chicken, sea salt, garlic powder, pepper, tarragon, onions and mushrooms. Pour over the chicken broth. DO NOT ADD THE CREAM CHEESE OR SPAGHETTI YET. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours, or HIGH for 4 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- Cut the cream cheese into squares and add the slow cooker, cover. In the meantime cook the spaghetti according to the package directions.
- After the cream cheese has had some time to melt. Take 2 forks and shred the chicken. Stir the sauce and chicken together. Add the cooked and drained pasta. Stir. Add the mozzarella cheese over the pasta and sauce. Cover for about 10 more minutes or until the cheese has melted. Serve and enjoy!
How to Video
Sarah’s Notes
- Turkey breast or turkey tenderloin can be used instead of chicken.
- Best to use raw chicken, not rotisserie chicken for this recipe.
- This meal is great with 1/3 less fat cream cheese and reduced-fat mozzarella cheese; make it to accommodate your family’s diet!
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Please suggest a sub for cream cheese. What do you think of shredded cheddar, one of my favorite cheeses? Thanks so much Sarah for your recipes and great info.
Sounds good but would be ingredients size if using 1.5 slow cooker , looking to make some meals quick just for two of us
Hi! You could try cutting the recipe in a quarter, but truthfully a regular size crockpot is best, even for two. 1.5 quart is mostly for dips.
With 1 cup of stock mine slow cooker would turn dry well before the 8low/4high cook time, should I add more stock or is it ment to go dry?
If yours tend to go dry yes, but usually the slow cooker locks in moisture.
This looks really good, but lately I’m finding that I’m not crazy about recipes that include cream cheese. Do you think it would be taste okay to stir some sour cream in at the end instead?
Served this over rice instead of pasta and my family loved it!!
How can we adjust the recipe if we only have a 4.5 quart slow cooker??
Looking back at the photos, I think it will fit in a 4.5 quart. I used a 6 quart and it seems the slow cooker is only half full.
Simply the best!!!
this recipe is heaven on a plate …. love love love
Just tried this last night and it turned out great. Took your reasoning that my slow cooker runs hot and altered accordingly. Thanks.