Chicken Tetrazzini – Emily Bites

I’ve been meaning to add a Chicken Tetrazzini recipe to my site for a while now, and now that’s December it seemed like the perfect time for just this sort of comfort food dish. This casserole has it all: chicken, pasta, cheese, mushrooms, broccoli, a crunchy almond topping and a creamy sauce. What more could you want? Plus, the servings are hearty and filling. My husband loved this recipe (even though he picked out all the mushooms). The nice thing about tetrazzini is that it’s so customizable! It almost always has mushrooms and some kind of meat, but you can swap out either for something you like more. Feel free to replace the chicken breast with turkey or tofu, or the mushrooms or broccoli with other vegetables based on your preferences. It’s easy to make it your own! Using the ingredients listed below, a satisfying serving is just 366 calories or 9 Green, 8 Blue, or 4 Purple WW SmartPoints!

This Chicken Tetrazzini recipe calls for cooked chicken breast, but it’s up to you how to cook it. I usually cook mine either in the slow cooker like so, or my Instant Pot (6 minutes on manual, 5 minutes natural release). You could also use rotisserie breast meat or bake it, boil it, grill it, or whatever else is easiest for you.

Looking for more tasty comfort food recipes to warm up to this winter? Check out my One-Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese, Swedish Turkey Meatballs, Chicken and Dumplings Casserole, One-Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken Pasta, Chicken Divan, Bubble Up Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Bake, Stuffed Turkey Bundles with Gravy, One-Pot Dirty Spicy Rice with Chicken and Sausage, Crispy Cheddar Chicken with Cream Sauce, Chicken Pot Pasta, Beef Enchilada Pasta Skillet, Meat and Potatoes Bake, Rustic Sausage and Potatoes Skillet, Beef Stroganoff, Beefy American Goulash, and so many more in the Comfort Food category of my recipe index!

Chicken Tetrazzini

Yield: 8 (1 1/2 cup) servings

Ingredients:

• 12 oz dry wheat spaghetti
• 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 3 tablespoons light butter (I use Land O’Lakes light stick butter)
• 8 oz sliced white mushrooms
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 (14.5 oz) can reduced sodium fat free chicken broth
• 1 ¾ cups fat free half and half
• 16 oz cooked boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped
• 3 tablespoons dry sherry or white wine
• 1 ½ oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 3 tablespoons sliced almonds
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Boil water and cook the pasta according to package directions. When the pasta has one minute of cook time remaining, add the broccoli florets to the pasta water to cook for the remaining minute. Drain the pasta and broccoli in a colander.
3. While waiting for the water to boil for step two, melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, scallions and garlic and stir to coat. Cook for about 5 minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg until well combined. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth a little at a time to smooth out and combine the flour clumps until smooth. Add the half and half and continue to whisk to combine. Increase the heat a bit and cook, whisking regularly until a bit thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and add the chopped chicken, wine, and half of the Parmesan cheese. Stir until combined and then add the drained spaghetti and broccoli.
4. Transfer the entire mixture to a 9×13 baking dish and top with the remaining Parmesan cheese and the sliced almonds. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Top with fresh parsley.

MYWW SMARTPOINTS PER (1 ½ cup) SERVING: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

Green: 9 SmartPoints/ Blue: 8 SmartPoints/ Purple: 4 SmartPoints

Weight Watchers Points Plus:
10 per (1 ½ cup) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below)

Nutrition Information per (1 ½ cup) serving:
366 calories, 45 g carbs, 4 g sugars, 9 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 30 g protein, 2 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)