Crockpot Chicken Spaghetti

Our easy Crockpot chicken spaghetti with Velveeta recipe is a kid favorite meal!! Made with cream of chicken soup, cream cheese and a can of Rotel gives you just a hint of spicy that is just enough to make you want seconds and thirds!!

Years ago I created this creamy Instant Pot Chicken Spaghetti recipe that my family loved. I didn’t really think about making it any other way until I was on a slow cooker kick and wanted to figure out how to make it that way too. It was beyond delish!

Ok so everyone has made the “normal version” of this Italian meal with a jar of sauce and no real cheesiness to speak of. This takes that meal to a whole new level where even the pickiest of kids will ask for seconds…..

As always I like to mix and match ingredients when I am developing Crockpot recipes and this is no exception. I will provide substitutions below with my favorite rendition in the recipe card below. I can’t wait for y’all to try this one. 😉

Now let’s talk about the main protein we used for a hot second first shall we? You literally can use all the things. I have made this with boneless skinless breasts (seen here), thighs and diced up rotisserie chicken. The cook time and/or directions don’t change no matter which you choose.

Ingredient Notes

I find that I use medium sized organic (free range preferred for the best texture) chicken breasts the most often to make this dish.

To make the sauce creamy you want a can of cream of chicken soup, some softened cream cheese (don’t buy low-fat, we aren’t counting calories here) as well as some cubed Velveeta.

You can use canned diced tomatoes with chiles but I find that Rotel has a bit more flavor and less juices so it keeps the sauce thick. You can make homemade Rotel this way if you want to start from scratch.

Your milk should be whole or 2% ideally to keep it creamier and as thick as possible. Dairy free alternatives work too, I suggest plain cashew milk for that once again because it is the thickest.

For the noodles you could use any style, shape or size you want. The most traditional would be long spaghetti noodles but really anything goes. If you have kids I would use penne as they are easier to eat which means less mess.

And then there comes the seasonings; I just use Italian seasonings, onion powder, garlic powder and some salt.

Do you need to boil the noodles?

Yes, I have tried cooking them in the sauce and the texture just isn’t great. You would need to add more moisture to submerge them and they stick together coming out in kinda’ a clumpy mess. Instead your best bet is to boil them in water separately until they are al dente, drain, and fold together at the end.

How Long to Cook Chicken Spaghetti in Crockpot

You are going to want 3.5-4 hours on low to get the meat tender enough to shred easily with 2 forks (or dice into bite size pieces). The cook time will vary depending on the size and thickness of your pieces though. A bit longer is better in my opinion because I like every bite as tender as possible so it literally falls apart in my mouth.

Can you cook this on high?

I mean technically I guess you could but it is not recommended. I mean the whole point of a slooooooooow cooker is in it’s name y’all. Rushing it doesn’t make the meat as tender and the cheese can begin to curdle a bit when it is under extreme heat so just don’t.

I haven’t tried this yet as an alternative version to our baked spaghetti and meatballs recipe but that is next. I typically just serve this as is but if you wanted a side I might go with some rolls or a side salad maybe.