Cheesy Italian Chicken and Noodles
Around my house about the only thing I seem to get all three of my kids to agree on is mac & cheese or pizza. I decided that I would make a new style of Mac & Cheese hoping my kids would love it. It has been such a big hit with my entire family! For birthdays, we let the kids pick what I make them for their birthday dinner. Almost always, this is the request! The best part about it is, it is so easy, cheap and goes such a long way!
All you need is a crockpot, a few ingredients, a spoon, a pot, strainer and some hungry people! I love recipes that you can throw a bunch of stuff in a crock pot and get other things done instead of standing over the stove or keeping check on the oven.
Cheesy Italian Chicken and Noodles
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Servings: 18-20
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks of butter
- 2 packets of zesty Italian dressing
- 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 packages cream cheese
- 1 family size can of cream of chicken soup
- 1 2lb box of elbow noodles
Instructions:
Place butter, Italian dressing mix and chicken in the crockpot on low for about 4 hours. You can use frozen chicken but cook time will be closer to 6 hours. I use frozen chicken when I need to be gone for a longer period of time and need it to be able to cook longer without over cooking it. You can also use chicken tenderloins for faster cooking time.
After chicken is cooked and a little browned, take a fork to shred the chicken. It will basically fall apart at the touch of a fork!
Add cream cheese and cover with chicken to allow the cream cheese to soften. Place the lid back on the crockpot.
In a pot, bring water to a boil. Pour elbow noodles into the pot and stir to ensure the noodles cook evenly. Cook for 7 minutes. Do not overcook the noodles or they will become mushy in the cheesy chicken mixture. Drain water.
Add cream of chicken in crock pot. Stir well.
Combine noodles into crock pot. Stir and dig in!
Hint: for a cheaper alternative you can use a bottle of Italian dressing INSTEAD of Italian seasoning and butter.
You can cut the recipe in half very easily. We just do a larger batch because typically it is a meal that I make when we have guests and my kids always want it the next day as well!
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 18-20
- 2 sticks butter
- 2 packets zesty Italian dressing mix
- 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 packages cream cheese
- 1 family size can of cream of chicken soup
- 1 2lb box of elbow noodles
- Place butter, Italian dressing packets and chicken breasts in crockpot on low for 4 hours or until cooked
- Shred chicken with fork
- Add cream cheese to crockpot
- Boil Noodles for 7 minutes. Drain.
- Add cream of chicken to crock pot and stir well
- Add noodles to crockpot and stir
- Serve immediately
