Family, food, Herefords and showing cattle have been a huge part of my life. These past almost 30 years of marriage to my husband Scott have been a whirlwind of not only a wonderful marriage, but the addition of three daughters, life as an educator, our agricultural roots and most recently in the last 10 years the addition of a blogger. It’s a life we are thankful for and realize we are lucky to live in our little corner of Northeast Texas among the pine trees, lakes and our Hereford cattle.
As working mother, I realize that the struggle is real when it comes to putting dinner on our table each night. Long days as an educator and late evenings in the barn, have taught me to cook once and eat twice.
When my oldest daughter Ilissa proudly attended college at Texas A&M, one of her biggest request was for my recipes when she was far from home. Each week, she would call and say, “Mom, how do you make that dish?” I’d smile, give her the recipe and think to myself I really should have put her together a cookbook before she left for college.
The way the modern web was going, it only made sense to pull all my thoughts together and begin to blog one recipe at a time and share a little of our agricultural heritage in the process. From there The Ranch Kitchen blog and recipe site was born, one recipe and memory at a time.
Early on I made a promise to myself, that the recipes I shared would be those that anyone could prepare with ingredients that are most often found in their pantry. The Ranch Kitchen recipes are tried and true and cowboy approved.
In the future, I am excited to share recipes from The Ranch Kitchen on The Pulse that will showcase not only crowd favorites while on the show road, but main dish, sides, appetizers and fun snacks and desserts that are most requested from my site.
So for this, my first inaugural post, I chose the most requested recipe on my site for my Chicken Spaghetti for a Crowd. If you asked our Hereford juniors which food I’m popular for, it’s this recipe they would scream. It’s always a crowd favorite at our Junior National Hereford Expo and during the Fort Worth Stock Show, and Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. While at our summer Expo, I triple this recipe in three separate roasters and usually can feed over 150 easily and my baby daughter Audrey says this is her very favorite meal I cook!
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The Ranch Kitchen’s Chicken Spaghetti for a Crowd
12 chicken breast, cooked and cubed (can used canned chicken and/or precooked chicken breast or thighs)
8 large packages spaghetti noodles, broken into thirds – buy the best brand possible – good quality (it’s a gooey mess if you don’t)
4 cans Hunts ‘4 Cheese Spaghetti Sauce’ or any brand will do!
4 cans Rotel Tomatoes with Lime and Cilantro
2 lg. containers chicken broth – 16 ounce
2 cans – 26 ounce – family sized cream of mushroom soups
2 can’s – 26 ounce – family sized cream of celery soups
1 large – 2 lb. packages of Velveeta Cheese (no light), cubed
*Optional – 2 – 4 large onions, chopped
Salt, pepper, and additional water to cover
Instructions:
1. Spray large roaster with Pam or oil. ***Do not skip this step or cleanup is not fun!
2. Halve ingredients between two roasting pans.
3. Add about 6 cups water between the roasting pan and the roaster oven to help steam/heat roasting pan as it cooks.
4. Place chicken broth in both roasting pans and enough water to come six inches of the top of the roaster. Bring to a boil and begin adding one package of noodles broken into thirds, package by package making sure to ‘fork’ apart so that pasta does not cook stuck together. This will take about 15 minutes to slowly add all pasta and allow it to being to soften and expand soaking up the liquid.
5. When pasta is cooked through, add spaghetti sauce, Rotel tomatoes, mushroom soups, celery soups, onions to roasters.
6. Continue to cook all ingredients on heat turned up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper. We like to use garlic salt and Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning as well which is a ‘Cajun’ all seasoning spice.
8. Add chicken that you have cubed into small bite sized pieces. Continue cooking on medium to high heat stirring every once in a while to prevent sticking. This recipe gets really thick, so you will need good metal spoons to stir with.
9. Add cubed Velveeta cheese the last 30 minutes as it will stick horribly if added earlier.
Cook’s note: Buy the best grade pasta you can find. Cheaper brands will not turn out well and no one likes mushy pasta! Promise…I’ve learned to not try to cut corners with this recipe.
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However, if you’d like to make the recipe for a smaller crowd or just your family, I’ve also included the link here for The Ranch Kitchen’s Chicken Spaghetti for a portion sized for eight people. My middle daughter Bethany once made the ‘crowd’ version while at Texas A&M and said they ate it for a week! So, here is the recipe for just your family!
The Ranch Kitchen’s Chicken Spaghetti
(Family Sized)
16 – ounces thin spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained
2 – 3 chicken breast cooked and cubed or 2 cans white meat chicken (12.5 ounce), drained
1 – onion, chopped into chunks
2 teaspoons butter or margarine
1 -16 ounce can or jar of spaghetti sauce
1 – can of Rotel Tomatoes with Lime and Cilantro – 10 ounce can, undrained
1 – can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, 10.5 ounce can
1 – can Cream of Chicken Mushroom Soup, 10.5 ounce can
2 – tablespoons Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
2 – teaspoons pepper
1 – 2 – teaspoons garlic salt or more to taste
1/2 – pound of Velveeta Cheese (about 1 cup in size)
Instructions:
1. Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions.
2. Bake chicken breast or use canned chicken drained, then chop in to bite sized pieces.
3. In a microwave safe bowl, place one chopped onion and margarine or butter and heat on high for 2 minutes. Carefully remove from the microwave with an oven mit and set aside to cool.
4. In a large 2 gallon sized bowl place noodles, spaghetti sauce, chicken, soups, spices, and mix together well. I use two large forks and continue to fold ingredients together until mixed well. Taste and add more spices to your taste.
5. Add cheese in last and mix well. It’s ok to leave chunks of Velveeta as you can always stir the chicken spaghetti once it comes out of the oven.
6. Pour chicken spaghetti in a large 9 x 13 inch Pyrex glass or oven proof dish that has been oiled lightly. Cover with foil and bake on 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 or 30 minutes until heated through.
7. Remove from the oven and mix chicken spaghetti well allowing Velveeta Cheese to be mixed in with all ingredients.
Serve chicken spaghetti with a side salad, French bread, and Italian Green Beans recipe from this site!
My daughter and friend Riggin at a Junior National Hereford Expo many years ago!
My how they have grown and still love some chicken spaghetti!
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So here’s hoping you enjoy these posts and the recipes from The Ranch Kitchen.
You can find The Ranch Kitchen on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest and also subscribe with your email on the main site to be alerted for all new recipes and happenings!
From our ranch to yours,
Alise Nolan
The Ranch Kitchen