You don’t even have to boil the pasta for this cozy dump and bake chicken noodle casserole! All of the ingredients cook together in one dish for a simple comfort food dinner that’s ready with just 15 minutes of prep.
If you love easy dump-and-bake dinners, you’ll also enjoy my chicken pot pie pasta and baked ravioli casserole. Find more one-dish favorites in my Favorite Dump and Bake Dinners collection.
Table of Contents
Before You Get Started
A few tips to help this casserole turn out perfectly:
- Use short, sturdy pasta. This recipe is specifically designed and tested with rotini, but you can sub with penne, elbows, or cavatappi. Just pick a pasta that has a similar cooking time as the rotini (about 7-8 minutes recommended on the package) — otherwise you’ll need to adjust the casserole’s baking time in the oven.
- Dice your veggies small. Finely diced carrots, celery, and onion (about ¼-inch pieces) cook evenly with the pasta and blend into every bite.
- Cover tightly with foil. A tight seal traps steam, which is essential for cooking the pasta through. If steam escapes, your noodles may end up undercooked.
- Check pasta doneness before adding cheese. The bake time can vary depending on your oven and pasta shape. If the noodles are still too firm at the 40-minute mark, cover and bake a bit longer before moving on.
How to Make a Chicken Noodle Casserole
This casserole takes all of your favorite chicken noodle soup flavors and bakes them into a hearty, healthy, family-friendly dinner. No extra pots, no boiling pasta on the stovetop. Just stir, cover, and bake.
Step 1: Prep Your Ingredients
Start by preheating your oven to 425°F and spraying a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Dice your cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces. You can use leftover chicken from a previous meal, a store-bought rotisserie chicken, or the refrigerated cooked chicken strips from the grocery store. Any of these options work great and save time.
Finely dice the celery, carrots, and onion so they cook evenly with the pasta. Mince your garlic and measure out the thyme (fresh or dried both work).
** Creamy Variation: For a creamy sauce that binds the casserole (rather than just broth), use 2 cans of condensed cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, as well as 1 1/2 cups of milk and 1 1/2 cups of broth.
** Make-Ahead Tip: You can chop all the chicken and veggies in advance and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble.
Step 2: Assemble the Casserole
Add the chicken, celery, carrots, onion, thyme, garlic, uncooked pasta, chicken broth, and salt to your prepared baking dish. Stir everything together until well combined.
The broth should just cover the pasta and veggies. This liquid is what cooks the noodles in the oven, so make sure everything is evenly distributed.
Step 3: Bake Until Bubbly
Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil. You want a good seal so the steam stays trapped inside. This is what cooks the pasta through without any pre-boiling.
Bake for 40 minutes, then carefully remove the foil and give everything a good stir. Check the pasta at this point. It should be al dente (firm but almost finished cooking).
If the noodles are still too hard, cover and return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, then check again.
Step 4: Add the Cheese Topping
Once the pasta is al dente, sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese evenly over the top.
Return the dish to the oven, uncovered, and bake for 5-10 more minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the pasta is fully tender.
Let the casserole rest for a few minutes before serving. This helps it set up slightly and makes it easier to scoop.
Scaling This Recipe
Cooking for Two? Cut the recipe ingredients in half and bake in an 8-inch square pan. The cooking instructions remain the same.
Feeding a Crowd? This recipe doubles well. Use two 9 x 13-inch dishes or one large roasting pan, and add 10-15 minutes to the covered bake time.
Storage and Reheating
Refrigerator: Store leftover casserole in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
Reheating: Reheat individual portions in the microwave, adding a splash of chicken broth if it looks dry. For larger portions, cover with foil and warm in a 350°F oven until heated through.
Freezing: This casserole freezes well for up to 2-3 months. Let it cool completely, then store in a freezer-safe container or wrap the baking dish tightly with plastic wrap and foil. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Make-Ahead: Assemble the casserole (without baking) up to 24 hours in advance. Cover tightly and refrigerate. Add 5-10 minutes to the bake time since the dish will be cold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really not have to boil the pasta first?
That’s right! The pasta cooks directly in the broth as the casserole bakes. Just make sure to cover the dish tightly with foil so the steam stays trapped inside.
What kind of pasta works best?
This recipe is designed for and tested with rotini. You can sub with other similar short pasta shapes, but make sure they have the same recommended cooking time on the package (7-8 minutes). Otherwise, you’ll need to adjust your casserole’s baking time.
How do I keep the casserole from drying out?
Make sure your foil is sealed tightly during the first 40 minutes of baking. If the casserole looks dry when you uncover it, stir in a splash of extra chicken broth before adding the cheese.
Can I use rotisserie chicken?
Absolutely! Rotisserie chicken is a great shortcut. Just shred or dice about 2 cups of meat. Leftover cooked chicken or refrigerated chicken strips work well too.
Can I add other vegetables?
Yes! Peas, corn, or diced bell peppers are all good additions. Stir them in with the other ingredients before baking.
More Easy Casserole Dinners
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Watch How to Make It
Dump-and-Bake Chicken Noodle Casserole
Equipment
- 9 x 13-Inch Baking Dish
Ingredients
- 2 cups diced cooked chicken
- 1 cup finely-diced celery
- 1 cup peeled and finely-diced carrots
- 1 cup finely-diced onion
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
- 12 ounces uncooked rotini pasta
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Add the cooked chicken, celery, carrots, onion, thyme, garlic, uncooked pasta, and salt to the prepared dish. Stir until well combined.
- Pour the broth into the dish and use a spatula or spoon to make sure that most of the pasta is submerged in the liquid.
- Cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove foil and stir. Check the pasta. It should be al dente (firm but almost done). If still too hard, cover and bake 5-10 more minutes, then check again.
- Sprinkle cheese evenly over the top. Bake uncovered for 5-10 more minutes until cheese is melted and pasta is tender.
- Let rest a few minutes before serving.
Notes
- Pasta: Use rotini (or another short, quick-cooking pasta like penne or cavatappi). Rotini is tested for this recipe, but any shape with a similar 7-8 minute cook time will work, too. Avoid thicker shapes like ziti or shells that take longer to soften.
- Chicken options: Use leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken, or refrigerated cooked chicken strips.
- Tight seal: Cover the dish tightly with foil so steam stays trapped. This is what cooks the pasta.
- Check pasta early: Bake times can vary. If pasta is still hard at 40 minutes, cover and bake longer before adding cheese.
- If it looks dry: Stir in a splash of extra chicken broth before adding the cheese.
- Cooking for two: Halve the ingredients and use an 8-inch square pan. Same bake time.
- Make-ahead: Assemble up to 24 hours ahead. Refrigerate covered. Add 5-10 minutes to bake time.
- Storage: Refrigerate leftovers up to 3-4 days. Reheat with a splash of broth.
- Freezing: Freeze up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight before reheating.
Nutrition
Originally published in September, 2017, this post was updated in January, 2026.
Chicken casseroles like this are my version of pure comfort food. I love that you made your dump and bake version, Blair! I could dive right into this for breakfast!
Thanks, Gayle! Chicken casseroles definitely = comfort! Have a great weekend!
If I want to use previously cooked pasta, how much do I reduce the liquid?
Hey, Tracey! I’m not sure, since I’ve never tried it that way. I would just eyeball it and see how much liquid you think it needs once you have all of the ingredients stirred together. You would want enough to keep it moist, but not so much that it looks like soup. 🙂 Maybe 1 cup? But here’s my main concern: when you cook the raw pasta in the dish, it absorbs most of the liquid, but it also releases starches that thicken the liquid that’s left. If you’re not actually cooking the pasta (and you’re just using pre-cooked pasta instead), the end result will be a runnier “sauce” since there’s no starch added. I suppose you could mix some cornstarch into the liquid before putting it in the dish, which would act as a thickener in a similar way? I’ve just not tried that. 🙂
Thanks for the tip Blair, since I too, like to cook my pasta (or rice) separately, in order to eliminate the excess starch.. I’m sure that adding the cornstarch will work. This dish sounds sooo yummy & easy. We love Chicken Noodle Soup, so I’m sure this casserole will be a huge hit with my family. The only thing which I’ll do differently, is to use No Yolks Egg Noodles (the ruffled ones), b/c that’s what I normally use when I make chicken soup from scratch.
Sounds good, Angelina! Let me know if that works for you!
You could stir in a can of cream of something soup, with the 1 cup broth, bet that would thicken the sauce.
Thanks for such a great idea for someone who cannot have tomatoes with pasta! Thanks again.
Great! Enjoy, Dee!
Blair- My hubby has been feeling cruddy all day, so I made this tonight, along with a batch of your slow cooker applesauce. Perfect meal! He and our daughter gobbled it right up- definitely going in our dinner recipe collection!
That’s wonderful, Megan! Thank you so much for letting me know! I agree — it sounds like the perfect dinner, and I hope that your husband is feeling better soon! Doesn’t it smell so good while it’s cooking too? Just like a pot of soup simmering on the stove… 🙂
We are tha Florida evacuees staying in Alabama. It’s nice to see your normalcy at this time. It’s heartening there is something out there that is still normal. Please keep us in your prayers.
Praying for you, Kathy! My brother and his family live in Orlando, so the people of Florida are on my mind! xoxo
Love! We have a three year old and a one year old and while they are both lovers of good food, we have to watch the sizes of veggies and meat we give them. Instead of dicing and chopping, I literally threw everything (but the noodles, ha!) in my food processor and pulsed. The veg were small enough for the babies mouth and the chicken shredded into perfect bites. It was so fast and so easy and beyond delicious. I normally prep for dinner in the morning while the baby naps. But wih this meal didn’t have to! Instead, spent the time playing with our three year old. And because it took me all of five minutes to get everything into my baking dish, I was able to spent even more time playing with my kids AND sipping on a martini! You’re my hero. Xo. Love from Vancouver, Canada.
Oh, that makes me so happy to hear, Jessica! Thanks for letting me know! The food processor is a great shortcut — love that idea!
I have tons of other dump-and-bake recipes on the blog, so hopefully they will offer other quick options for dinner prep at your busy house. Thanks again for your sweet note!
Can I just sub. whole wheat rotini? Or would I need to change liquid ratio and cooking time?
Hi, Jallyce! Yes, the whole wheat rotini and the elbow macaroni have about the same cooking time, so it should work as an equal substitute. Just keep an eye on it towards the end of baking so that you can pull it out when it’s done and it doesn’t get overcooked (or add a few extra minutes, if necessary). Enjoy!
This looks fantastic. I will use canned chicken breast for extra ease on preparation.
That should work well, Brandy!
Turned out wonderful. Was a huge hit. Will be added to dinner rotation. Thank you
That’s great, Brandy! Thank you for letting me know!!
I tried the Dump-and-Bake Chicken Noodle Casserole tonight, as written. Perfect–thank you!
Awesome! I’m so glad that it was a hit, Terry! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
Love your recipes ideas this will be the first one I try. Can I substitute broccoli for the celery, its what I happen to have on hand? Also has anyone ever tried using the noodles infused with veggies? Does that change the taste?
Hi, Meka! So glad that you found my blog! 🙂
The celery gives the dish that “chicken noodle soup” taste, since garlic, celery, and onion are key ingredients in a classic chicken noodle soup base. You can definitely substitute with broccoli instead, but I just wanted you to know that it will change the taste of the finished dish a bit.
I’ve never used the veggies noodles, so I’m not sure if that would alter the taste at all.
Enjoy! 🙂
Just made this and…It’s FANTASTIC!!!!
Yay! So glad that you enjoyed it, Kenneth!
I tried you recipe twice, once the way you suggest and once on stove top instead of oven. I loved both of them. Thank you.
That’s awesome! Thanks so much for letting me know, Gisele!
Do you think this can be baked with raw chunks of boneless, skinless chicken? This would save a step, of having to cook the chicken. Would time and/or temperature need to be changed?
Hi, Casy! Yes — you can definitely use raw, diced chicken. As long as the chicken is diced pretty small, the cooking time and temperature should remain the same!
Do you really need to use cooked chicken? Since it bakes for 45 minutes, could you just cut up a couple of raw chicken breasts and use that?
Hey, Kathlene! You can definitely use the raw chicken — just make sure that you dice it into bite-sized pieces so that it has a chance to fully cook through. I’ve used both the raw and the cooked chicken in a lot of recipes like this, and either option works! 🙂
Great easy meal and tasted like chicken soup! My daughter loves it and she is hard to please! Can you use a whole
Box of pasta? How much more liquid would you need??
So glad that your daughter enjoyed it, too! You can definitely use an entire box of pasta — just make sure that you’re also using a deep dish to accommodate the extra noodles and liquid. 🙂 I haven’t tested it myself, but I would suggest trying a 16 ounce box of rotini with about 5-5 1/3 cups of broth. Let me know how it goes!
I would like to make this recipe and freeze it for later use. Does it freeze well?
Hi, Esadora! I don’t typically freeze dishes like this for a couple of reasons: (1) if you freeze it before baking, I feel like the noodles absorb the liquid as it sits and then have a weird texture later; and (2) if you freeze it after baking, any cooked noodle tends to get a bit mushy when thawed. That said, I’ve had plenty of readers tell me that they’ve frozen this type of dish and found that it worked fine. I think it’s really just a matter of preference. If you’re picky about the texture, I would avoid freezing. If you don’t mind a mushy noodle, it will be fine. 🙂
This was delicious! The recipe is super flexible and I appreciate all the tips. I used a different pasta I had on hand and look forward to making it again, with just about anything I have on hand, though the recipe is fantastic as is!
Thanks, Sarah! I’m so glad that you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to leave me a note. You’re right — totally customizable! 🙂
We love the chicken, broccoli, rice dump casserole so I was looking at the recipes for other ones. I notice this one uses cooked chicken, where the other let’s you put in raw chicken. One of the things I love is that there’s next to no prep with the chicken, rice, broccoli one. I’m wondering why the chicken had to be cooked for this one.
Thanks so much!
Hi, Janet! Some folks don’t like the idea of using raw chicken in this type of dish, so I try to mix it up. There’s no other explanation than that. 🙂 If you like the convenience of using the raw diced chicken in these dump-and-bake casseroles, you can certainly do that for this recipe as well. Just make sure that you dice the chicken into small bites before adding it to the dish so that it’s sure to cook through in the same time as the pasta. Enjoy!
I made this tonight. Super easy, super yummy. We are empty nesters, so I just made a half batch. I had one leftover chicken thigh leftover from last night; it wasn’t quite enough chicken so I added a can of chicken, making to nice and meaty. Since canned chicken is pretty bland, I sprinkled in a little Red Robin Seasoning. When I was grabbing the pasta, I came across an opened can of French fried onions, so I sprinkled some on top.
Yum! Thank you for sharing. We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Great recipe and so easy! There’s no need to cook the chicken first. It cooks well right along with everything else. I added a few more herbs to it and it could’ve used more flavor. It’s very versatile so you can add other veggies or spices. Definitely a keeper! Thanks!
Thank you for the feedback, Belinda! We’re glad you were able to make it work for you and enjoyed the recipe.
Is the sodium amount listed for this recipe correct? Is that per serving? Because that is very high.
Hi Sarah! It’s an accurate rough measurement. It will vary slightly depending on the specific brands and ingredients you use.