Creamy Chicken and Rotini Casserole

Tish's Note:

Easy to put together casserole with a wonderfully creamy sauce. Great with a crusty bread and a glass of white wine

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 cups rotini pasta
• ¼ cup butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 ¾ cups milk
• 3 cups cheddar cheese , shredded
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese , cubed
• ¼ cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
• 2 -3 pinches ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups cooked chicken , chopped
• 10 round buttery crackers , crushed
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese , grated
• 2 teaspoons butter , melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Lightly spray a 9x13" pan with cooking spray and set aside.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
4. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
5. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
6. Add flour a tablespoon at a time and stir until smooth.
7. Gradually stir in milk.
8. Bring to a low boil, and cook for one minute, stirring constantly.
9. Remove from heat and stir in cheddar cheese until melted.
10. Stir in cream cheese and until melted.
11. Add wine, and season with mustard, nutmeg and salt.
12. Pour cooked noodles in pan.
13. Layer chicken pieces over the noodles.
14. Pour sauce over the chicken.
15. In a small bowl, mix the cracker crumbs, parmesan cheese and butter, and sprinkle over the sauce.
16. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until edges of casserole are bubbling.
17. Remove from oven, and stir to thoroughly coat pasta and chicken and to keep top of casserole from hardening.
18. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Reviews

[Kittencalskitchen]

Made this last night for supper, It was soooooo yummy! :-)....... Delicious sauce, I love recipes that call for wine....I cook with wine in most of my recipes, so when I saw a casserole with wine, I decided to give it a try, I certainly was not dissapointed....very good recipe Tish, thank you for posting, This is a keeper:-)

[msfj]

We loved it the first time. But the next time I substituted 1 c. parmesan for one of the cheddar cheese and only put one cup of cheddar cheese. I'm a big parmesan fan. My kids loved it.

[Chef #356764]

Very yummy! I made this recipe to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I didn't have any wine, so I left it out. I also used noodles in place of rotini, because it's what I had on hand. I used more than 2 cups of noodles--probably around 4 cups--I just covered the bottom of the pan. And I used about double the topping and included some walnuts for half of the crackers. Thanks for sharing!