It used to really irk me when recipes called for “pre-cooked chicken.” I was like, “What the huh, who has pre-cooked chicken lying around?” But then I kind of warmed up to the idea of grocery store rotisserie chickens, okay maybe “became addicted” would be more accurate than “warmed up to.” So, if you’re a rotisserie chicken fan or otherwise have some pre-cooked chicken around, you definitely have to try this Monterey Chicken Skillet.
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What is Monterey Chicken?
This quick skillet pasta is a take on a recipe that I’ve seen floating around the web for years, Monterey Chicken. It’s a unique combo of tomatoes, green chiles, BBQ sauce, cheese, and bacon. Sounds strange, but there are so many good things going on in this dish that you really never get a dull bite. There’s just a LOT of flavor. As usual, I turned it into a pasta dish to help stretch out the cost… Because chicken, bacon, and cheese aren’t exactly cheap.
Substitutions:
I used a little rotisserie chicken, went light on the cheese, and only included the bacon because I happened to have some left over in my freezer. Honestly, I think the BBQ sauce and cheese carry the flavor here, so if you don’t want to spend on the bacon you could skip it and still get a great meal. The Rotel tomatoes (diced tomatoes with green chiles) can be kind of spicy, so if that’s not your ticket, you can use plain diced tomatoes instead (a 15 oz. can is okay).
So, ready to see how easy this is? Let’s go…
Monterey Chicken Skillet
Servings 4Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded pre-cooked chicken (1/2 rotisserie chicken) ($3.50)
- 1 10 oz. can Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles) ($0.99)
- 1/2 lb. fusili pasta ($0.63)
- 2 cups chicken broth ($0.30)
- 1/3 cup BBQ sauce ($0.36)
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese ($1.24)
- 3 slices bacon ($0.92)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.17)
Instructions
- Place the chicken, pasta, and Rotel tomatoes (undrained) in a large skillet. Add two cups of chicken broth and stir to combine. Cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid, turn the heat on to high, and let it come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes, giving it a quick stir every 5 minutes or so.
- Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet until brown and crispy. Drain the cooked bacon on a paper towel, then crumble into pieces.
- After simmering for 15 minutes, the pasta should be tender and most of the liquid absorbed. If the pasta is still firm, let the skillet simmer for 5 more minutes. If the pasta is tender, but there is still a lot of liquid in the skillet, let it simmer without a lid for 5 more minutes.
- Once the pasta is cooked and most of the liquid is absorbed, drizzle the BBQ sauce over top. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the BBQ sauce and cover the skillet with the lid. Leave the heat set on low and let the skillet sit for five minutes to melt the cheese. Once the cheese is melted, top with the crumbled bacon and sliced green onions, then serve.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Monterey Chicken Skillet – Step by Step Photos
Before we begin, let’s take a second to talk about Rotel. Rotel is a brand of canned diced tomatoes with green chiles that is available in most U.S. supermarkets (usually 10-oz. cans). If you can’t find Rotel, you can use a can of plain diced tomatoes, or a can of diced tomatoes plus a can of diced green chiles. Original Rotel is spicy, so consider that, although I’ve seen other brands that use mild green chiles so you get the flavor of the chile without the heat.
Anywho, put that can of Rotel in a skillet (undrained) along with two loosely packed cups of pre-cooked chicken and 1/2 lb. of pasta.
Add two cups of chicken broth then stir everything together well. Place a tight fitting lid on the skillet, turn the heat on to high, and let it come to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Make sure that it is still simmering on your lowest setting and if it isn’t turn the heat up just a smidge. Also, make sure to stir it once every five minutes or so just to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom.
While the skillet is simmering, cook the bacon. I happened to have a half package of bacon left over in my freezer, so I cut that in half and froze the remaining 1/4. So, the portion I used is roughly equivalent to 3 slices. If I hadn’t had the bacon, I probably would have skipped it and still been happy with the dish.
Brown the bacon in the skillet, then drain it on some paper towels. Once it’s cooled, crumble it into pieces.
After the skillet has simmered for 15 minutes, the pasta should be tender and most of the liquid absorbed off the bottom. If the pasta is not yet tender, let it simmer for another 5 minutes (with the lid). If it’s tender but there’s still quite a bit of liquid, just let it simmer for a few minutes more WITHOUT the lid, to help the moisture evaporate. Once the pasta is tender, drizzle about 1/3 cup of BBQ sauce over top. It’s easy to go overboard here, so keep it kind of light (I went a little too far I think).
Then sprinkle one cup of shredded Monterey jack over the BBQ sauce. Replace the lid and let it sit for a few minutes, or until the cheese is melted (I still have the heat on low).
Once the cheese is melted, you can turn off the heat and top the skillet with sliced green onion and the crumbled bacon. Hellloooooooo!
Yeah, I was in the mood for indulgent today. :P
I make this recipe probably every other month or so and it’s a tasty one! However, the 2 cups of broth has always been WAY too much. We use a full box of 12-16 oz pasta (instead of the called-for 8 oz) and use only 1.25 cups of broth, which is more than enough, especially because the pasta steams with the lid on. We do add bell peppers, but I have a hard time imagining that adds 3/4 cup liquid especially with increasing the pasta volume.
I make this recipe at least a couple times a month. Family of 6 so we usually double it. I often use a generic brand instead of Rotel to make it a little cheaper and use precooked chicken breast instead of rotisserie.
Just made it for the first time. SO GOOD. Next time I’ll probably add corn and black beans to it.
All of your recipes are bangers, this is no exception. Keep doing what you do!
We LOVED this! I followed your directions with two exceptions….I used Ro-Tel HOT with Habaneros and I added drained corn. This was so flavorful and yummy! I used Sweet Baby Ray’s Sweet and Spicy BBQ sauce and drizzled lightly. Perfection! It’s in our rotation now! Thank you!
I offered to make a “fancy” dinner for my family including steak and potatoes and they chose this because I’ve made it several times and we all love it! I figure I’m saving $30!
Forgot to rate!
This was so good! My husband loved the bacon and I loved that it was soooo easy!
I made this as a cleaning-out-the-pantry supper and it quickly became a favourite. It keeps very well in the fridge for leftovers when it lasts that long. I like to add corn to it to be a little more filling. Definitely try this recipe!
This is an addition to my last comment, I actually used the amount of bbq sauce that the recipe called for. I thought the recipe called for a drizzle but it was 1/3 cup, which was what I used. A little bit goes a long way.
I made this last night and boy oh boy it was tasty! I made my shredded chicken in the slow cooker, put extra bbq sauce in it and lots of cheese on top. I have leftovers that I’m freezing. Will make again!
This is the first Budget Bytes recipe that I tried and did not like. It’s just dad’s pasta and tomatoes. Plus in today’s economy it’s a little expensive – at least for me. Rotisserie chicken, Rotel, bacon, and special shaped pasta aren’t things I usually have on hand.
Made this today and both my husband and I loved it!! A couple of small tweaks as didn’t have tomatoes with chilli, so used a regular can and added some finely chopped jalapeño. And used regular cheddar rather than than monterey jack as a little too expensive here in England. Certainly going on the list to make again!! Thank you!!
Not bad but probably won’t make it again. I’ll definitely finish this batch but it wasn’t a favorite. Not sure why exactly.
Didn’t care for this one, not sure what it needed.
This was a big hit! The second time I made it, I instead of adding the BBQ sauce at the end, I cooked the pasta in the broth and Rotel, tossed the chicken in the BBQ, then mixed that into the cooked pasta, and topped it with the bacon and cheese.
I made this for the first time and it was so good! 😋 Super easy and it didn’t require any weird ingredients that I couldn’t find. I will definitely make this again!
First time I made it, I found that the boiling with the chicken in the mix was too much for it, and it broke down and became very stringy. The second time I made this, I cooked the pasta together with the rotel and broth (I also added a few handfuls of spinach for extra veggies), and tossed the chicken in during the last two minutes of cooking (I even used Costco’s canned chicken just for simplicity). It came out perfectly! Thanks for the great recipe. I found it was even better with a few dashes of tabasco.
Followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious! My husband ate the leftovers (which never happens) for lunch the next day and says it was even better once reheated.
This was really good! My family enjoyed it very much. My son hates chopped tomatoes, so I used an immersion blender to purée them before adding to the pot. Tasted great!
We loved this recipe. I didn’t have cooked chicken so I used my instant pot and poached some frozen boneless skinless thighs then used the poaching water to cook the pasta. Delicious!
This recipe is so good – I didn’t have any rotisserie chicken so I poached a couple chicken breasts instead. If you can’t get your hands on any pre-cooked chicken, poaching is probably the easiest, most hands off way to make your own. You can do it earlier in the day or even the day before while you’re cooking something else, it doesn’t need much babysitting. If you have an instant pot it’s even easier. This is such an easy weekday dinner and it tastes even better the next day for lunch if you have any leftovers.
I made this tonight, and thought it was amazing!!! I love the BBQ flavour- reminds me of BBQ chicken pizza. I’m GF, so I subbed GF fussili. And I used 1 can of diced tomatoes. I used Diana BBQ sauce with a dash of worcheschire sauce. And I used Monterey Jack cheese on top. I had some mild Italian sausage in the freezer, which I used instead of the bacon. Next time, I’d probably use a little more bbq sauce than in the recipe. Love this recipe!!! Definitely going to make again.
looks banging! cant wait to make this
We love this meal! Thank you! I can get PASTA for under $1.00/lb and when I can I stock up so this easily meets my $2/person threshold.
We love this meal! Thank you! I can get last for under $1.00/lb and when I can I stock up so this easily meets my $2/person threshold.
I followed the recipe but threw in half a leftover anaheim pepper at the beginning. It was SO GOOD, one of those recipes where I had no idea what the final flavor would be, and was really pleasantly surprised. I have the cheap Aldi BBQ sauce and stirred it in a little at a time, ended up using 5 tablespoons (just under 1/3 cup). Boyfriend loved it, will make again.
This is a really good base recipe where you can make changes based on your preferences and what you have on hand in the fridge. I used Banza chickpea pasta which was excellent because my biggest complaint with this type of pasta is that if falls apart or becomes mushy easily. With a skillet recipe, it can cook undisturbed and you can control the liquid. next time I plan to use much less BBQ sauce. I love barbeque sauce but it really overpowers the dish. I plan to use about 2 tbs. next time. I also added a can of black beans (because there isn’t a recipe I can’t sneak more protein into).
I made this tonight. I had everything except I used farfalle. I agreed with one of the other commenters and stirred the BBQ sauce into the mix before putting the cheese on top. Yummy! 😋
I enjoyed this dish. I used some leftover rotisserie chicken which I thought worked well. The one downside to the recipe for me is the BBQ sauce because it tasted very rich. It wasn’t bad, but just not quite balanced. I used a good quality bbq sauce, but perhaps it just wasn’t the right one. I might make this one again because I like all the ingredients individually, but won’t rush to make it again because it seemed off-balanced.
Has anyone tried lentils or rice to replace the pasta? I do not have any pasta on hand, and I am curious if you can get the same result from either of these substitutes?
Delicious!
I used this recipe as inspiration to make my own pasta and chicken skillet :) I diced in some of Beth’s herb roasted chicken breast, used a can of plain cherry tomatoes and added the chicken juices, some pepper & herbs with the chicken broth. I also rinsed out a pesto jar and poured it in there. Came together quickly and the result was pretty tasty :) We opted for adding the cheese on our plates. Like the previous commenter said, it’s a good base recipe for experimentation!
i think this is a great base for experimentation. i made my own version of this, rotel+turkey meat+ different shell pasta+turkey broth+cheddar cheese+a little bbq sauce. i pressure cooked it for 15 minutes, and it was great. i gave it to my mom and told her it was chicken monterey skillet, except that it isn’t chicken or monterey or skillet.
Oh wow! That sounds fantastic!
This is a favorite in our house – love your creativity in making it a pasta skillet meal!
Thank you Erin!
WOW just wow. Ive lost a lot of weight balancing my meals and this one was the perfect amount of protein and carbs I needed tonight not to mention amazing!! My husbands typically the cook but he’s in school one night a week so I thought I’d give this a go. I knew I was making this today And had no precooked chicken so I threw some chicken breasts in the crock pot with a little chicken broth and seasoning all day so they would shred easily when I got home. I healthied it up a smidge by using whole wheat noodles, part skim mozzarella, and turkey bacon and for additional yum factor I added some crushed garlic and pepper while boiling. I added the bbq to taste so probably a little less than the original recipe but it is still needed to add that extra somethin somethin.
Thanks Mariah!
I would love to convert this to 100% instant pot for summer camp (without a stove top) in a dorm. Any ideas??
I really liked this dish aside from the bbq sauce. Any ideas for an alternative sauce? Thanks!
I bet taco sauce would also be good.
We can’t find RoTel easily here in my neck of the woods (Canada), so I swapped a can of plain tomatoes and a good heaping tablespoon of chilies in adobo sauce. It came out great. Tried it last time with tomatoes and separate can of chopped green chilies, and actually preferred the adobo chilies! Just a thought/hack. Much hotter with the adobo chilies though! Be warned.
This is a little late, but if you have Save-On-Foods in your part of the country, check there. Mine (Calgary Area) has them in last week and I bought 6 cans. They also have they’re own brand which isn’t quite the same, but it works.
Barring that, I’ve had very little issues finding canned chopped green chilies in the Mexican section of most stores. Use that with a small can of diced tomatoes.
Rotel is so popular, all the major brands make sometime similar – Heinz, Hunt’s, store brands – just look for the diced tomatoes with chilis
I make this recipe probably a few times per month. It is always a hit, plus it is super easy. :)
I usually modify it ever so slightly by stirring in the barbecue sauce, then melting the cheese on top, just because I like it to be a little more homogenous. But this recipe is the perfect vehicle for all of my leftover meats. Last year just after Thanksgiving it was the perfect way to save us from boring-turkey-torture, and I’ve thrown in leftover carnitas and just about anything that we need to use the last little bit of. :)
Really good, honestly this is one of my go-to, favorite recipes on this site besides the shakshouka
This turned out like it was supposed to (tasty), though my pasta needed only the typical 10 minutes. It gave me high school flashbacks, as Chili’s Monterey Chicken was my favorite dish back then!
I made this last night, my wife picked out the recipe. For myself I was leery of pasta and Bar B Que sauce together. Even after adding salsa and parmagan cheese to my plate, the Bar B Que sauce overpowered the rest of the dish. My wife on the other hand thought it was good.
This is a little weird–I’m vegan, but this recipe looked like such an interesting mix of flavors I tried it anyway! I used Gardein chick’n tenders and sauteed those til brown and followed your instructions exactly, then topped with vegan cheese. This was SO good and even better the next day, and the first time I’ve made a one-pot pasta that didn’t get all mushy! It wasn’t spicy enough for me using mild Rotel, so I added sriracha and think next time I’ll make it with hot Rotel. Thanks!!
This was such a simple and delicious recipe. My son is a little sensitive to the Rotel, so next time I will use regular tomatoes. I too used real crumbled bacon and substituted sharp cheddar for the monterey jack. It was a hit! Thanks!
As a cost-saving measure, I’ve found that real bacon bits (right next to the fake bacon bits at most stores) are much cheaper for recipes that call for just a few slices of cooked, crumbled bacon. I can get a 2.5oz pouch at my local for less than $2 and it will make 2-3 recipes, depending on how much bacon each calls for. Compare that to a 12oz pack of whole, raw bacon, which will make the same number of recipes but costs about $5.
I made this skillet tonight as written, except I used half a 2.5oz pouch of the bacon bits instead of cooked whole bacon. It was perfect, and I still have pre-cooked and -crumbled bacon to use with the other half of the rotisserie chicken, the rest of the BBQ sauce, and cheese in BBQ chicken wraps tomorrow!
If we wanted to go low-carb by substituting zucchini noodles for the pasta, how much would you suggest reducing the liquid?
You’d need to eliminate pretty much all of the liquid, which will end up changing the flavor of the dish (broth provides a lot of flavor). Regular noodles absorb liquid, whereas zucchini noodles expel liquid as they cook, so you’d actually end up with more liquid rather than less as it cooked. Also, the zucchini noodles probably cook quite a bit faster than regular pasta.
This was delicious! The only change I made was to add sliced fresh jalapeños when I added the cheese. Will be adding this to the rotation!
I just made this recipe, and when I put the pasta, chicken, Ro-Tel tomatoes and broth in the pan I thought, “Hoo boy, this doesn’t look all that great.” But once the pasta was done and I put on the BBQ sauce, cheese, bacon and onions—holy cow! Not only is this absolutely delicious but nice and filling, too. This recipe will be in heavy rotation for me.
Love Love! Thank you Beth. Any chance the nutrition info is somewhere??
I don’t provide the nutrition info because the calculators that are available online are just not reliable or accurate. But there are plenty of calculators out there if you want to do it for yourself and are okay with knowing it might be off. ;)
Yummy! Good meal prep with plenty leftover for lunches. I have been asked to put it in the rotation :)
Made this one night a few months ago, but we dont eat peppers so we just used diced tomatoes and had no Monterey so we used cheddar. Its amazing and my family has it at least twice a month and we affectionately just call it “Skillet” :)
Ok not to use the tomatoes? My husband is a picky eater but he’d like everything else in it. Maybe up the liquid to compensate? Add 1/2 cup more of chicken stock?
Perhaps, yes. Maybe throw in a small 4 oz. can of diced green chiles as well. Those add a lot of flavor.
What if I had precooked chicken and pasta? How would this recipe change?help!
It won’t quite turn out the same since the pasta won’t absorb all the flavors as it cooks in the broth and other ingredients. I did use pre-cooked chicken in this recipe, though.
WOW THANK YOU!
I’m so glad I found your site (from link in The Whoot emails)
I guess you can teach an old dog like me new tricks….
so many of your recipes sound yummy! I think the first one I’m going to try is the Greek Marinated Chicken….and probably will make your Lemony Cucumber/cous cous salad along with it (though may substitute the Orzo for hubby’s taste preference!
Thank you for sharing these yummy and easy to do recipes….always on the lookout for new things…
at 72, sometimes I get tired of meal planning and trying to find something to please my hubby…and that won’t take forever and a fortune to make!
I was a little worried at the end there– it looked a bit weird– but I shouldn’t have been! It’s so delicious. While it doesn’t quite fit with the “theme” of the dish, I used Carolina-style BBQ sauce, and I highly recommend it. The vinegar-and-mustard tang pairs well with the tomatoes and chiles.
Subbed out gluten free pasta for this and I just… can’t.. This was incredible. Used spicy bbq sauce with an extra can of green chilies and it created the best kind of comfort food mouth fire possible. Thank you!!!
also meant to rate this 5 stars but the site glitches!
What does cooking pre-cooked chicken for another 1/2 hour do to it? What’s point? Why not just add it in at the end of cooking/recipe?
It absorbs all the flavors.
Beth, I think my husband would love this, but he doesn’t care for green onions. There is so much favorable stuff going on here, so do you think it would still be great without the green onions? I will definitely be using the bacon.
Beth,
Thank you so much for this recipe! I was a little skeptical of the Rotel and barbecue flavors working together, but they complimented each other well! I love your website and make your recipes often. They always turn out really good! Thanks for another unique and delicious (and so easy!) recipe!
~Katie
p.s. I used to feel the same way about “pre-cooked” chicken recipes, but now we like to broil or grill several chicken breasts at a time. It makes weekday cooking so much faster! :)
Came across this recipe while eating second breakfast and yet I’m READY to make it NOW. Looks so good! I have everything on hand and just need to cook up the chopped chicken in the freezer. This just might be supper tonight, even though we’ve had a couple BBQ meals already this week.
I can also easily use this recipe in an electric skillet while doing our kitchen remodeling this year!
Glad I found your site via Pinterest. I have a few good ideas already.
I usually don’t comment or rate things, but this time I had to. I’m eating this meal right now for lunch, and wow is it delicious! The barbecue sauce is such an amazing flavor, and the Rotel tomatoes (I used mild) provide a nice kick without being too spicy. This is just an amazing recipe that is easy to make and tastes delicious.
Good!! Better without the bbq sauce. I added a few dashes of chili powder and sriracha powder, plus some black beans. Was tempted to open some tortilla chips as we ate it.
This turned out fantastic though i made some substitutions. I had penne pasta on hand and i used a mix of Cheddar and mozzarella cheese instead of Monterrey ( needed to get rid of it). I also didn’t add the chicken or bacon since i had neither and included a can of black beans. I think i used this recipe as more of a template than following it to the letter- but it really helped. How does this keep in the freezer? Does it thaw and reheat well? i will probably make a second batch of it and keep it for later
It should keep alright in the freezer, although I ate mine so fast that I didn’t get to test it! :D
made this again tonight; added frozen corn and kale and realized after the fact that a can of black beans would have been the perfect accompaniment. next time!
Made this tonight. It was pretty awesome, even instead of half a pound of pasta I did two cups instead. I am so making this again. its so yummy.
Overall I loved this recipe. The only issue I had was from my own ingredient choice. I had a brown sugar bourbon BBQ sauce – and it made the dish too sweet.
I’ll make this again with a less sweet BBQ sauce.
Really easy and reeeeeally good. I changed it up a little. Instead of using bacon I used fried onions, since I use onions on almost everything. Turned out great. Really cheap too, all things considered.
I make a bunch of shredded pre cooked chicken at once and then freeze it (thanks for that idea!). How would the texture hold up if I defrosted some shredded chicken to make this recipy but then froze the leftovers?
I think that would work fine. The chicken may dry out a little, but I’d still eat it!
Was your precooked chicken frozen or thawed out?
Thawed out. :)
ALL THE YUM!
Made with the plain diced tomatoes because that’s what I had on hand and I try to downplay the spicy for the wee one.
But we have this great BBQ type seasoning to amp up the spice and add to that BBQ sauce flavor, Smokey Bair’s Fire Seasoning.
This dish was everything I (AND my husband) hoped it would be (daughter needs a few more tries before she’s truly on board, however)! Hearty, creamy, filling, and hitting all those sweet and savory notes….yumyumyum!
This was so good and so easy! Although I didn’t have a rotisserie chicken on hand, I cooked the chicken in a skillet. Also, I didn’t fusili pasta, so I used angel hair instead.
Thank you for this recipe! It was so simple and turned out excellent. I loved that it was virtually a “one dish” recipe.
This and the Southwest Chicken Skillet are my go-to meals for those days when I have no time after work to cook. They’ve always turned out, even though my stove has a mind of its own when it comes to temperature regulation.
I’m not sure where I got the inspiration from, but recently I decided to make a pizza version extremely loosely based on this recipe (aka I used the same liquid-to-pasta/meat ratio). It turned out extremely well and tasted surprisingly like pizza. Same pasta and broth measurements, plus a can of tomato sauce, pepperoni/sausage/veggies, Italian spices, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
This was so good and so easy! The rotini works really well in a one-pot pasta – the other one-pot pastas I’ve tried have usually called for linguine, which I’ve tended to have problems with either sticking/clumping/turning mushy – but not the rotini in this recipe, it turned out perfect. I’ll be trying something like rotini in all my one-pot pastas from now on! I loved the combo of flavors in this, and just added more bbq sauce and cheese for my taste. Thanks!
Making this right now and it smells amazing. The chicken chili and the southwest skillet were a hit in our house. I’ve given this site out to friends already!
The Monterrey Chicken Skillet is absolutely DELICIOUS!! Although I didn’t have a rotisserie chicken on hand, I cooked the chicken in a skillet. Also, I didn’t fusili pasta, so I used angel hair instead. Best of all, I was able to make more than enough for leftovers. Thank you Beth, for this awesome recipe-despite what others think!!! :-)
I used chicken breasts for the pasta dish. Angel hair pasta was something that I had on hand, as well. :-)
The pasta you use in the pictures looks like rotini not fusilli, will they both cook as well?
Yes, they should both work fine. :)
Based on some of the comment I was worried this wouldn’t turn out well, but it was quite good. I accidentally opened a can of Tomato sauce so used about half of that with the chicken broth and it added some excellent flavor.
Great! Quick and easy and my kids really liked it.
I just tried this dish. Nobody in my household likes it including me.
It came out just fine as it is very simple to prepare , but the flavors are just undesirable .
Perhaps a more concentrated amount of chicken broth and something other than BBQ sauce ?
The BBQ sauce ingredient was the one that really gave me pause, but I tried it anyways.
Love it!
I found it was a little light on the veggies so I added chopped onion, green pepper, and mushrooms, and that was great.
I also like to cook the chicken in some of the bacon grease if I feel particularly indulgent.
The only issue I have is getting the pasta to cook properly. I find that it ends up with a strange mealy texture.
I’m devastated! I followed this recipe exactly, and I have a pot of brown mush. What a waste :( I think I’ll try it again and cook the pasta separately as the pasta seemed to make the sauce thicken way too quickly. At a loss.
My husband refuses to eat tomatoes. I’ve tried chopping them tiny, tell them they are peppers, etc. and he doesn’t buy it. Could I add just green chilies and omit the tomatoes or are they vital? Thanks!
I think it would be tasty with just green chiles. :) There will be less liquid, though, so you might need to add an extra half cup or so of broth.
I also don’t like tomatoes, but just bought a can of rotel anyways and blasted it for literally like 2 seconds in my magic bullet so that there weren’t any identifiable chunks of tomato, but it wasn’t liquidy. Totally worked!!
I finally got around to making this. I used bowtie pasta and Trader Joe’s regular BBQ sauce, which has a bit of a kick to it. Even then, though, my husband said he wished it were a bit more spicy, so next time I might add some sriracha!
husband and I both agreed that the leftovers were even better..I just made a second batch and plan to serve it tomorrow to give the favors sometime to merge. I used a hickory smoked BBQ sauce and thought it was excellent (found store brand tomatoes with chiles for 2nd batch, we’ll see how they compare with the name brand)
So good! I added Sriracha with the BBQ sauce for some spice. I’ll totally make this again.
I ended up doing this the long way, as I had no BBQ sauce (so I made some) and no cooked chicken (so I cooked it). But I was longing for a different taste.
Wow. Such an easy way to add some variety. Husband and children GOBBLED it up. Hard to save some for lunches.
AMAZING! I used a rotisserie chicken, and doubled the recipe (family of 5, and I try to have left overs for lunch for my husband and I). I love this blog!!
Beth, first I want to say thank you for putting so much time, love and effort into this site. I’ve been following it for a few years and every recipe I’ve tried has been delicious. I’ve recently decided that I need to spend more time and effort on my meals, making plans and focusing my shopping so that I’m not buying things on whims and never eating them. It’s only been two weeks but I’m doing good so far :) I made the one-pot chili (DELICIOUS) and teriyaki meatballs (ALSO DELICIOUS) and enjoyed every bite.
Which brings me to the second part: I made this recipe tonight despite a migraine that makes me not interested in eating. I couldn’t find tomatoes with green chiles in Canada so I just used diced tomatoes and no green chiles, a bit less than 1/3 c of BBQ sauce (and got the bottle out of my fridge – hooray!), and used a tex-mex cheese blend cuz the store was out of Monterrey jack cheese… and HOLY SMOKES IT IS SO DELICIOUS. This is DEFINITELY going on meal rotation. I can’t get over how wonderful it is. YUM. Thank you so much for sharing!
Crystal, if you have a Save-on-Foods near you they carry them. It’s their Western Family brand.
There is one near me, I’ll check it out. Thanks! (They reportedly also have mint M&Ms which will be the first time I’ve ever seen them in Canada, I need to stock up!)
This was really good! My fiance is currently working on bowl #3, so I’m not sure how leftovers are going to happen lol! I roasted a chicken the night before last, so I shredded some of that. Also, after adding the cheese I popped it into a 350* oven for a few minutes so the top got toasted a bit.
It was amazing!
costco does a great rotisserie chicken, and they’ve also got breast meat in vacuum packages at some stores now. It’s a good price, and I’ll Take that home and separate it into 4 ounce packages for one serving meals or uses like this.
I’ve got this on the stove now, can’t wait to dive in! I’m doing low carb, so added a bell pepper, left out the noodles, and made my own sugar free bbq sauce. For sides, I made your quick seasoned black beans (from some I had in the freezer…thanks to “kicking the can” ;) ) for my husband, and some leftover grilled butternut squash enchilada filling. CAN’T. WAIT. TO. EAT!
I made this for dinner, and J ate two bowls before I stopped him from eating my lunch for tomorrow. So yummy!!
This recipe looks so good, and it’s a great way of using leftover ingredients.
Wow, this is so yummy! Thanks for the recipe. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the barbecue sauce addition but I made it exactly as written (using the “mild” variety of Ro-Tel) and I’m SO glad I did. I am really happy I used a more runny, orange/reddish, tangy barbecue sauce–as opposed to a dark, thick, sweeter, brown-colored sauce–because I think it makes it easier to drizzle lightly over the pasta and it just tastes more balanced with the other flavors. (Head Country sauce was what I used.) Oh and I used cavatappi/cellentani pasta instead of the fusilli. So excited for leftovers tomorrow. :)
This looks fantastic! I know what you mean about pre-cooked chicken. :) I usually try to cook up an extra breast or two when I’m making chicken for another dish, but I don’t always succeed! :)
I made this last night and we both liked it. I used a can of home-canned tomatoes and a can of green chilies, but I think the Rotel would have been a better choice. Partner and I both felt the BBQ sauce made the dish a little sweet and it could have used something spicy in there to balance it.
I need to prepare some pre-cooked chicken so making food will be a billion times faster. Love how quick this one is and how delicious it looks!
November is a good time to pick up a cheap turkey, then you can roast it and freeze the meat for later use. Last year I got a huge one from my employer–17 lbs., much bigger than my honey and I could eat–and I froze most of the meat. It was a really handy thing to have around.
Does the lid stay on while simmering?
Yep, that holds in the steam to help cook the pasta.
As an FYI a lot of supermarkets have house-brand diced tomatoes with green chilies. I’ve seen that they’re priced at least twenty cents below Ro-Tel so more savings!
Looks delicious and great for a weeknight. I always keep cooked chicken in the freezer. When chicken breasts and thighs go on sale I buy a huge pack of each and then throw them in the slow cooker and cover with chicken broth and voila!
I definitely feel like attempting a vegetarian option. Love the above commenters suggestion of mushrooms. Any other veggies you might add to make it more hearty? Thanks Beth!
Valerie – I was thinking of doing a vegetarian option as well. My thought was black beans and corn would go nicely with the bbq sauce and Rotel flavors.
As someone else mentioned, I think black beans would be a natural fit. I’d also chop up an onion and add that in there. I think that’s it, though.
I made a semi-veggie (need my bacon!) version of this last night using tempeh purchased at Trader Joe’s. I cute the tempeh into bite-sized cubes and tossed it in with the tomatos + pasta as if it were the chicken. DELISH! Tempeh is a great source of clean, lean protein and probiotics and it is quite cheap (and a million times better than tofu in every way)! Beth–I would LOVE to see what you would do with tempeh. :)
I’m not a big fan of BBQ sauce, but this looks great. Black olives and mushrooms come to mind.
Maybe a “pizza” version with pizza sauce instead of BBQ sauce?
Great idea! We’ve always got a little leftover sauce or salsa that usually just gets tossed when we can’t remember how old it is.