Skip to Content

Leftover Chicken Spaghetti with Bacon

Leftover chicken (or turkey) spaghetti with bacon may be the perfect early week meal, which uses leftovers from Sunday dinner.

Leftover Chicken Spaghetti with Bacon close up image

Leftover Chicken Spaghetti

Originally published December 2014.

Sometimes meals like this leftover chicken spaghetti with bacon happen the best laid dinner plans don’t work out. My plans for our family favourite no fuss Chicken Parmesan went out the window on one day in particular.

Olivia’s school play rehearsals went long, Noah got invited to a friend’s for dinner and Spouse was late coming home from work.

I did not want to keep the fresh chicken breasts in the fridge for another day. To cook the breasts I just simply seasoned and grilled them, figuring we could use them for sandwiches or something over the next couple of days.

Deboned chicken breasts for Chicken Parmesan Lasagna.

I like to debone my own chicken breasts for recipes. This leaves me with the skin and bones to roast for delicious homemade stock, which I use in soups stews and gravies.

Find out how I make chicken or beef stock here

How to make chicken stock or beef stock in the oven

How to make chicken stock or beef stock in the oven.

Chicken Spaghetti is a meal for shifting time schedules.

The next day, schedules shifted again, this time in the other direction. We suddenly had to have dinner earlier than usual. This is where that leftover chicken came into great use.

In a fridge clearing exercise, there was bacon, bell peppers and already opened canned tomatoes that needed to be used. I set out to make a smoky bacon tomato sauce to serve with the chicken.

Leftover Chicken Spaghetti with Bacon in white bowl with bread roll

Leftover Chicken Spaghetti

I stirred in some grated Parmesan cheese and a little smoked paprika added a further smoky note to the sauce. That was a great idea, which in the end turned out absolutely delicious. The key here was not to add the already cooked chicken until the very end so it stayed moist and tender and stayed together in nice bite sized pieces.

I’m sure leftover roast chicken or turkey would work just as well and the recipe. It was so successful, I know we will be using this one as a go-to recipe in the future too.

Looking for more tasty chicken dinner ideas? Be sure to check out this newly updated collection of Our Top Ten Chicken Dinners from more than a decade online. These have been made literally millions of times and get the best reviews from our followers.

Top Ten Chicken Dinner Recipes collage with title text for Pinterest

Like this chicken spaghetti recipe?

You’ll find many more delicious soup ideas in our Soups Category and lots more leftover ideas in our Leftover Recipes Category.

To keep up with the latest home style cooking & baking ideas from Rock Recipes plus daily recipe suggestions from decadent desserts to quick delicious weekday meals, be sure to follow Rock Recipes Facebook Page and follow us on Instagram.

Leftover Chicken Spaghetti with Bacon image with title text for Pinterest

Leftover Chicken Spaghetti

 

Leftover Chicken Spaghetti with Bacon close up image
Yield: 4 servings

Leftover Chicken and Bacon Spaghetti

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Leftover Chicken Spaghetti with Bacon - use leftover grilled or roasted chicken in this easy and tasty spaghetti version.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups cooked chicken, diced
  • 1/2 pound crisp cooked smoked bacon, chopped in small pieces
  • 3 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cups pureed canned tomatoes, San Marzano if possible
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/4 tsp chili flakes, optional
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 large bell pepper, diced small
  • 4 servings cooked spaghetti pasta
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Begin by making the sauce. In a medium saucepan heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium low flame and sauté the minced garlic for about 30 seconds.
  2. Add the pureed tomatoes, smoked paprika, oregano, chili flakes, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, crisp cooked bacon, salt and pepper.
  3. Simmer over low flame for about 20 minutes.
  4. Add the cooked diced chicken and bell peppers in the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Stir in the Parmesan cheese at the end.
  5. Serve over the cooked spaghetti with a generous sprinkle of additional Parmesan cheese.

Notes


The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

1 grams

Amount Per Serving Calories 670Total Fat 46gSaturated Fat 13gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 122mgSodium 1164mgCarbohydrates 25gFiber 5gSugar 16gProtein 39g

Did you like this recipe?

Do you love our "Real food recipes for real people'? Share the recipe on Facebook to let your friends know about us. They'll thank you for it.

 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sandy McKinnon

Wednesday 7th of October 2020

Spent a lot of time on the Rock in the 70's. Sure do miss the fresh everything from the sea. Thank you very much for your cooking advise etc. My wife is a pictou county girl and NFLD is the only Prov., she has not visited. Still on the bucket list. Thanks again and have a nice day eh!

Rose

Sunday 30th of December 2018

I got a recipe from your site a couple of months back late October or November . My problem is a can't find it now . I have since purchased your cookbook but it's not in the book I purchased. Maybe you can help me out. Some of the ingredients are freash tomatoes chicken , black beans , frozen corn ,BBQ sauce, rigatoni pasta , cheese . Everything was cooked on stove and then cheese was addded and it was baked in the oven. My husband and I loved this recipe and I would like to make it again for my grandkids I am sure they will love it . Love your blog. I have made a lot of your recipes and they always turn out beautiful.

Barry C. Parsons

Sunday 6th of January 2019

Is it this one? https://www.rockrecipes.com/bbq-chicken-pasta-bake/

Gail Marks

Wednesday 15th of November 2017

Barry: This recipe turned out great using the red wine. One can even add the whole 375 gm pack of bacon instead of just 1/2 pound or 227 gms, by "mistake" of course, I used the little bit of left over sauce for "egg crepe roll ups" the next morning for breakfast and they were devoured instantly. Wish I made more sauce and more crepes as the neighbours loved it too.

Gail Marks

Tuesday 7th of November 2017

Thanks again for your great recipes. I have made your bread and it was fantastic among many of the other recipes. I am making this leftover chicken and spaghetti dish tonight but was wondering if I could use a few tablespoons of red wine which is left over from two nights ago to the sauce instead of the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar? I am so glad I am a subscriber for The Rock recipes. Thanks Barry

Barry C. Parsons

Tuesday 7th of November 2017

Sounds like a fine idea to me!

Vicki

Tuesday 3rd of January 2017

I am about to make this recipe and see that smoked paprika is listed twice. Is one of them supposed to be something else? Thanks, Vicki PEI

Barry C. Parsons

Monday 9th of January 2017

That was a copy and paste error, the typo has been fixed. Thanks for catching that.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe

Sharing is Caring

Help spread the word. You're awesome for doing it!