Baked Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo Casserole — 🧡🙌 Hearty Italian-inspired comfort food! Fettuccine noodles are tossed in a homemade alfredo sauce, topped with chicken, baked, and then finished off with crispy crunchy breadcrumbs! A classic yet easy recipe that’ll be a guaranteed family favorite!
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There is nothing that says ‘comfort food’ like this baked chicken fettuccine alfredo casserole.
There are perfectly cooked al dente fettuccine noodles that are tossed in a super creamy homemade alfredo sauce.
Everything is nestled into a baking dish with whole chicken breasts on top, baked, and then sprinkled with bread crumbs and baked for five more minutes.
Those little breadcrumbs are crispy, crunchy, buttery, Parmesan-infused little bits of perfection. They add a wonderful texture contrast and really finish off this homemade fettuccine alfredo with chicken just perfectly.
Whether you’re looking for a Sunday family dinner recipe, a weeknight comfort food dish so you can have planned leftovers in the coming days, or you’re a pasta lover at heart, I promise this will become a family favorite recipe that’ll go into your recipe rotation.
Ingredients in Baked Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
When you’re ready to make this comfort food baked chicken alfredo pasta, you’ll need to have on hand the following common, easy-to-find fridge and pantry ingredients including:
- Fettuccine noodles – can substitute with pappardelle, spaghetti, or linguini if needed
- Unsalted butter
- Cream cheese
- Heavy cream
- Parmesan cheese – Use freshly grated, not the “Parmesan” cheese in a green can
- Mozzarella cheese
- Garlic powder
- Nutmeg – optional
- Chicken breasts
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Italian breadcrumbs – panko bread crumbs will NOT work in this recipe
- Parsley – optional, for garnishing
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Baked Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo Casserole
Making baked fettuccine alfredo already isn’t hard and shouldn’t be intimidating if you follow my basic and straightforward steps.
- Boil the fettuccine noodles: Save some pasta water because if the alfredo sauce is a bit thick, you can thin it out with a bit of pasta water, and most likely you’ll want to.
- Make the alfredo sauce: Detailed instructions are provided in the recipe card below. It’s better to start with a slightly thinner sauce if you’re going to err on the side of thin or thick because the pasta will continue to absorb the sauce as it cooks and it’s beneficial to not have too thick, or too tight, of a sauce at the outset.
- Make the topping: Combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, melted butter, and toss to combine. Set aside.
- Assemble the casserole: Pour the sauce over the cooked fettuccine and transfer it to a 2-quart baking dish. Coat the chicken in olive oil and season it with salt and pepper and then lay it on top of the coated fettuccine noodles.
- Bake: Bake for about 20 minutes, then sprinkle the mozzarella cheese, bread crumb mixture, and bake for 5 more minutes.
Recipe FAQs
I only use boneless skinless large chicken breasts that are close to 1 pound each. I halve them and then I pound the four halves and recommend pounding them so that they cook faster and more uniformly.
While I’m sure you could use chicken thighs, I never have. I have also never used bone-in chicken as it’s not the style of this homemade chicken alfredo bake.
Even though it’s really not a big deal to make your own homemade alfredo sauce for this baked chicken alfredo pasta recipe, if you want to use store-bought alfredo sauce that’s fine. You will need about 2 cups worth, or approximately a 15-ounce jar which is a commonly sold side.
My family loves the crispy breadcrumb topping on anything so I would never skip it. The fine, yet just-enough. crunchy and crispy element really adds a lovely touch. However, if you want to omit it you can.
Do not use use lite cream cheese, which has too much water and not enough fat.
No, do not use a lower fat alternative such as whole milk or half-and-half in place of the heavy cream. The alfredo sauce will not develop the right consistency. 
Extra baked fettuccine alfredo will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.
While pasta in general freezes fairly well, I haven’t ever frozen this one because sometimes cream sauces can get a little funky looking during the freezing-thawing process and so have never frozen it.
In terms of making this dish ahead of time, it’s possible to assemble it, get it totally ready to go, cover tightly, and refrigerate overnight and bake it off the next day.
However, take note, the noodles will absorb lots of the alfredo sauce as it sits overnight so definitely thin your sauce out with at least 1/2 cup pasta water if you plan to make ahead.
Make sure not to cook or heat the sauce over high heat. Anything with dairy can “break” (the proteins denature or break and the sauce looks horrible) if you heat it too fast or it simply gets too hot so use a medium-low flame.
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Baked Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo Casserole
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fettuccine noodles
Alfredo Sauce
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 ounces brick-style cream cheese, use full fat for best results
- 2 cups heavy cream, do not use milk or half-and-half
- 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
- ½ cup pasta water, optional but recommended
Chicken
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved and pounded thin and uniform*
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Bread Crumb Topping
- ½ cup Italian-style bread crumbs
- ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- Fresh parsley, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and spray a 9×13 or approximately 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
- Pasta – To a large stockpot, cook the fettuccine according to package directions, drain, rinse, and set aside in a large bowl. Note – Save about 1 cup of pasta water for the alfredo sauce. While it cooks, make the alfredo sauce.
- Alfredo Sauce** – To a medium saucepan, combine the butter, cream cheese, heavy cream, and heat over medium-low to melt, stirring nearly constantly to melt.
- Add both cheeses, garlic powder, optional nutmeg, and stir to combine and melt the cheese.
- The alfredo sauce needs to be fairly thin because it gets poured over the fettuccine and the noodles absorb the sauce in the oven so you don't want the sauce to be too thick. At this point, I recommend adding 1/2 cup pasta water to thin out the sauce, although eyeball and if it's already pretty thin, you can add none or less than 1/2 cup, using your judgment.
- Pour the alfredo sauce over the fettuccine, stir and toss to combine and coat well, and transfer them to the prepared baking dish in an even, loose layer; set aside.
- Chicken – Pound the chicken to an even and uniform thickness so it cooks through in the allotted baking time.
- Drizzle it with olive oil, massage it into both sides, and sprinkle both sides of each chicken breast with salt and pepper.
- Place the chicken on top of of the fettuccine and bake for about 20 minutes. If your chicken is thicker, you may need to bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes, bake as needed until done. While it's baking, made the bread crumb topping.
- Bread Crumb Topping – To a medium bowl, add the bread crumbs, Parmesan, melted butter, and toss with a fork until small crumbly bits form.
- Remove the baking dish from the oven, evenly sprinkle the 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and the bread crumb topping over the top, and return the the baking dish to the oven for about 5 minutes, or just until the cheese has melted and the bread crumbs are lightly golden browned.
- Optionally garnish with fresh parsley.
- Serve immediately with garlic bread, a Caesar salad, or as desired. Extra will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. I have never frozen this because cream sauces sometimes don't tolerate the freezing/thawing process well so I've never tried. Reheat leftovers gently in the microwave or as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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