Chicken Negresco

This chicken casserole dish combines extra wide egg noodles with Béchamel sauce. This is a nice dish that can be tweaked in many ways for each familys taste.

Chicken Negresco Ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts

• 1 stalk celery, cut into chunks

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1 (8 ounce) package extra wide egg noodles

• 4 cups milk

• cup butter

• cup all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons salt

• teaspoon garlic powder

• ? teaspoon ground nutmeg

• cup bread crumbs

• cup Parmesan cheese

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

How to Make Chicken Negresco

1. Combine chicken, celery, 1 teaspoon salt, and black pepper in a saucepan. Pour enough water into the saucepan to cover the ingredients completely. Bring water to a boil and cook until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, 20 to 25 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Remove chicken to a cutting board to cool. Cut cooled chicken into bite-sized pieces. Discard water and celery.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9x13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray.

3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook egg noodles in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 5 minutes; drain. Transfer noodles to a large bowl; add chicken and toss to combine.

4. Bring milk to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat; keep at a simmer until needed.

5. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk flour into the melted butter in small amounts, assuring each addition is integrated before adding more; cook and stir the flour mixture until you have a blonde roux, 5 to 10 minutes. Slowly pour milk into the flour mixture while continually stirring; bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Stir 2 teaspoons salt, garlic powder, and nutmeg into the milk mixture; pour over the noodle mixture and stir to coat.

6. Spread bread crumbs into the bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Pour the noodle mixture over the bread crumbs. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the noodle mixture. Drizzle olive oil over the Parmesan cheese.

7. Bake in preheated oven until filling is bubbly and top layer of noodles are a crispy golden brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Chicken Negresco Nutritions

• Calories: 358 calories

• Carbohydrate: 31.8 g

• Cholesterol: 82.2 mg

• Fat: 15.6 g

• Fiber: 1.3 g

• Protein: 21.9 g

• SaturatedFat: 7.2 g

• ServingSize:

• Sodium: 1098.2 mg

• Sugar: 6.6 g

• TransFat:

• UnsaturatedFat:

Chicken Negresco Reviews

• This was very good. I pan fried the chicken with the celery and added some mushrooms (based on the cooks note). Made the sauce in the pan that I fried the chicken in. I think that this would have been great out of the pot. I liked the crispy noodles but my guys didnt love them. Id make this one again but Id cover for the baking. Just a personal preference. Nice recipe mikemsd. I only needed to bake it for 30 minutes.

• I thought that it was a little bland, but my kids loved it. I did cover it for part of the time in the oven as I knew that they would not like crunchy noodles.

• My husband and I loved it. The only change I made was that I didnt cook the chicken with the celery (I didnt have any celery on hand). I simply sauteed chicken chunks in a little bit of olive oil. I also made a mistake when first making the dish - I didnt read the recipe correctly and I added the bread crumbs to the top of the casserole before baking. It was still great, though The second time I made it (again, preparing the chicken by sauteing), I did put the bread crumbs on the bottom. My husband liked it better actually with the breadcrumbs on the top. I cant believe how wonderful the flavor is considering how very simple and basic the ingredient list is.

• Good recipe, I used leftover chicken in mine so skipped cooking the chicken. I added celery salt since I didnt cook chicken with celery. And as a PP had said it only needed 35 minutes in the oven. BTW I had an opps moment and forgot to put the bread crumbs in first so sprinkled them on top and covered them with the cheese came out fine. A very forgiving recipe. I will make this again

• Although it took a lot of time to make (it was my first Bechamel sauce), this turned out to be really tasty and make a TON, so we have plenty of leftovers. I followed the recipe pretty faithfully - I boiled the chicken with celery, seasoned salt and pepper; used the wide egg noodles, etc. The only major differences is that I only used one extra-large chicken breast and added peas for a vegetable (although broccoli or asparagus would have worked well, too). The crunchy noodles were occasionally a bit tough for my 76-year-old mother, but she loved them anyway It was a big hit for a belated Mothers Day dinner.

• Great recipe, did not use celery replaced with Celery salt because I did not have it. I also added peas to add some vegetable.

• This was good. I made it exactly as written, but it took me longer than the directions stated. I cooked it for 50 minutes but think it should have come out of the oven a little earlier.