Chicken Alfredo Pasta Casserole (AIP Paleo / Dairy Free) (2024)

With the holiday fast approaching, I’m turning to quick comfort foods more and more! For
me, the holidays mean a whole lot of travel and time away from home… which means when I am home, I have to prioritize what will get finished and what will not. One way I maximize what gets done is by making one pot meals in my Instant Pot and casseroles that require minimal effort. Perfection!

Over the past 2weeks, I’ve made this ch
icken alfredo pasta casserole three times to spice up my roasted chickens that I’ve been buying from Whole Foods during my shortage of time. This is actually how the idea came about to make it – I had a lot of chicken in my fridge and I was tired of eating plain chicken… so along came the idea of a casserole. Then I thought about what kind of casserole I would want and decided on chicken alfredo… because who doesn’t like chicken alfredo goodness? YUM!

A little side note, I use nutritional yeast in this recipe and there are several that are on the market. Most are fortified with vitamins and minerals (specifically B vitamins and folic acid). As someone that has MTHFR, it’s important for me to avoid these “fortified” products and this is the only brand I use because it is not fortified in any shape or form! I know it may seem a bit expensive, but that bag lasts for awhile and it’s well worth it.

Chicken Alfredo Pasta Casserole – makes about 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked spaghetti squash (about half of a large squash or one small squash)
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
• 1 cauliflower, cut into florets
• 3 med/large cloves of garlic, roughly cut
• 1 tbs nutritional yeast
• 3 tbs fresh parsley, divided (or sub 1 tbs with cut up green onion)
• 3-4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided in half
• some cooking oil/spray

Directions

1. Cook spaghetti squash, bacon, and chicken if you haven’t already done so. You can cook the spaghetti squash, bacon, and chicken by…
   1. spaghetti squash: in the microwave by filling a microwavable dish with about 3/4 inch of water, slicing the squash in half, scooping out the seeds, and putting the squash cut side down into the water. Microwave for about 14 minutes, until softish.
   2. spaghetti squash: in the Instant Pot by cutting squash in half, scooping out seeds, and placing on the steaming rack/trivet. Put 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot and cook for 8 minutes on high pressure.
   3. bacon: place slices on a cold cast iron skillet and put in the cold oven. Turn the oven on to 400* and time for about 25-35 minutes. Watch the bacon for perfect doneness.
   4. chicken: place whole chicken in the Instant Pot and fill with water to cover chicken. Add apple cider vinegar and cook for 120 minutes on manual high pressure. This makes a basic broth you can use in other recipes and a fall-off-the-bone chicken you can shred for this recipe.
   5. chicken: go to your nearest Whole Foods and purchase a naked rotisserie chicken
   6. Use your own favorite methods of cooking the spaghetti squash, bacon, and chicken
2. Turn your oven to preheat to 375 degrees.
3. While the above is cooking, place the coconut milk, cauliflower, garlic, nutritional yeast, and 2 tbs of the parsley into the Instant Pot. Make sure all ingredients are in the coconut milk to really infuse the flavors together.
4. Time the Instant Pot for “MANUAL” high pressure for 5 minutes. Quick release is fine.
5. Cooking on the stove should work too – make sure the cauliflower is completely falling-apart soft.
6. Mash the mixture with a fork until fairly smooth. A little chunky is fine.
7. Mix the “alfredo sauce” with the spaghetti squash, chicken, and half of the bacon.
8. Mash everything into a greased square glass casserole dish.
9. Sprinkle the remainder of the bacon and parsley on top.
10. Bake for about 25 minutes on the top rack and then turn on broil on high for 3-5 minutes until the top begins to brown. Make sure to watch your casserole closely as ovens vary and broiling can go from perfect to burned very quickly!
11. Slice with a spatula and enjoy!

Don’t forget to pin for later!

Shared on AIP Roundtable #148

If you’re not already following me, you can like & follow myFacebook&Instagrampages to see my almost-daily updates and subscribe (on the right) to receive an email when I post (NO spam EVER, promise!). Daily Instagram & Facebook content differ. Thanks for reading!

*Have you seen the NEW Instant Pot Cookbook circulating the web? If you haven’t gotten one yet, head over to my cookbook sneak peek post hereto learn moreandget yours today!*