This oven-baked spaghetti and chicken drumsticks recipe is one of my favourites because it only requires one baking dish. The result is an easy chicken and spaghetti dinner full of flavour. This is the perfect recipe to make for a Sunday dinner that the entire family will love! It’s one of my favourite recipes because it’s so comforting!

The secret to this recipe is that the spaghetti cooks completely in the tomato sauce to absorb the flavours from the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and seasonings. There is no separate boiling time required for the pasta.

To maximize the flavour of this recipe, you’ll want to use chicken pieces with bones, so either chicken drumsticks, whole chicken legs, chicken thighs, or chicken wings. This recipe wouldn’t work as well using chicken breasts since so much of the delicious flavour comes from the chicken roasting in the pan with the spices and tomato sauce.

The time the chicken pieces need to cook in the oven will vary depending on the size and type of chicken parts you choose to use. For example, I used 6 chicken drumsticks (approximately 500 grams) for this recipe.

It does require a little more maintenance than a “set it and forget it” oven recipe, but it’s worth it! Plus, the baking dish can go straight from the oven to the dinner table, so there are fewer dishes to clean. Win-win!

RECIPE TIPS

You’ll be adding canned tomatoes (including the liquid), oil, and water to the baking dish, so you’ll need to use a baking dish that has a little depth instead of a baking sheet or thin sheet pan.

If you’re looking for a super crispy chicken recipe, then you may want to skip this one for another time. The drumsticks will get seared at a higher heat to get some level of crispiness, but most of the time, the drumsticks are baked in the dish with tomato sauce. That’s where all the flavour comes from for the spaghetti.

The uncooked spaghetti will cook completely in the tomato sauce and absorb all the amazing flavours.  The cooking method resembles Riri’s Greek Eats spicy tomato spaghetti sauce recipe.  During this step, you’ll need to keep an eye on the amount of water in the pan so that there is enough liquid for the spaghetti to cook.

If there’s too little water, the pasta will burn or stick together. Gradually add 1/4 cup of hot water at a time if you think the pasta needs more water to cook. In this recipe, I’ve used a total of 2 1/2 cups of water, but that amount may vary depending on the brand of spaghetti and the heat of your oven.

It’s a good idea to have hot water in a saucepan or in a tea kettle ready to access since you’ll need to add hot water to the baking dish a few times throughout this recipe.

It’s important to add hot water (except at the beginning) so that the temperature of the dish doesn’t drop too much when you add the water.

The chicken and the pasta don’t need to be covered while baking in the oven for this recipe. The chicken drumsticks will need about 1 hour and 10 minutes to bake. But, the cooking time may be shorter or longer depending on the size of your chicken pieces. The internal temperature of the chicken should be at least 165 degrees F.

HOW TO MAKE BAKED CHICKEN DRUMSTICKS WITH SPAGHETTI: STEP BY STEP

STEP 1: Remove the chicken drumsticks from the packaging, rinse them well with cold water, and place them into a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.

STEP 2: Peel the shallots, garlic, and white onion. Dice the garlic.  Cut the white onion into quarters. The shallots can remain whole.  The onions and shallots may break apart slightly as you put them in the baking dish, but that’s ok! Add the peeled shallots, garlic, and white onion to the baking dish.

STEP 3: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F on convection bake.

STEP 4: Rub the chicken drumsticks with olive oil, fresh ground pepper, salt, dried oregano, garlic powder, and seasoning salt. Add 1/4 cup of cold water to the pan. This is so that the onions and garlic don’t burn while you’re cooking the chicken at a high temperature.

STEP 5: Place the chicken in the preheated oven. Bake the chicken at 400°F for approximately 10 minutes. The high heat will initially sear the skin of the chicken and lock in the flavours.

STEP 6: While the chicken is in the oven, open the can of peeled Italian plum tomatoes and pour the whole can into a bowl. Add one tablespoon of sugar. Squish or cut up the tomatoes with your hands or a fork. Set aside. In a separate saucepan or tea kettle, heat about 3 cups of water so that you can easily access hot water to add to the pan as the chicken cooks.

STEP 7: After 10 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and flip the drumsticks over so the other side faces up. Place the chicken back in the oven at 400 degrees F for another 10 minutes. You may need to add a 1/4 cup of hot water to the pan if the bottom of the pan is drying out.

STEP 8: After 10 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 350° F. Add all of the tomato sauce to the pan. Place the chicken back into the oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

STEP 9: After the chicken has been in the oven for 30 minutes, remove the pan and carefully flip the chicken over so that the other side can brown. Add 1/4 cup of hot water to the pan.  Place the chicken back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

STEP 10: After 20 minutes, remove the pan from the oven. Place the golden brown chicken onto a separate plate. Cover the chicken loosely with aluminum foil and set it aside. Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees F and add 1/4 cup of salted butter to the tomato sauce. Add 2 cups of hot water to the baking dish. Stir all of the ingredients together in the baking dish.

STEP 11: Place the pan back in the oven at 375°F with just the sauce (no chicken). After a few minutes, the sauce will start to boil. When adding spaghetti, the tomato sauce should be simmering or as hot as possible. Once the sauce is hot, add all of the spaghetti to the pan and stir so that the spaghetti is covered with tomato sauce.

STEP 12: Return the pan to the oven at 375 degrees F on convection bake. For best results, stir the spaghetti every 10 minutes to prevent it from sticking together or burning. When you take the dish out of the oven to stir the pasta, you can check if the pasta needs more water. Add 1/4 cup of hot water to the baking dish if it does.

The spaghetti will likely need about 25-30 minutes to cook in the sauce. As you near the 25-minute mark, you can take out a little bit of the pasta to try it to see if it’s done or if it needs more water to cook longer.

STEP 13: If the pasta needs more water, gradually add 1/4 cup of hot water to the pan.

STEP 14: After the pasta is cooked, remove the pan and stir the pasta. Add the cooked chicken drumsticks back to the baking dish and bake in the oven for a few more minutes so that the chicken is hot before serving. Top with grated parmesan cheese, fresh parsley or fresh basil. Enjoy!

How To Store Baked Spaghetti With Chicken Drumsticks?

You can keep the spaghetti and chicken in an airtight container for up to three days in the fridge.  You can easily reheat this dish in the oven or the microwave. If you’re using an oven, the pasta and chicken will get more crispy than if you reheat this recipe in a microwave. But both options are delicious!

• Homemade Meatballs With Marinara Sauce
• Easy Roasted Tiny Lemon Potatoes Recipe
• 3 Simple Tips To Reduce Acidity In Tomato Sauce