3 Quick & Easy Canned Chicken Recipes Using Dollar Tree Ingredients

Macaroni chicken salad recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup onion pepper seasoning mix
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• ½ 12.5 oz can of chicken (drained)
• 4 cups cooked pasta (drained)
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• ¼ cup pickle relish (if desired)

1. Make the macaroni

Cook up your macaroni. I boiled about 2 cups of dried macaroni. When it cooked, it ended up being about 4 cups of pasta. 

2. Add mayo

Drain the pasta and add mayo.

3. Add mustard

Add 2 heaping tablespoons of Dijon mustard. 

4. Add chicken

Shred half the can of chicken and spoon it into the macaroni mixture. If you are shopping at Dollar Tree, your can may be slightly smaller than the 12.5 can of chicken I used.

5. Season

Season with salt. You don’t need too much because the meat is already salted. Add pepper.

6. Add frozen veggies

Add in the secret ingredient, which is a frozen seasoning blend that has peppers, onions, parsley, and celery. Dollar Tree and Walmart sell it . I put in a cup of the mix. It quickly chills down the salad. It’s the key to making a fast meal. Put it all into a bigger bowl for easier mixing. 

7. Sweeten it up

To make the salad slightly sweeter, a ¼ cup of pickle relish.

8. Enjoy!

Pair this salad with round crackers. You can also make this recipe using canned tuna.

Chicken taco quesadillas recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup onion and pepper seasoning mix or onion and pepper mix chopped 
• ½ of a 12.5 oz can of chicken drained
• 3-4 tortillas
• 1 pack of taco seasoning (or about 2 tablespoons)
• 1 cup shredded cheese 

1. Fry chicken

Put the other half of the can of chicken into a fry pan on the stove. 

2. Add veggies

Add in 1 cup of frozen vegetable seasoning blend.

3. Season

Add taco seasoning. If you have a packet, use 2 tablespoons of the package.

4. Mix

Mix it until it’s all heated through and the vegetables are nice and soft.

5. Prep tortillas

Heat up the tortilla and put the chicken mixture on half of it. The mixture I made will make about three quesadillas. 

6. Fill quesadillas

Put 2 to 3 tablespoons of shredded cheese on top of the mixture. Use any cheese you have. I used a shredded Mexican blend here.

7. Fold and fry

Fold the quesadillas in half, patting them closed. Put the quesadillas into the skillet. Let it brown up on one side for about 30 seconds, then flip it over. Toast the other side, as well.

8. Enjoy!

Use a pizza cutter to cut them in half when they are done.

Crispy Italian chicken over pasta recipe

Ingredients

Meat mixture:

• 1 egg
• 1 12.5 oz can of drained canned chicken
• ¼ tsp thyme
• ¼ Tsp Italian seasoning 
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp onion powder
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Coating ingredients:

• ⅓ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• Toppings and Sides:
• 2 cups cooked and drained pasta
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1 cup red pasta sauce
• ¼ tsp Italian Seasoning 

1. Drain chicken

Drain a whole can of chicken and put it in a bowl.

2. Add ingredients

Add an egg, seasoning, and breadcrumbs. Stir well.

3. Prep chicken and breadcrumbs

On a pizza pan, spread about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture onto a bed of Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. Put another thin layer of breadcrumbs on top of the mixture to coat it and help it crisp up.

4. Preheat oven

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. Cook and flip

Put the pizza pan with the chicken mixture into the oven for about 10 minutes on one side. Once it’s brown, you can flip it to allow both sides to brown evenly and crisp up. If you’re struggling to flip the patty, make smaller patties. 

6. Make noodles

While the chicken is cooking, boil two cups of egg noodles and drain them when done.

7. Heat sauce

Pour marinara sauce into a frying pan to heat up on the stove.   

8. Slice into strips

Once the chicken is done, remove the pan from the oven. Use your pizza cutter and slice the chicken patty into strips. Slice it across to make shorter strips. 

9. Dish it up

Put egg noodles on a plate, put some chicken strips on the noodles, and pour marinara sauce on top. Add shredded cheese on top and Italian seasoning if you’d like.

Canned chicken recipes

I hope you like these budget meals using canned chicken. Most of the ingredients came from The Dollar Tree since I wanted to make these recipes accessible to most people. Let me know if you’ve made any of the recipes, and if you liked them!

Let me know if you have any secret recipes for making canned chicken into a delicious low-cost meal!