This cheesy chicken and vegetable pasta bake is a meal the whole family will love. Mom will love it because it is so easy it is to prepare, and because she can use up any vegetables that are lurking in the fridge. The rest of the family will love it because it tastes so good!
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Cheesy chicken and vegetable pasta bake
This chicken pasta bake is one of my favourite dishes to make when I'm in a hurry, but I still want something that's healthy and tastes good. This cheesy pasta bake ticks all the boxes. It's packed with vegetables, but they're hidden in a creamy cheese sauce so even the pickiest of eaters will find it difficult not to love this pasta bake.
Why is this chicken and vegetable pasta bake so good?
- Versatile - you can use up any vegetable you happen to have in the refrigerator. I've used tomatoes, mushrooms, leeks and broccoli for this version, but you can easily swap them out for whatever you have lying around. Swap the leeks and broccoli for cubes of butternut or pumpkin, for instance, or throw in a handful of peas and corn. I've even made this chicken pasta bake with brussels sprouts!
Fun fact - if you've ever wondered whether to spell brussels sprouts with or without the trailing 's', they are actually named after Brussels, the capital of Belgium, where they were cultivated in the 16th century. So now you know!
- Versatile - you can swap out the chicken for turkey and it will taste just as good!
- Economical - you can use leftover roast chicken to make this chicken pasta instead of using fresh chicken.
- Healthy - as I mentioned, this cheesy chicken and vegetable pasta bake is packed with vegetables.
- Quick and easy - you can prepare the vegetables and make the cheese sauce in the time it takes the pasta to boil and the chicken to poach. Then all you have to do is assemble the pasta bake and pop in the oven for 20 minutes to brown the cheese.
- Delicious - need I say more!!!
How to make cheesy chicken and vegetable pasta bake
You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions to make this cheesy chicken and vegetable pasta bake on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
This recipe for cheesy chicken pasta will easily serve 4 people, but you can easily adjust the quantities to suit your family size.
You will need a baking dish approximately 11" x 7" x 3" (28cm x 18cm x 7 cm) in size.
Prepare the pasta
The first thing to do is get the pasta on to boil, according to the instructions on the packet. I like to use a large twirly-shaped pasta, but you can use any shape of your choice.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain through a colander and place into the baking dish.
Poach the chicken
For this recipe, you will need chicken breasts and you should allow between 80 and 100 grams (or 3 to 3.5 ounces) of chicken per person.
This is my quick and easy way of poaching a chicken breast. Cooking the chicken like this ensures that the chicken always comes out perfectly moist and juicy, and is never dry.
Place the uncooked chicken breasts in a saucepan of cold water and add salt to taste, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Cover the saucepan with a lid and bring to the boil. Once the water comes to a steady boil, remove it from the heat and leave the chicken in the water until it is cool enough to handle.
If you cut the chicken breast in half you will see that it is perfectly white and cooked through. If the chicken still has a touch of pink to it, don't worry. It will finish cooking in the oven once it has been assembled with the rest of the ingredients for this chicken pasta bake.
Cut the chicken breasts into approximately 1" (2.5 cm) pieces.
Prepare the vegetables
I've used leeks, broccoli, tomatoes and mushrooms for the vegetables in this pasta bake, but you can use whatever vegetables you prefer. For 4 people you will need approximately 4 cups of vegetables. The vegetables will be cooked in the microwave before being added to the pasta bake.
Slice the leeks and break the broccoli into small florets. Place the vegetables into small microwave-safe bowls (image 1 above), and cover the bowls with clingfilm. Cook the leeks on full power for 4 minutes and the broccoli for 3 minutes. Depending on the wattage of your microwave you may need to adjust this time slightly. My microwave is 900 watts.
Do the same with the tomatoes and mushrooms (image 2 above) and cook each of these in the microwave for 3 minutes on full power.
Cook each vegetable separately for the time given. Do not cook them together in the microwave as the timings will not be correct.
Add the cooked vegetables and cooked chicken to the pasta in the baking dish (images 3 and 4 above).
Make the cheese sauce
No pasta bake is complete without a delicious creamy cheesy sauce. This is my foolproof method for making the cheese sauce without any lumps.
- Melt butter in a pan and stir in the cornflour/cornstarch. Mix well to remove any lumps (image 1 above).
- Pour in the milk and allow to come to the boil. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens (image 2 above). The consistency should be similar to thick custard, and it should leave a trail when a spoon is drawn through it.
- Add the grated cheese and stir until melted (image 3 above).
- Season with salt and plenty of ground black pepper (image 4 above).
Assemble and bake
Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and vegetables in the baking dish and mix well to combine (image 1 above) and cover with grated cheese (image 2 above). Place the baking dish in a preheated oven (190C / 380F) for approximately 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and turned golden brown (image 3 above). Serve immediately with a green leafy salad.
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📋The recipe
Cheesy chicken and vegetable pasta bake
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Saucepans
- Microwave-safe bowls
- 11" x 7" Casserole dish (28cm x 18 cm)
- Sharp Knife
- Cutting board
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (250g) dried pasta shapes of your choice
- 4 medium chicken breasts (approximately 360g or 12 ounces)
- 1 cup chopped leeks
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped mushrooms
- salt and finely ground black pepper to taste
Cheese sauce
- 1¾ ounces (75g) butter
- 1 ounce (30g) cornflour / cornstarch
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese for the sauce
- ½ cup grated cheddar cheese for sprinkling on top of the bake
- salt and finely ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil the pasta in a large pan of boiling water, according to the instrutions on the packet.
- Drain the cooked pasta through a colander and then rinse under cold running water to stop the cooking process. Leave to drain in the colander then arrange the drained pasta in the baking dish.
- Place the chicken breasts in a saucepan of cold water, season with salt and black pepper (optional) cover and bring to a rolling boil.
- Once the chicken is boiling, remove from the heat and leave in the saucepan of hot water to cool.
- Cut the cooled chicken into 1" (2½cm) dice. Set aside until needed.
- Slice the leeks. Break the broccoli into small florets. Dice the tomatoes and mushrooms into approximately ½" (1cm) pieces. Place each vegetable in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover each bowl with clingfilm.
- Microwave the leeks on full power for 4 minutes. Microwave the broccoli, tomatoes and mushrooms separately for 3 minutes each.
- Mix the cooked vegetables and chopped chicken with the pasta in the baking dish.
Make the cheese sauce
- Set the oven to 180°C/375°F and allow to pre-heat while you make the cheese sauce.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, then remove from the heat and mix in the cornflour/cornstarch until there are no lumps
- Return to the heat and add the milk. Stir continuously until the mixture comes to the boil and thickens.
- Add 1 cup of grated cheese and stir until melted.
- Season with salt (optional) and plenty of freshly ground black pepper
- Pour the cheese sauce over the vegetables, chicken and pasta in the baking dish, and mix through with a large spoon.
- Sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup of grated cheese
- Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and turned golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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Aleksandra
It's ok lacking lots of spices but mostly what I can't believe it's you killed all nutritional benefits of vegetables by putting them in the microwave. Microwaves should be banned I even don't own one🚫
VJ
Thank you for your comment. If you don't have a microwave then you obviously haven't tried this recipe, so your comment about it lacking in 'lots of spices' is invalid isn't it? When I'm cooking with fresh vegetables I like to preserve as much of the natural flavour as possible, rather than disguise it with 'lots of spices',
Regarding cooking the vegetables in the microwave, I believe that you lose far more nutritional benefits by boiling vegetables in water than you do by steaming them for a couple of minutes in the microwave. But I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion 🙂