Chicken and roasted broccoli combined with pasta in a creamy sauce and topped with some melted mozzarella cheese. My idea for this came from a craving I had for fettucine alfredo with chicken and broccoli. I wanted to transform it into something that was a good make ahead meal and do a slightly healthier take!
Casseroles make great make-ahead meals because everything you need is all contained in one dish. That means, the night you make this you don’t have to worry about whipping up a side dish! For the ultimate payoff in deliciousness, we just need to make sure there are lots of layers of flavor.
The first layer of flavor comes from roasting off the broccoli. Roasted broccoli brings more to the dish than plain steamed broccoli, so it is an important step! While the broccoli is roasting you can move on to the other parts of the dish as it doesn’t require much babysitting.
The creamy sauce the dish sits in is the next layer of flavor. Using chicken stock mixed with cream cheese instead of just heavy cream has two purposes. Firstly, it reinforces the chicken flavor in the dish. And secondly, it’s less calories so the dish feels lighter overall than typical alfredo.
Adding in the two types of cheeses, pecorino romano and mozzarella, is the final layer of flavor. Mozzarella is more mild and refreshing while the pecorino romano is nutty and creamy. Mixing them together is the perfect combination. Once the whole dish gets baked off all the ingredients meld together and make a delicious meal!
Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 1 lb penne or rigatoni pasta
- 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen broccoli florets
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 medium white or yellow onion finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ½ tsp dried basil
- 4 oz cream cheese (bring to room temp)
- 2 cups chicken stock or broth
- ½ cup grated pecorino romano
- 6 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°
- Boil the pasta to al dente (based on the directions on the box)
- Drain the pasta but reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water
- Place the broccoli on a sheet pan and drizzle with the olive oil, salt and pepper
- Roast the broccoli in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and tender
- While the broccoli cooks, sauté the chicken in a large skillet with the avocado oil and some salt and pepper
- Cook the chicken on medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes or until just cooked through, then remove from the pan and set aside
- Using the pan you cooked the chicken in, lower the heat to low and add the butter to get it melting
- Once the butter melts, add the onion and garlic and sweat them together until the onions are translucent
- Next add the cream cheese, chicken stock, dried basil and half the reserved pasta water to the pan and let the cheese melt into the liquid over low heat
- Once the cheese melts, raise the heat up to medium-high and bring the liquid to a boil
- Add the pecorino romano to the pan as soon as the liquid comes to a boil then whisk it together and let it simmer on medium-low for 5 minutes to thicken
- If the mixture reduces down too much, add the remaining pasta water to thin it back out a bit. We want a thinner consistency than a cream sauce because it's going to thicken when we bake it.
- Too the chicken, pasta, broccoli, sauce and a ½ cup of the shredded mozzarella all together in a large (13"x9") baking dish
- Top with the remaining cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and bake at 400° for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and serve
