Try this Chicken Pesto Pasta Bake recipe, or contribute your own.
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 lb. tube shaped pasta (i used cavatappi - could also u rigatoni, etc.)
- 8 chicken tenders sliced in strips
- 1 8 oz. box mushrooms
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 bag spinach
- 1 c. pesto
- 3 tbls. flour
- 3 tbls. butter
- 3 1/2 c milk
- 2 c. shredded cheese (i used a combination of parmes monterey jack - see note)
- opt: 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
- Carbohydrate 51.2526000320963 g
- Cholesterol 84.0000000710095 mg
- Fat 28.7338500226281 g
- Fiber 6.43700012683868 g
- Protein 35.742800022865 g
- Saturated Fat 15.8917650131811 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (1588g)
- Sodium 1143.26562528403 mg
- Sugar 44.8155999052576 g
- Trans Fat 3.62808625267197 g
- Calories 585 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 350ºF
- Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Drain. Return to pan and toss with a bit of olive oil to keep pasta from sticking together.
- While pasta is cooking, slice chicken tenders into strips about ¼-1/2" thick. Season pieces with salt and pepper.
- In large skillet, heat a little olive oil to coat bottom of pan. Add chicken strips and sauté until no longer pink. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
- Add onions, mushrooms and garlic to pan (add a little more olive oil if needed). Saute until onions and mushrooms are tender being careful not to burn the garlic.
- Add spinach and toss to combine. Cook until wilted. Add chicken back to pan and stir to combine. Add chicken mixture to pasta and toss to combine.
- In saucepan, heat butter over medium heat until melted. Add flour. Whisk and continue to cook. about a minute. Slowly add milk, while continuing to whisk. Cook until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in 2 cups cheese and pesto.
- Add sauce to pasta/chicken mixture and toss well to combine.
- If you want extra cheesiness, layer half of pasta mixture in greased casserole dish. Sprinkle ¼ c. shredded mozzarella cheese over top. Add remaining pasta/chicken mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella. I also added a little more parmesan on top. You can omit this cheese layer if you want but why?
- Bake until heated through and lightly golden on top, about 20-25 minutes.
Standard baked ziti relies on an acidic tomato base to cut through heavy dairy, but this pesto and cheese variation operates on pure, concentrated fat. Without careful ratio management, scaling this recipe up for a crowd creates a greasy, separated mess rather than a cohesive casserole.
Scaling Mathematics and Pan Geometry
Doubling the pasta, chicken, and cheese requires more than simply multiplying ingredients by two. Starch absorption in a 9x13-inch glass dish differs drastically from a deep roasting pan. When multiplying the bechamel sauce, maintain the exact ratio of three tablespoons of butter to three tablespoons of flour for every three and a half cups of milk, or the thickening power fails. Exceeding standard pan capacity traps steam, leaving the cavatappi waterlogged instead of firm at the required 350 degrees Fahrenheit bake setting. Aluminum pans conduct heat faster than ceramic, meaning scaled batches baked in metal require checking five minutes earlier than the standard twenty-minute window to prevent scorching the mozzarella topping.Avoiding Structural Failures
Two distinct execution errors routinely ruin this style of pasta bake. First, adding garlic to the skillet at the exact same time as cold-pressed olive oil causes bitter scorching before the onions and mushrooms soften; add minced garlic during the final sixty seconds of vegetable sautéing. Second, boiling pasta past the firm al dente stage guarantees mushy textures after twenty-five minutes in the oven. Drain the pasta two minutes before package instructions dictate, and immediately toss it with neutral oil to halt residual thermal cooking inside the tube shapes.
