One Pot Chicken Penne Alfredo Bake
This one dish alfredo bake is absolutely perfect for those looking for a simple, quick, and delicious dinner idea! And the real show stopper? It does NOT require you to boil your noodles. Can I get a yes, please on that?
Ingredients/Recipe:
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 jars of alfredo sauce
12 oz (3 1/2 C dry) of penne noodles
2 1/4 C of chicken broth
2 C of shredded mozzarella
Salt and pepper to taste
Putting it Together:
First you will want to cook your chicken. Preheat your oven to 350, season your chicken breasts with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes. Let sit until cool enough to touch, and then shred up chicken. The 2 medium breasts should make about 2 C of shredded chicken. My recipe for oven baked chicken can be found here: www.myloadofcrock.com/recipes/baked-chicken-breasts
Then, preheat the oven to 425 and add all ingredients from the above list, except for the shredded mozzarella into a 9x13 dish. Season with salt and pepper and any other flavors you may love in white sauce pasta. Give this all a good mix, and then cover and bake for 40 minutes. Then, remove the dish from the oven, and add the shredded mozzarella over the top, and return to the oven uncovered, for another 15 minutes until the cheese is nicely melted.
Serving:
Let the dish sit for about 5-10 minutes after it is out of the oven and then serve hot. I like to garnish with freshly cracked pepper and some shredded parmesan or asiago cheese. And of course, in case you weren’t already guessing, I serve with some crunchy bread that is nice and warm too. Lots of butter on the bread is highly recommended.
This dish serves 6-8 adults depending on appetites.
Load of Crock Tip(s):
To reduce prep time with the cooking of the chicken the day of this meal, if you have time over the weekend prior to the week you want to make this, or even the day before, cook and shred the chicken up, and put in a sealed container in your fridge. When you are ready to put the dish together, simply remove and add to the dish accordingly.
This is incredibly good as a leftover. When reheating, I recommend adding some more shredded mozz on top, to give a fresh topping the next day.
A great addition to this is mushrooms as well as broccoli! If you have a household that likes one or both of these, add them into the dish when you put everything else together before baking.