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Pasta Dinner Recipes: Cheesy Chicken Alfredo Bake Ready in 35 Minutes

Oct 25
3 min read

Updated: 15 hours ago

Chicken alfredo pasta bake with penne, broccoli florets and bubbling browned mozzarella


35 minutes, one dish, rotisserie chicken shortcut

A from-scratch alfredo takes eight minutes and tastes completely different from the jarred kind — butter, garlic, cream and real Parmesan, no stabilisers. Add rotisserie chicken and broccoli, tip it into a dish under mozzarella, and it bakes to bubbling in twenty. The broccoli goes in raw and steams in the sauce.

Why this one works

  • Grate the Parmesan yourself. Pre-grated is coated in cellulose and will make the sauce grainy, every time.

  • Raw broccoli florets cook perfectly in the oven time and save you a separate pan.

  • Rotisserie chicken turns this into a thirty-five minute dinner with no raw meat handling at all.

At a glance

  • Prep time: 12 min

  • Cook time: 23 min

  • Total time: 35 min

  • Yield: 6 servings

  • Protein: 48g per serving

  • Calories: 782 per serving

Ingredients

Pasta and filling

  • 1 lb (450g) penne

  • 4 cups shredded rotisserie chicken, about 1.25 lb (560g)

  • 4 cups small broccoli florets, raw

Alfredo sauce



  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter

  • 5 garlic cloves, minced

  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk

  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

  • 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan

  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt

  • 1/2 tsp black pepper

  • 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Topping

  • 2 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella

  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan

  • Chopped parsley, to finish

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven, start the pasta. Preheat to 400F / 200C and grease a 9x13 dish. Boil the penne in well-salted water for two minutes less than the package time, then drain. It finishes cooking in the oven.

  2. Start the sauce. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium. Add the garlic and cook 45 seconds until fragrant but not coloured.

  3. Make the roux. Whisk in the flour and cook for 90 seconds, stirring constantly, until it smells biscuity. This is what keeps the sauce from splitting in the oven.

  4. Build the cream. Pour in the milk gradually, whisking after each addition so no lumps form, then the cream. Simmer gently for 4 minutes until it thickens enough to coat a spoon.

  5. Add the cheese off the heat. Take the pan off the heat before adding the Parmesan, then whisk until smooth. Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Parmesan added to a boiling sauce turns stringy and grainy.

  6. Combine. Tip the drained pasta, chicken and raw broccoli florets into a large bowl, pour over the sauce and fold until everything is coated. Transfer to the baking dish.

  7. Top and bake. Scatter the mozzarella and Parmesan over the top. Bake uncovered 20 to 23 minutes, until the cheese is browned in patches and the sauce bubbles at the edges.

  8. Rest. Let it sit 5 minutes and finish with parsley. The sauce tightens as it stands.

Notes and swaps

  • Make ahead: assemble, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Add 10 minutes to the bake from cold.

  • The sauce thickens a lot as it cools. If reheating leftovers, add a splash of milk.

  • Broil for the last 2 minutes if you want a deeply browned top.

Nutrition per serving

  • Calories: 782

  • Protein: 48g

  • Carbohydrates: 62g

  • Fat: 39g

  • Fiber: 4g

  • Sugar: 7g

  • Sodium: 980mg

Nutrition is an estimate calculated from the ingredients listed and will vary with brands and portion sizes.

Want the rest of them?

Thirty more weeknight dinners the whole table will eat — each one with a shopping list, a cost estimate and make-ahead notes.



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