Name: Easy chicken pasta bake recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: italian
Ingredients: 500 g bowtie pasta shapes; 300 ml Thickened Cream 300ml; 1 tsp garlic minced; 1 brown onion diced large; 350 g bacon rashers sliced; 2 chicken stock cube; 1 roast whole chicken cooked shredded; 1 cup cheese grated

by Emmy81 Last updated on 01/13/2025

A quick and easy pasta bake is just what’s needed on a busy evening. This one takes advantage of a shredded barbecued chicken to make the prep even easier! Serve a fresh green salad alongside for a complete, and very enjoyable, family meal.

How to make this easy chicken pasta bake: key tips

This recipe mixes the cream, garlic, onion, bacon and stock cubes all together in a bowl, before adding the cooked pasta and chicken. This works fine, and certainly makes things easy, but if you have the time, you can pan-fry the onion, garlic and bacon together until they are lovely and browned, and then combine it with the cream and stock cubes. I find that this adds a good punch of flavour to this dish.

Key ingredients in this easy chicken pasta bake recipe

Using shredded barbecued chicken in a pasta bake is ideal. As the chicken is already cooked, you don’t have the added hassle of cooking the chicken first, and the seasoning adds bucketloads of flavour.

Bowtie pasta is a great short pasta that works well in pasta bakes, but feel free to use whatever short pasta you have in the pantry. The wonderful thing about pasta bakes is that they can be customised quite easily, and because this bake involves cooking the pasta before adding it to the rest of the ingredients, you don’t need to worry about having enough liquid in the creamy sauce to cook the pasta in the oven.

If you’re loving the ease of using a store-bought barbecued chicken to create a delicious dinner, here are 15 more barbecued chicken recipes to breathe new life into your evening meals. And these 23 cheesy golden pasta bakes are so easy to make you will wonder why you never tried them before!

This recipe was originally submitted by Emmy81, a member of the Australia’s Best Recipe community. Introduction and additional recipe notes by Natasha Shaw.

- Australia's Best Recipes Team

Ingredients

500 g bowtie pasta shapes
300 ml Woolworths Thickened Cream 300ml
1 tsp garlic minced
1 brown onion diced large
350 g bacon rashers sliced
2 chicken stock cube
1 roast whole chicken cooked shredded
1 cup cheese grated

Method

Step 1

Preheat oven to 190°C.
Step 2

Cook pasta according to packet directions.
Step 3

While pasta is cooking, in a medium sized bowl mix together cream, garlic, onion and bacon. Crumble both chicken stock cubes over the cream mixture and combine.
Step 4

Drain pasta, add cream mixture and stir to combine.
Step 5

Add chicken, mix well.
Step 6

Spread into a baking dish, cover with cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes or until cheese has browned.

Equipment

1 bowl
1 baking dish

Recipe Notes

from Australia’s Best Recipes team

Can I add vegies to this easy chicken pasta bake?

You can add whatever vegies you like to this bake. In fact, a bake like this one is a fabulous excuse to use up leftover vegies you may have in the crisper. You can add broccoli or cauliflower florets, chopped mushrooms, green beans, or frozen peas, carrots or corn kernels. If you add enough vegies, you won’t even need the side salad. Note: you may need to add a little water or extra cream to have enough sauce to cater for the extra ingredients.

Can I use other meat instead of chicken in this bake?

Sausages are a great alternative to chicken in this bake and you can use whatever flavour you prefer. Simply cook 2-4 sausages and then slice them into 1cm pieces and add in place of the chicken.