Pasta
Chicken Pasta Bake
Penne and strips of chicken breast baked in a garlicky tomato sauce made creamy with mascarpone, under a bubbling layer of Cheddar and mozzarella.
- Serves 6
- Hands-on 25 min
- Bake 20 min
- Feeds a family of 6
- Make ahead and bake from cold (add 10 min)
- British
Method
Heat 1 tbsp oil (2 tbsp) in a large pan and fry the onion (1 onion) gently for 8 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic (2 cloves), chilli (pinch) and oregano (1 tsp) and cook for 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes (800 g) and sugar (1 tsp), season and simmer for 15 minutes, until thickened. Stir in the mascarpone (100 g) until smooth.
Meanwhile heat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C, gas 6). Season the chicken (600 g) and fry in the rest of the oil in a frying pan over a high heat for 5–6 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Stir it into the sauce.
Cook the penne (300 g) in a large pan of salted water for 2 minutes less than the packet says. Drain, keeping a mugful of the water, and stir the pasta into the sauce with a splash of the water if it looks thick.
Tip into a large baking dish (about 30 × 20 cm), scatter over the Cheddar (70 g) and mozzarella (125 g) and bake for 20 minutes, until bubbling and golden. Scatter with parsley (a little) and serve with a green salad.
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See also
Chef’s notes
- Undercooking the pasta before baking stops it going soft in the oven.
- Leftover roast chicken works well: shred it and stir it straight into the sauce.
- Add a couple of handfuls of spinach or a head of broccoli florets (blanched with the pasta for the last 3 minutes) to make it a one-dish meal.
How this recipe was developed
We compared the chicken pasta bake on BBC Good Food (its most-rated version), BBC Good Food’s chicken and broccoli pasta bake, and the pesto chicken penne casserole on Allrecipes.
- Mascarpone in the sauce. Esther Clark’s BBC Good Food bake (4.6/5 from 1,046 ratings) stirs mascarpone into the tomato sauce; we allow full-fat soft cheese too.
- Two cheeses on top. Cheddar for flavour and mozzarella for stretch, as in the BBC Good Food version.
- Undercook the pasta. We cook the penne 2 minutes short so it finishes in the oven without going soft.
- Greens optional. BBC Good Food’s chicken and broccoli bake (4.4/5 from 274 ratings) adds broccoli; we give it as a note.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 1 November 2026):
- BBC Good Food (Esther Clark): Chicken pasta bake (4.6/5, 1046 ratings)
- BBC Good Food (Good Food team): Chicken & broccoli pasta bake (4.4/5, 274 ratings)
- Allrecipes (Lindalou): Pesto Chicken Penne Casserole (4.6/5, 758 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.