Tomato Chicken Pasta Bake is a hearty comforting dish that everyone will love! Juicy chicken, your favorite pasta and spinach, loaded in flavorful tomato blush sauce and topped with melted mozzarella cheese. This easy dinner recipe is perfect for weeknight meal and will be done within 1 hour.
Pasta casseroles are one of my favorite meals that are easy to make, filling, and delicious. This new Tomato Chicken Pasta Bake is one of those recipes that will be perfect for a big family gathering, doesn’t take too much time to prep, and you can easily customize it, using ingredients you have in your refrigerator.
You can use your favorite pasta, load it with with juicy chicken, fresh spinach, flavorful blush sauce, and top with melted mozzarella cheese. Feel free to add more veggies to this dish, like in my Vegetable Pasta Bake.
Why you will love this recipe
- Easy to make. This recipe is quite easy to prep. While the pasta is cooking, sear the chicken. Then make the sauce and assemble the dish.
- Good for big gatherings. Casseroles are perfect for large group gatherings. You can serve it with some salads and roasted vegetables on the side.
- Customizable. This recipe can easily be customized to your preferences and the ingredients you have on hands.
Ingredients and Substitution
- Pasta. While I use Cavatappi variety in this recipe, you can use pretty much any pasta you like. My other favorites are penne, rigatoni, rotini, farvalle, fusilli, gigli, radiatori, etc. Just make sure it’s NOT too large or small in size.
- Chicken. Boneless skinless chicken breast will work the best in this recipe. Just cut it in bite size pieces.
- Butter and flour. These are the two base ingredients to make the roux for the sauce.
- Milk. Whole milk will work the best in this dish. If you like your sauce to be creamier, you can substitute it with heavy cream or half and half.
- Crushed tomatoes. Use good quality crushed tomatoes, as they provide the most flavor to the sauce.
- Spinach. I love using fresh spinach here. If you don’t have it, you can also use some chopped kale, Swiss chard, or collard greens. Frozen greens will also work, but they make the sauce more watery.
- Cheese. Melted Mozzarella cheese provides perfect touch to the whole dish. Freshly grated cheese is always my first choice, but you can also use prepackaged one as well.
How to make it
Boil a pot of water and cook 16 oz pasta according to the instructions. When done, drain the liquid and set the pasta aside.
Preheat the oven to 375F.
While the pasta is cooking, preheat a large skillet over medium/high heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil. When the oil is hot, add diced chicken, season it with salt and pepper, and sear until cooked through. When done, transfer the meat to a plate and set aside.
Lower the heat to medium/low. In the same skillet, melt 2 tbsp butter and add 2 tbsp all-purpose flour. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add 2 cups milk. Stir well and let it cook for about 10 minutes or until the mixture starts to simmer and get thicker.
Then add 28 oz crushed tomatoes, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp dried oregano, ½ tsp dried thyme, and ¼ tsp red pepper flakes.
Cook for another 10 minutes, then add cooked pasta and mix everything until well combined. Then add precooked chicken with juices.
Fold in spinach and let it cook just for a couple of minutes or until the spinach is wilted.
Transfer everything to a 13×8 inch baking dish and top with 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake at 375F for about 10-15 minutes or until the the cheese is melted and starts to bubble and get light golden color.
Tips for best results
- Pasta. When you cook the pasta, cook it only until al dente. Since we are going to continue baking it with other ingredients, we don’t want it to get too mushy.
- Save pasta water. When draining pasta, save 1 cup of that liquid. If your blush sauce gets too thick, you can add some pasta liquid to thin it out.
- Chicken. Similar to pasta, try not to overcook the chicken while searing. If you overcook it, it might become tough and rubbery.
- Oven-safe skillet. If the skillet you used to sear the chicken is oven-safe, you can easily bake everything in the same skillet, instead of transferring to a baking dish. Although, baking dish will look more festive if you serve it at big family gathering.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can store the leftovers in an air-tight container and refrigerate for about 3 days.
Boneless skinless chicken breast is my to-go for this dish. Sometimes, I also like to use precooked rotisserie chicken. You don’t need to cook it, but just add to the pasta with sauce before baking.
I like serving this dish with salad and some roasted vegetables. Here are a few ideas:
Salads: Farro Salad with Feta, Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad, BLT Pasta Salad.
Roasted Vegetables: Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables, Green Bean Almondine, Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan.
More Pasta Dishes:
- Creamy Vegetable Pasta
- Pink Sauce Pasta
- Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta
- Tortellini with Meat Sauce
- Old Fashioned Goulash
- Chicken Broccoli Ziti
- Chicken Macaroni Salad
- Orzo Salad with Feta
- Tortellini in Tomato Sauce
- Cherry Tomato Pasta Sauce
- Creamy Pesto Pasta Recipe
- Meatless Baked Ziti
Tomato Chicken Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 16 ounces pasta dry
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts diced into 1×1 inch cubes
- salt, pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 cups spinach
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese grated
Instructions
- Boil a pot of water and cook 16 oz pasta according to the instructions. When done, drain the liquid and set the pasta aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- While the pasta is cooking, preheat a large skillet over medium/high heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil. When the oil is hot, add diced chicken, season it with salt and pepper, and sear until cooked through. When done, transfer the meat to a plate and set aside.
- Lower the heat to medium/low. In the same skillet, melt 2 tbsp butter and add 2 tbsp all-purpose flour. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add 2 cups milk. Stir well and let it cook for about 10 minutes or until the mixture starts to simmer and get thicker.
- Then add 28 oz crushed tomatoes, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp dried oregano, ½ tsp dried thyme, and ¼ tsp red pepper flakes.
- Cook for another 10 minutes, then add cooked pasta and mix everything until well combined. Then add precooked chicken with juices.
- Fold in spinach and let it cook just for a couple of minutes or until the spinach is wilted.
- Transfer everything to a 13×8 inch baking dish and top with 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Bake at 375F for about 10-15 minutes or until the the cheese is melted and starts to bubble and get light golden color.
Notes
- Pasta. When you cook the pasta, cook it only until al dente. Since we are going to continue baking it with other ingredients, we don’t want it to get too mushy.
- Save pasta water. When draining pasta, save 1 cup of that liquid. If your blush sauce gets too thick, you can add some pasta liquid to thin it out.
- Chicken. Similar to pasta, try not to overcook the chicken while searing. If you overcook it, it might become tough and rubbery.
- Oven-safe skillet. If the skillet you used to sear the chicken is oven-safe, you can easily bake everything in the same skillet, instead of transferring to a baking dish. Although, baking dish will look more festive if you serve it at big family gathering.
- How to store. You can store the leftovers in an air-tight container and refrigerate for about 3 days.
This pasta recipe seems easy to make and great for weeknights. Gonna have to try.
I made this tasty pasta dish for one of my personal chef client families and they loved it. They said it reheated beautifully and was so delicious.
I made this with gluten-free pasta and it was super well-received! My kid helped make it and we had a fun time. It was so easy, thanks!
I’m not a casserole person but made this and it was awesome! I loved how easy it was. Thanks a ton!
These are the kind of meals that families get excited about. Economical, aromatic, cheesy, not to mention absolutely delicious! Thanjs for sharing this easy to make meal in one dish!
So simple and delicious. This will be a regular for us.
This was quite easy to make and though it was hearty and filling it felt light and was great as leftovers for lunch.
I haven’t made pasta in such a long time! Very excited to fix that by trying your recipe – it looks magnificent!
I made this tomato chicken pasta bake for dinner last night. Your instructions made the recipe foolproof and it was so easy to get from prep to table for me. Everyone loved it, too. I’ll definitely be making this more often.
I always have the grandkids for dinner on Fridays. This looks good and I am sure it will be a hit. Pasta and chicken are the perfect match.