For a large family gathering or your next pot luck, bring this to the table and you will be hit of the party.
For a smaller family dinner, consider the freezing directions to have these on hand. Just add a salad and bread – dinner is done.
Parmesan Pasta Chicken Bake
A delicious take on Parmesan Chicken but one you can make ahead
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry pasta – Penne or Ziti are my favorite
- 2 T olive oil
- ½ cup chopped onions
- ½ cup chopped bell peppers, or peppers from frozen pepper stir fry
- 10 oz jar chopped mushrooms, drained
- 1 ½ T Italian Seasoning
- 1 ½ T Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 36 oz pasta sauce such as Prego or Ragu
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 6 breaded chicken patties
- 1 ½ c grated Mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta in salted water as directed on package but subtracting about 1 – 2 minutes from total cooking time.
- It will continue to cook while baking.
- Drain and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Pour olive oil into medium size skillet.
- Saute’ onions, peppers, mushrooms and all seasonings over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Add pasta sauce.
- Heat this for 5 minutes or just until bubbly.
- Add ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese and stir until just melted, about 2 minutes.
- Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish or aluminum pan with vegetable spray.
- Put about 1 cup of sauce mixture into bottom of pan.
- Layer chicken patties on top of sauce.
- Add pasta on top of chicken.
- Sprinkle 1 cup Mozzarella cheese on top of pasta.
- Pour remainder of sauce over cheese.
- Bake for 30 – 35 minutes.
- Add remaining ½ cup Mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
- Let set for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve with garlic bread and fresh garden salad.
Notes
This is a great dish for a pot luck dinner or family dinner.
For my family of 3, it gives us plenty of leftovers for lunches.
You could consider making this into 2 smaller dishes.
If so, after assembling your dishes, (leaving off the last layer of cheese), let cool completely.
Wrap in a layer of plastic wrap and a layer of aluminum foil and freeze.
To cook, place in cold oven and set oven to 350.
Cook for 50 – 55 minutes.
Add the last layer of cheese and cook 5 more minutes.
This looks super tasty! I love anything with cheese on it. This is one of my fav dishes 🙂 A great idea for a family dish. Thanks so much for sharing!!
Rachael @ Diamonds in the Rough
Put cheese on something, and I’m there. Oh, and bacon. I used to keep a couple of these in the freezer so if I needed something at last minute, or even to take to someone. Hope you try.
Oh my goodness, this looks AMAZING!!! Definitely need to try this! Thanks for sharing! =)
It really is good and quite easy. Hope you try it.