Experienced cooks will raise their eyebrows when they see how this HEALTHY Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake is made. But don’t judge until you try it – it works!!! Made from scratch, not a drop of cream, this is a complete meal that takes 5 minutes to prep, made in ONE baking dish and it’s absolutely delish. {350 cal per serving!}
The World’s EASIEST Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake!
This is comfort food for busy people, dedicated to all those back home in Australia and everyone else around the world suffering through a blustery cold winter!
The method I use for this Ultra Lazy Healthy Chicken Pasta Bake certainly is unorthodox. Just plonk flour, uncooked pasta, raw chicken, vegetables, milk and chicken broth into the baking dish, give it a quick stir, then pop it into the oven. Pull it out partway through cooking, stir through cheese, then finish baking.
And what comes out is quite extraordinary. When you crack through that golden topping, you will be greeted with perfectly cooked pasta smothered in a creamy sauce that you’ve just made without a single drop of cream, without having to make a roux on the stove the traditional way béchamel and cheese sauces are made.
Not a hint of flouriness (thanks to the gluten in the pasta which also helps thicken the sauce) and the pasta is perfectly cooked – I blame my Japanese mother for raising me as a total snob about overcooked rice and this snobbery extends to pasta. There is actually sauce (hands up if you’ve suffered through dry pasta bakes!), and it’s a complete meal that’s light on the pasta, and heavy on broccoli + lean chicken.
I’m going to be completely honest with you about the difference between this and the traditional way of making creamy pasta bakes. My “go to” way is to start with a roux – like in this Seafood Gratin Pasta Bake, my Baked Mac and Cheese and my mother’s Chicken and Mushroom Macaroni Gratin ( <<— Childhood favourite, right here!). The sauce is silken and there’s more of it compared to this Ultra Lazy way.
If you look very closely, you will see that the sauce is a tiny bit split on the base of the baking dish. But you need to look really close to see it and it doesn’t taste split.
Very, very small compromise for a quick meal, in my humble view. 🙂
(Here’s a close up – you can see what I am describing in the bottom left corner)
I didn’t create this Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake as a hack. It came about because of a man who lives in his van at the local dog park who I regularly take hot meals to. He always insists that I mustn’t go out of my way to bring him meals, and that in itself plus me being me just feels some sort of obligation to ensure I take meals to him regularly.
I had skipped a few days and I was standing in my kitchen, flustered at the mound of dirty dishes and peeved because of a failed video shoot and wanted to make something quickly.
Threw this Ultra Lazy Pasta Bake together using leftover vegetables thinking it “should be ok”, was blown away how well it actually worked, got the thumbs up from the homeless man, had it myself for dinner then decided to share it here. 🙂 – Nagi x
More big, juicy pasta bakes
Baked Ziti – the mother of all pasta bakes!
Tuna Pasta Bake – the highest and best use for canned tuna!
Baked Mac and Cheese – and try the Shrimp version!
Cheeseburger Casserole (Homemade Hamburger Helper)
Browse all pasta recipes
Watch how to make it
Ultra Lazy HEALTHY Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake recipe video!
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Ultra Lazy Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 400g / 14 oz chicken tenderloin (raw) , breast or thigh, cut into 1.5cm / 3/5″ pieces
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme (or other herbs and/or spices of choice)
- 250g / 8 oz spiral pasta, uncooked (See Note 1 for other shapes)
- 1/4 cup flour (all purpose / plain)
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth/stock , warmed
- 2 cups milk , warmed (any fat %)
- 1 large garlic clove , minced
- 2 tbsp / 30g unsalted butter , recommended but optional
- 1 large broccoli or 2 medium broccoli or cauliflower, broken into small to medium florets (Note 2 for subs)
- 1 1/2 cups (tightly packed) shredded cheddar or colby cheese (or tasty cheese, pizza mix etc, Note 3)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan-forced).
- Sprinkle chicken with salt (be generous), pepper and thyme, toss to coat.
- Spread pasta in a 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13" baking dish. Sprinkle flour all across the surface (don't dump in clump else it won't dissolve). Pour over milk and broth, add garlic and butter. Stir.
- Spread chicken over the top, then broccoli.
- Cover with foil, bake for 15 minutes (or 20 minutes if milk & broth were cold).
- Remove foil, STIR WELL. Add most of the cheese, then STIR WELL again. Top with remaining cheese.
- Return to oven. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until top is golden and sauce is thickened (See note 4 for troubleshooting).
- Stand for a few minutes then serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More chicken and broccoli recipes
For those of you who, like me, find yourself putting both of these in your trolley week after week…
Life of Dozer
I always joke about how when I’m away, Dozer doesn’t miss me at all because he’s too busy enjoying his own holiday with a Golden Retriever boarder.
But apparently, when she takes Dozer to the beach, he breaks away from the pack and sprints up to “dark haired people of my shape”, then bolts back when he realises it’s not me.
I didn’t know what to react to first – pleased as punch at the first sign that he does actually seem to miss me, or bursting into laughter at her delicately phrased description that Dozer only runs towards vertically challenged, dark haired women with generously sized bottoms!!!
Our favourite midweek go to, so easy, delicious and healthy. Another great no fail Nagi recipe !!
Wow, Nagi, I could not believe my eyes or taste us considering how easy this was! I did add a tsp of garlic and onion powder and 2 tsp Italian herbs halfway as suggested by comments. Perfection!
I knew my oven is pretty weak, so I used my trusty le creuset everyday pan (deep skillet). Heated it to med-high on the stove, added the ingredients and popped into the oven. 20 min for the first round and 20 min for the second round. Success!
I discovered your blog about 2 years ago, and its about 90% of what I cook now.
Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes! I’ve been making this dish about 3 times a month lately. Kids love it! and I love how simple it is.
Keep up the amazing work!
Sorry I forgot to rate it
I made this last night. I followed the instructions and despite the sauce looking a little split as Nagi had pointed out in the recipe it tasted delicious. I did cook with the foil for 25 minutes and without foul for a further 25 minutes and that seemed to work fine for me. The slightly split sauce was a worthwhile trade off for the quick and easy method.
I did have a thought about the comments from people saying that their sauce didn’t thicken. I wonder if they didn’t add the ‘optional’ butter? I feel that the white sauce would need flour, butter and milk/stock-the same as if you were making the sauce on the stove. I think the butter would be necessary to emulsify the sauce and without it flour and liquid would just be like wallpaper paste. Not that I am any sort of expert in food science. Just a thought that I wanted to share. In fact I might do a little experiment making some sauce with and without butter in the oven to see which comes out best.
I love Nagi’s recipes, and recipetineats is always my first go-to when looking for something to cook, but the stated prep times are absolutely delusional!
I rarely make one pot/pan/vessel of choice dishes and am always worried about them not turning out right, but this was fantastic and came together so easily! Perfect to make after work. I added zucchini which worked very well texturally. Will definitely be repeating, potentially with other veg too
Boy, did I abuse this recipe! Still delicious. Second time and wanted to use up some leek and mushroom so made it to recipe and then heaped on the mushroom and leek. Chicken was still fairly frozen, baked slightly longer covered so it was cooked through, carefully stirred it all up as it was overflowing the pan, added cheese, and voila! Delicious. Even baked it night before so everyone could just heat and eat on a busy night where we were all on different schedules. Absolutly love your delicious and practical recipes, Nagli. You’re an artist! Thank you, This one is a keeper!
This is a family fav!
Hope to see some more one pan dishes like this.
My husband liked it, so I take that as a huge compliment! Definitely adding to the meal rotation.
Going by other comments I just decided to do an extra 20 mins to begin with and everything was fine. I added some onion & carrot as well as some more seasonings and doubled the cheese, the smell while cooking was great and the simplicity of this recipe is a life saver!
This recipe was so easy and so tasty! I made it as written and had no issues with it being bland (and I like flavour!). I loved that the broccoli got some brown roasted edges. Note about the sauce looking a bit split was right but it did not affect the flavour at all. Adding this to the recipe rotation.
Cooked this for dinner. I added bacon and part cooked the broccoli beforehand. Cooked it covered for 45 mins and after adding the cheese 30 mins uncovered. Was beautiful!!!!
We’re eating it right now… Yum! Five stars out of five!
Really like this dish it did take an extra 20-30 mins and I did also fry half red onion and mushrooms for some added veg. Another winner thanks Nagi
I’m a longtime fan but a first-time commenter. I made this tonight as I thought I had some old broccoli to use up, but when it came to adding it, I couldn’t find it (it was hiding behind some leftovers). Luckily, I had two punnets of sliced white mushrooms, which I subbed in place of the broccoli. I didn’t have any milk but had cream, so I used 1 cup of cream and 2.5 cups of stock. I tasted it at the first toss stage and thought it needed extra flavour, so I added garlic powder, onion powder, and dried parsley. I used Fibre Gourmet (a low carb/ high fibre pasta available in the US which takes twice as long to cook) rotini and let it sit in the oven until it was time to eat. It came out perfectly. Otherwise, I followed the recipe as written. I will 100% make it again, but it does benefit from a bit of “jushing” up with whatever extra herbs and spices you have in your pantry. When serving, a tiny sprinkle of dried chilli flakes gives it the perfect kick—Chef’s kiss! Thanks to the team for this recipe.
Had to cook this chicken and broccoli dish and extr20mins. Foil a no no. Not happy
Adding an extra comment to previous post, I’m just glad I previous cooked broccoli and pasta for 5-10 mins before I added raw Chicken, then cooked uncovered for 20 mins. Meal so so
Would you like me to polish your tiara?
Hey Judith, Foil is a no no for us as well. We found that placing parchment paper first then foil. this provides a layer of protection needed to keep foil away from food.
hope this helps.
Cheers.
Oh yes, This is a weekly dish in our home. Enjoyed by three generations at one table.
This was really yummy, super easy to make and I always appreciate a recipe with minimal cleanup, bonus points for that! I did have to bake it for an extra 15 minutes though (covered) for the pasta to be cooked through and the sauce to thicken, I guess my oven isn’t as strong. But I’ll definitely be making this again and will just plan for the extra baking time!
This was delish. You can’t go wrong with chicken and broccoli! I used brown rice (GF) noodles and almond milk and it worked just fine. Also, used reduced fat Mexican cheese – fab and a Montreal Chicken seasoning.
This is the second time I’ve made this and I only made two tweaks: using Italian seasoning instead of thyme and I steamed the broccoli (just barely soft) before adding it.