This Easy Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake is a simple, no-fuss dinner that you can easily make right at home with very few ingredients and ready in just 30 minutes. Plus, it’s a definite crowd pleaser for even the pickiest eaters.
I love simple dinner recipes like this, dinners that you can literally put together in only 30 minutes. This is perfect, especially after a long hard day at work. All you really need is butter, flour and Parmesan cheese, ingredients that you most likely already have in the house. I wanted to make this a bit heartier though so that we wouldn’t be hungry half hour after eating it, so I added some chicken.
Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
- Quick and Easy Prepping Steps
- Simple Pantry Ingredients
- Crowd Pleaser
- Creamy Sauce
- Ready in Just 30 Minutes
We can all agree that pasta is almost always the answer to ‘what should we eat tonight?’ right? I say almost because sometimes you just want to switch things up a little, and a pasta bake is the perfect way to do just that and still have everyone love what you’re prepping for dinner.
This dish will work with many other types of pasta if you have some in the pantry you’d like to use up. The Alfredo sauce is just so delicious, it’s good with anything! I like to use a shaped pasta so that there’s lots of ridges for the sauce to cling to, I especially recommend something smaller like penne, fusilli, elbow, or bowtie.
Ingredient Notes
- Pasta – Use a small shaped pasta such as penne, elbow or shells.
- Butter – Unsalted as to control the sodium content of our dish.
- Chicken – Boneless and skinless chicken breast, cubed up into bite sized pieces. You can also use chicken thighs as well.
- Cheese – Shredded mozzarella and Parmesan.
- Flour – Just a bit of all purpose to help thicken up our sauce, for gluten free feel free to use cornstarch instead.
- Cream – We’re using heavy cream to form a beautiful creamy sauce.
- Pasta water – The starch in the pasta water will help our sauce thicken, be sure to grab some before draining the pasta.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper.
- Parsley – Minced up nice and fine and sprinkled liberally over top.
How To Make Easy Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
- Prepare the pasta: Turn your broiler on. Cook pasta according to package instructions.
- Cook the chicken: In a large skillet melt 1 tbsp of the butter. Add chicken pieces and cook just until chicken is no longer pink and is beginning to slightly brown. Remove chicken from skillet.
- Make the sauce: In the same skillet, add remaining butter and melt it. Pour the heavy cream in the skillet and whisk it. Add the flour and continue whisking until sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper and add the Parmesan cheese. Continue whisking. By now the sauce should be pretty thick, use some of the pasta water to thin it out a bit. Add chicken and pasta to skillet and toss well.
- Finish the dish: Top with mozzarella cheese and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes until cheese is bubbly and gets golden brown, checking often to make sure the top doesn’t burn. Garnish with parsley and more Parmesan cheese if preferred.
FAQ’s and Expert Tips
FAQ’s
This dish will work with many other types of pasta if you have some in the pantry you’d like to use up. The Alfredo sauce is just so delicious, it’s good with anything! I like to use a small shaped pasta so that there’s lots of ridges for the sauce to cling to, I especially recommend something smaller like penne, fusilli, elbow, or bowtie.
Pasta water will add flavor and seasoning to your dish (you’re always making sure to salt your pasta water right?). It will also help thicken our sauce and ensure the sauce sticks to our pasta. It will also add a sheen to your sauce, so be sure to always reserve a little bit! This is the secret to all great pasta sauces.
This rich, creamy dish pairs beautifully with light and simple sides like salads and roasted veggies. This pasta bake is completely satisfying on its own so if you’d rather just curl up on the couch with a big old bowl, I won’t stop you. Or you can add on the side some of these:
Creamy Cucumber Salad
Greek Salad
Mediterranean Couscous Salad
Kale And Quinoa Salad With Lemon Vinaigrette
Tabbouleh Salad
Italian Roasted Mushrooms And Veggies
Expert Tips
- The sauce will seem thin when you start to mix in the pasta. Don’t worry, just keep tossing. The starches from the pasta will mix into the sauce to give the the perfect consistency. If you use flour or cornstarch to thicken the sauce, it may come out with a gluey consistency once it’s cooled down a bit.
- You can add a few tsp of Italian seasoning, a pinch of nutmeg or red pepper flakes to add some flare to this sauce. Feel free to get creative with seasoning.
- You can adjust the ratio of cream to milk in this recipe to suit how rich you’d like it to be.
Leftovers
You can store this recipe easily in the fridge. In an airtight container it’ll keep for 3 – 5 days just be sure it’s properly cooled before storing. Unfortunately this dish doesn’t freeze well so I recommend either making it day of or a few days before and storing in the fridge.
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Easy Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 oz pasta uncooked, I used elbow macaroni
- 3 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 chicken breast cut into small pieces
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3/4 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- salt and pepper to taste
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare the pasta: Turn your broiler on. Cook pasta according to package instructions.
- Cook the chicken: In a large skillet melt 1 tbsp of the butter. Add chicken pieces and cook just until chicken is no longer pink and is beginning to slightly brown. Remove chicken from skillet.
- Make the sauce: In the same skillet, add remaining butter and melt it. Pour the heavy cream in the skillet and whisk it. Add the flour and continue whisking until sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper and add the Parmesan cheese. Continue whisking. By now the sauce should be pretty thick, use some of the pasta water to thin it out a bit. Add chicken and pasta to skillet and toss well.
- Finish the dish: Top with mozzarella cheese and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes until cheese is bubbly and gets golden brown, checking often to make sure the top doesn't burn.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish with parsley and more Parmesan cheese if preferred.
Recipe Notes
- The sauce will seem thin when you start to mix in the pasta. Don’t worry, just keep tossing. The starches from the pasta will mix into the sauce to give the the perfect consistency. If you use flour or cornstarch to thicken the sauce, it may come out with a gluey consistency once it’s cooled down a bit.
- You can add a few tsp of Italian seasoning, a pinch of nutmeg or red pepper flakes to add some flare to this sauce. Feel free to get creative with seasoning.
- You can adjust the ratio of cream to milk in this recipe to suit how rich you’d like it to be.
- You can store this recipe easily in the fridge. In an airtight container it’ll keep for 3 – 5 days just be sure it’s properly cooled before storing. Unfortunately this dish doesn’t freeze well so I recommend either making it day of or a few days before and storing in the fridge.
I loved this recipe SO MUCH! I am a big fan of Chicken Alfredo and I didn’t know how to cook it until I found this recipe 😩. This was so quick and easy I’m most definitely using again. It also tastes delicious, that my family loved it!
I want yo make this for my bunco group which is a group of 12 women. Do I just double these ingredients as they like to eat. I was actually thinking of more than double so I would have enough. What are your suggestions
If you’ll be serving other dishes alongside the pasta, then doubling the recipe should be enough. If this is the only dish, then I’d triple it!
I made this tonight, but cooking for 1 so I cut the recipe in half 2 times. Creamy and cheesy, I loved it. Thank you !!
Made this for a second time tonight. Another great recipe that is in the rotation. Even my son said “Yep, it’s pretty good.” That is truly high praise (especially with the broccoli I put in there).
Thank you.
Love it when kids approve!
I just ran across this recipe today and made it for lunch. Like the previous cooks l added garlic. It was awesome. I will add it to my regular rotation. Served it with seasoned broccoli and buttered garlic knots. Delicious. Thank you for this great dish.
My pleasure, glad you liked it!
What a great easy recipe! I think I am going to cook the chicken with some garlic and add some diced tomato and brocoli to the bake… Gonna give it a go this evening! Can’t wait!
Great idea Ashley. Enjoy!
For the boiling part at the end. What temperature is that suppose to be on? 350 degrees?
Do you mean broiling? I usually turn on the broiler to HIGH and keep it under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown a bit, make sure you watch it because it could burn quickly under the broiler.
We LOVE this recipe! I didn’t want to run to the store, so substituted evaporated milk for the heavy cream and it worked out great! I sprinkled fresh snipped basil at serving time–what a hit! Thank you for this meal idea and recipe! I tried to rate it all 5 stars , but not sure the graphics are working right for me!
Thank you Rebecca, so glad you guys liked this recipe!
I was just writing down the needed ingredients and realized there is no garlic listed!! Is this correct?
I didn’t add any garlic to this but feel free to add a couple cloves, it would be great!
Thanks, was just surprised and thought I better double check. Making it tonite, adding a bit of garlic….so we shall see! 😉
I was just checking for this recipe again….realized I never let you know that it turned out delicious!! I did add some garlic, and some crushed garlic croutons to the top as well before broiling. It received rave reviews, so hats off to you!!
So glad you guys liked it!!
This looks great! I want to make this to freeze and reheat. Do you have instructions for reheating?
I would just reheat it in the microwave. 🙂
I meant can I make the recipe up to a certain point, freeze, then take out of the freezer to cook? Or do you suggest making the recipe all the way through and reheating at 350? I Just don’t want it to dry out!
Oh sorry, I misunderstood your question. That’s a great question actually, I think that’s a great idea actually, to not cook it all the way through, and just freeze it, and when you’re ready to serve, just heat it in the oven at 350, and then for the last couple minutes I would still turn the broiler on to get that nice golden color on top. Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Great, thank you! I’m making this for a pair of new parents, I bet they’re going to love it.
Very nice! What is a broiler though? if i dont have one can i do it on the stove or oven?
Usually most ovens have a BROIL setting, it’s very high heat coming from the top of the oven.
Hi! I plan on making this for dinner tonight and I just had 1 question….What do you mean by “heavy cream” in the ingredients? Like what kind of cream do I use?
Heavy cream, also called heavy whipping cream, is whipping cream with a milk fat content of between 36 and 40 percent.
Craving all of the cheesy deliciousness of this alfredo pasta bake now. Looks divine Jo!
Thanks Thalia!
Your website is great! Such a life saver. I made this for dinner and it was great. We don’t eat wheat in our household so I used elbow corn pasta by SamMills and rice flour by Betty Crocker. I used 3 chicken breasts instead of one when I saw it required 16 oz of pasta. My husband likes his meat! Thanks so much for the work you do! All the recipes I’ve tried so far from your site have been a hit!
Thank you so much Devan, and I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes. 🙂
This sounds lovely.
An ordinary whisk or the electric beaters?
Just an ordinary whisk Judy.