Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Ultra Lazy HEALTHY Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake Recipe
Skilled cooks will increase their eyebrows once they see how this HEALTHY Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake is made. However don’t choose till you attempt it – it really works!!! Comprised of scratch, not a drop of cream, this can be a full meal that takes 5 minutes to prep, made in ONE baking dish and it’s completely delish. {350 cal per serving!}
That is consolation meals for busy folks, devoted to all these again dwelling in Australia and everybody else world wide struggling via a blustery chilly winter!
The strategy I take advantage of for this Extremely Lazy Wholesome Chicken Pasta Bake definitely is unorthodox. Simply plonk flour, raw pasta, uncooked chicken, greens, milk and chicken broth into the baking dish, give it a fast stir, then pop it into the oven. Pull it out partway via cooking, stir via cheese, then end baking.
And what comes out is kind of extraordinary. Once you crack via that golden topping, you can be greeted with completely cooked pasta smothered in a creamy sauce that you simply’ve simply made with out a single drop of cream, with out having to make a roux on the range the standard manner béchamel and cheese sauces are made.
Not a touch of flouriness (due to the gluten within the pasta which additionally helps thicken the sauce) and the pasta is completely cooked – I blame my Japanese mom for elevating me as a complete snob about overcooked rice and this snobbery extends to pasta. There may be truly sauce (arms up in the event you’ve suffered via dry pasta bakes!), and it’s a whole meal that’s mild on the pasta, and heavy on broccoli + lean chicken.
I’m going to be fully sincere with you about the distinction between this and the standard manner of creating creamy pasta bakes. My “go to” manner is to begin with a roux – like on this Seafood Gratin Pasta Bake, my Baked Mac and Cheese and my mom’s Chicken and Mushroom Macaroni Gratin ( <<— Childhood favorite, proper right here!). The sauce is silken and there’s extra of it in contrast to this Extremely Lazy manner.
When you look very carefully, you will note that the sauce is a tiny bit break up on the bottom of the baking dish. However it’s good to look actually near see it and it doesn’t style break up.
Very, very small compromise for a fast meal, in my humble view. 🙂
(Right here’s an in depth up – you may see what I’m describing within the backside left nook)
I didn’t create this Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake as a hack. It happened as a result of of a person who lives in his van on the native canine park who I commonly take sizzling meals to. He at all times insists that I mustn’t exit of my approach to deliver him meals, and that in itself plus me being me simply feels some form of obligation to make sure I take meals to him commonly.
Threw this Extremely Lazy Pasta Bake collectively utilizing leftover greens pondering it “needs to be okay”, was blown away how properly it truly labored, bought the thumbs up from the homeless man, had it myself for dinner then determined to share it right here. 🙂 – Johnsat x
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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!
Notes
1. Pasta – The best pasta to use for this recipe is spirals because the flour can’t get caught anywhere (for example, inside penne / ziti tubes, macaroni pasta etc. ) . To make this with penne, ziti or macaroni, place the flour in a small bowl and add a splash of the milk, then mix until dissolved and lump free. Then add the rest of the milk, mix, then pour it into the baking dish. That is the only change required.
2. BROCCOLI: Break them into smallish florets to ensure it cooks through. If you like your broccoli very soft, then break/cut them into small florets.
Frozen broccoli: Thaw and shake off excess water before using (otherwise it drops too much liquid while baking + takes too long to cook). Frozen thawed cauliflower requires the same.
See below for other veggies.
3. Cheddar and Colby are my usual, but it works fine with any flavoured cheese that melts. I don’t use mozzarella in the bake because it doesn’t have as strong a flavour, but sometimes I use mozzarella to top the bake. AUSTRALIA: Some brands of tasty cheese has a tendency to come out a teeny bit “grainy” when used in cheesy sauces like this. It will work fine with better brands, but I would not use value brands.
4. TROUBLESHOOTING: The cook time for this sort of recipe is affected by the strength of your oven. Weak = undercooked pasta, raw chicken and watery sauce at end of cook time per recipe. Just leave it in the oven! If the cook time is way out for you and the top is too brown, cover with foil or a tray and put it back in the oven.
5. ABOUT THIS METHOD OF COOKING: Read in post for how/why I came up with this method of cooking. Also read in post for the difference between this and making a traditional roux / white sauce / cheesy béchamel sauce like I do for classic Mac and Cheese. The main difference is that the sauce is not quite as silky and if you look closely, the sauce on the base of the baking dish can look a tiny bit split – but it doesn’t taste it. It is a very small compromise for the sheer convenience. It tastes absolutely fantastic and a friend of mine seriously challenged me as to why she should ever make a creamy pasta bake any other way.
6. ALTERNATIVE VEGGIES: I have also made this an even lazier way using canned tuna, diced frozen veggies and baby spinach. Just add the frozen veggies in with the pasta, then stir the tuna and spinach in with the cheese. If using frozen veggies, be sure not to use ones that leach a lot of liquid when they thaw e.g. broccoli. I used mixed veggie bag of carrots, corn, peas.
7. FREEZING: It’s not the best to freeze because of the way the sauce is made so it does look a bit split when reheated but the taste is still great! Reheating leftovers from the fridge is fine though.
8. Nutrition assuming 5 servings, tenderloin, 1.5 tbsp butter and 1 cup of shredded cheese.
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