With only 8 simple ingredients and loaded with protein and incredible cozy flavors, this Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake is sure to be a dinner winner!
This Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake is one of those easy recipes that I've made more times than I can count! In the south, a gift of a homemade goodie says I love you and care about you! I love giving this ready-made, pop-in-the-oven chicken bake as a congratulations on your new home gift, a congratulations on the new baby gift or a I'm sorry for your loss gesture.
With its irresistible combination of tender, seasoned chicken, pasta, and gooey cheese and sour cream, this dinner is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Whether you're preparing a comfort food meal for the family or hosting a get-together, this dish will surely leave everyone with happy bellies and asking for seconds...and the recipe!
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Table of Contents
Why You’ll like this Recipe
- Minimal Prep and Clean-Up: With only a few prep tools needed and one dish to bake it in, it's a meal that's easy to make and clean-up. You can have everything cleaned and put away before it's done baking.
- Make-Ahead Ease: Aside from adding the buttery cracker topping until the end, you can make the dish ahead of time for easier dinner execution.
- Homemade Gifting: The gift of easy dinners is one any friend or family member would love! You can share the whole dish or make two small pans, one for you, one to share. Simply cover with a lid or aluminum foil and give them to crackers and butter to add their topping when ready to bake.
- Quick and Simple: It's a super easy casserole! You'll have it nearly whipped up before the oven has time to preheat!
- Epitome of Comfort Food: The creamy, cheesy, noodle texture combined with the crunchy, buttery cracker topping makes it an incredibly comforting recipe the whole family will love!
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Amounts Listed in the Recipe Card Below
- Seasoned Cooked Chicken (or Turkey): Adds protein to the dish, making it more satisfying and balanced. It also contributes a savory flavor that complements the other ingredients.
- Sour Cream: Adds a rich and creamy texture to the casserole as well as helps bind the ingredients together.
- Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup: Binds the ingredients together and adds moisture to the dish. It also contributes to the overall savory, cozy flavor profile of the dish.
- Colby Jack and Cheddar Cheese: A star ingredient in a cheesy chicken pasta bake. It adds richness, creaminess, and a gooey texture when melted.
- Pasta (I use Al Dente Carba Nada Pasta): Serves as the base and primary source of carbohydrates.
- Butter: Moistens the cracker crumbs and enhances their golden brown color.
- Butter Crackers: Adds a crunchy texture and golden brown finish.
Tools You’ll Need
- Medium Pot
- 13”x9” Pan or Casserole Dish
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Spatula
How to Make this Recipe
- Cook pasta per package directions in boiling salted water and drain.
- To a large bowl, add sour cream, condensed cream of chicken soup, both cheeses and chicken. Fold until well combined.
- Add the drained, cooked pasta, and fold again until well combined.
- Butter or spray with cooking spray a 13"x9" baking dish. Pour the noodle mixture inside and spread evenly.
- In a small bowl, stir together melted butter and crackers until it resembles a crumble. Evenly distribute the crumble on top of the chicken mixture.
- Bake 28-30 minutes or until the mixture is bubbling at the edges and the crackers are slightly browned.
What to Serve with Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake
This creamy pasta bake can be served with so many vegetable side dishes. A few of our favorites to pair with it are green beans, a vegetable medley, glazed Brussel sprouts, a simple side salad, or Garlic Broccoli and Mushrooms.
Another compliment to this pasta dish is store-bought or homemade garlic bread or garlic cheese biscuits.
Tips and Substitutions
- Noodle and Pasta Types: I use a low-carbohydrate, high protein pasta in my recipe, but 10oz of most pasta/noodles varieties would work. This recipe is excellent with long or short pasta, egg noodles or amish egg noodles.
- Creamy Substitutions and Options: Regular or light sour cream both work in this cheesy pasta. If you don't like using cream of chicken soup from a can, here is how you can make it from scratch (make sure to double the ingredients below because this recipe calls for 2 cans):
- Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in ⅓ cup all-purpose flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in ⅓ cup milk and ⅓ cup chicken broth until well combined. Season with ¼ teaspoon onion powder and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes or until thickened and creamy.
- Pre-Cooked Chicken Options: Rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken or freshly made seasoned chicken breast or thighs all work in this dish. If your juicy chicken isn't pre-seasoned, consider adding garlic, salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, a dash of Italian seasoning, and/or flaky poultry seasoning to the chicken mixture. Season chicken to preference.
- Holiday Turkey Leftovers: This is a great way to repurpose leftover, seasoned holiday turkey. Use the same amount of turkey as the recipe calls for chicken.
- Topping Options: There are several crispy toppings that work great! A buttery topping of crushed potato chips breadcrumbs, corn flakes, or even crushed seasoned croutons all offer a unique twist.
- My Cooked Chicken: In this recipe's video, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I cooked in the crockpot on high for 3-4 hours in chicken broth with 1-2 teaspoons each poultry seasoning and garlic powder and ½ teaspoon salt.
Storage and Freezing
Allow the creamy chicken pasta bake to cool to room temperature after baking. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3-4 days. Beyond this time, the quality may start to decline.
Freeze leftover casserole in an airtight, freezer-safe container up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator prior to heating up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can make the filling ahead of time, cover tightly and refrigerate until you're ready to bake it. Don't add the cracker/butter mixture topping until you're ready to bake it.
Absolutely. Again, make the filling only, cover tightly and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight before baking. Add the cracker/butter mixture topping when you're ready to bake it.
I've made this and had success using regular pasta, egg noodles and amish egg noodles. While it might work just fine, I haven't tried it with alternative pastas like chickpea, bean, lentil or rice pasta.
If you want to bake half now and save the other half for later or give to a friend, divide the filling and topping into 2 9"x9" pans. The bake time will adjust to 20-25 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbling at the edges.
No, there is gluten in the pasta, crackers and soup. However, you could experiment with using gluten-free alternatives.
More Delicious Recipes Like This
- Next Level French Onion Chicken
- Easy Swiss Chicken Stuffing Casserole
- Easy Chicken Casserole
- Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds seasoned cooked and chopped chicken see notes
- 1 ½ cup sour cream light or regular
- 2 10.75 ounce cans condensed cream of chicken soup see notes for homemade
- 2 cups shredded Colby jack cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 8-10 ounces pasta see notes
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 ½ cup crushed butter crackers
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta per package directions and drain.
- To a large mixing bowl, add sour cream, condensed cream of chicken soup, both cheeses and chicken. Fold until well combined.
- Add the drained, cooked pasta, and fold again until well combined.
- Butter or spray with cooking spray a 13"x9" baking dish. Pour the noodle mixture inside and spread evenly.
- In a small bowl, stir together melted butter and crackers until it resembles a crumble. Evenly distribute the crumble on top of the chicken mixture.
- Bake 28-30 minutes or until the mixture is bubbling at the edges and the crackers are slightly browned.
Video
Notes
Tips and Substitutions
- Noodle and Pasta Types: I use a low-carbohydrate, high protein pasta in my recipe, but 10oz of most pasta/noodles varieties would work. This recipe is excellent with long or short pasta, egg noodles or amish egg noodles.
- Creamy Substitutions and Options: Regular or light sour cream both work in this cheesy pasta. If you don't like using cream of chicken soup from a can, here is how you can make it from scratch (make sure to double the ingredients below because this recipe calls for 2 cans):
- Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in ⅓ cup all-purpose flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in ⅓ cup milk and ⅓ cup chicken broth until well combined. Season with ¼ teaspoon onion powder and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes or until thickened and creamy.
- Pre-Cooked Chicken Options: Rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken or freshly made seasoned chicken breast or thighs all work in this dish. If your juicy chicken isn't pre-seasoned, consider adding garlic, salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, a dash of Italian seasoning, and/or flaky poultry seasoning to the chicken mixture. Season chicken to preference.
- Holiday Turkey Leftovers: This is a great way to repurpose leftover, seasoned holiday turkey. Use the same amount of turkey as the recipe calls for chicken.
- Topping Options: There are several crispy toppings that work great! A buttery topping of crushed potato chips breadcrumbs, corn flakes, or even crushed seasoned croutons all offer a unique twist.
- My Cooked Chicken: In this recipe's video, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I cooked in the crockpot on high for 3-4 hours in chicken broth with 1-2 teaspoons each poultry seasoning and garlic powder and ½ teaspoon salt.
Laura
My family loved this pasta bake. It was so good and easy to make. I also followed your idea to use frozen chicken and cooked in the crock pot like it says. It was so good and I froze what I didn’t use.
Laura Ashley
That is fantastic, Laura! I'm so excited that you made it and liked it so much as well! It means a lot to me that you shared this experience with it!
Cheryl Hinton
What a big hit. Everyone loved it. Very easy and a quick meal.
Laura Ashley
That is FANTASTIC!! I'm so excited that you made it and that it was a hit with everyone!
Tammy Baser
Delish! Made this using rotisserie chicken and wide egg noodles and other ingredients same as recipe except I added a small can of chopped hot green chili peppers. It was a little thick to mix so I added pasta water until it became easier to mix. I cooked longer than suggested s as my dish was deeper and wanted it cooked through the middle. Added the Ritz cracker topping after 30 minutes and cooked another 20-25 minutes to golden and crispy edges. It was so good I didn’t want to stop eating it. This would be a great pot luck dish. Thank you! Love it!
Laura Ashley
Boy does that sound DELICIOUS right now! Adding those peppers was such a great idea too! Thank you so much for making it and sharing your experience with it too! I'm thrilled that you liked it so much!! 🙂
Sam
I was looking for a scrap-busting dinner and BOY oh BOY did this deliver! I used the remnants of a turkey I smoked a few days ago, greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and chopped up a couple yellow summer squash and sauteed them in some bacon grease to add a veggie. I used leftover cheese remnants: gouda, sharp New York cheddar, and a little bit of iberco. Second half a large bag of egg noodles cooked halfway, and I did as another poster suggested and used some of the pasta water to thin everything out. With a forgotten 1/3 bag of butter crackers on top, this was perfectly done in 25 minutes. 5-year-old approved and I’m sure husband will eat half the pan himself when he comes home! Thank you for this AWESOME recipe!
Laura Ashley
Now this is just FANTASTIC!! I absolutely love that you made this and all the subs you made! It flat out sounds AMAZING!! Thank you for sharing how much you and your family liked it!!