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Top down view of white, square casserole dish with pesto pasta topped with sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella on a wooden cutting board.
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4.63 — Votes 29 votes

Pesto Pasta Bake

This one-dish pesto chicken pasta bake is so flavorful and easy to pull together that you may never go back to making pasta on the stove again!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian-Inspired
Servings: 6 servings
Author: Melissa Guevara

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces penne pasta
  • 22 ounces pesto
  • 1 ½ cups chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 8 ounces mozzarella pearls mini
  • 1 ½ pounds chicken breast cubed
  • 8 ounces sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained
  • 1 tablespoon Balanced Bites Italian Spice Blend (or 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning + 1 teaspoon garlic powder)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400℉.
  • Cube your chicken into 1” pieces and season with the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
  • To a 9x13 casserole dish, add the pasta, pesto, chicken broth, and lemon juice. Stir to combine, then add the chicken and sun dried tomatoes and give the ingredients one more stir to ensure everything is well incorporated. Finish it off by placing the mozzarella pearls evenly throughout the dish.
  • Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.
  • Remove the foil carefully, the steam will be hot! Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Tips for Baked Pesto Pasta:
  • Pesto sauces vary. Our favorite pesto is the basil pesto from Costco (it’s such a great deal for such a delicious product!). If you use a freshly made pesto, like the one you can find at a local grocer, you may find that your dish has a lot more oil than a shelf-stable prepared pesto. We recommend using less pesto if this is the case.
  • Get a tight seal. Make sure that the foil is tightly sealed over the casserole dish to ensure that it traps the steam to help cook the pasta.
  • Submerge the pasta. To ensure that all of the noodles cook through, make sure the pasta is covered in the sauce/broth mixture before heading into the oven. If it’s not, some of the top noodles may not get cooked through.
Variations for Pesto Chicken Pasta Bake:
  • Make it gluten free. Use a gluten free pasta (we used this one) to make this dish gluten free.
  • Make it vegetarian. If you prefer to have a vegetarian dish, simply omit the chicken. It will still be just as tasty and satisfying!

Nutrition

Calories: 928kcal | Carbohydrates: 59.6g | Protein: 52.4g | Fat: 53.4g | Saturated Fat: 9.2g | Cholesterol: 90.8mg | Sodium: 2091.8mg | Fiber: 6.5g | Sugar: 4.5g