Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Casserole

Nothing beats a bubbly, cheesy delicious pasta “hero” casserole!

This easy to pull together comfort-food casserole is something everyone will love! I know going into this busy holiday season, this Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Casserole is going to be my “hero” dinner – as it’s a “no-brainer”, easy to make dinner for those whirlwind “holidaze” days.

It combines fresh broccoli, chicken, your favorite penne pasta (I like the extra protein Barilla version!) and a jar of alfredo sauce – plus some flavor boosting seasonings and mozzarella cheese! YUM!

You can use leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken or cook some of your own! I like to shred my warm chicken in my KitchenAid Stand Mixer or with my KitchenAid Hand Mixer!

To make this Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Casserole simpler – I shred my chicken in my stand mixer, then add my sauce ingredients right to my stand mixer, then just combine with the pasta and broccoli! See recipe notes for directions on how to do so.

The preparation starts with cooking your pasta and broccoli at the same time! Such a time saver!

Love Chicken, Love Broccoli?

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Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Casserole

Nothing beats a bubbly, cheesy delicious pasta casserole!

This easy to pull together comfort-food casserole is something everyone will love! It combines fresh broccoli, chicken, your favorite penne pasta and a jar of alfredo sauce – plus some flavor boosting seasonings and mozzarella cheese! YUM!

Tina Verrelli – epicuricloud.com

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Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: alfredo, casserole, hot dish, pasta bake

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 generous servings

Equipment

• 13" x 9" Baking Dish

Ingredients

You'll boil pasta and add broccoli at the end:

• 8 ounces dry penne pasta
• 3 cups fresh broccoli florets

These will be mixed together:

• 2-3 cups shredded cooked chicken see note
• 1 jar, 15-ounce alfredo sauce
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon fresh minced garlic see note
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped roasted red pepper drained

Topping:

• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 13" x 9" baking dish if needed.
• Bring pot (approx.4 qt.) of salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook 1 minute less than package instructions. Add broccoli to pot during last 2 minutes of pasta cooking time.
• Meanwhile in bowl add shredded chicken* and pour in alfredo sauce. Pour milk in alfredo sauce jar, put on lid and shake to release remaining sauce. (See Note – I shred my chicken and mix ingredients in my stand mixer.)
• To chicken mixture, stir in the rest of the ingredients except mozzarella.
• When pasta and broccoli are done, drain and pour into baking dish.
• Pour in chicken alfredo mixture. Stir to combine. Top with mozzarella.
• Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Notes

Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer Shredding of Chicken:

You can either cook chicken, use leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken.  (About 1.5 pounds of uncooked boneless chicken should give you about 3 cups shredded.  An average sized (2-3 pound) rotisserie chicken should give you about 3 cups shredded.)

To shred with your stand mixer, add warm cooked chicken (no skin, no bones, cut in half if very large pieces).  You can use your flat, flex or pastry beater to shred.  Start on low.  Increase speed but stay in lower range.  Shred until desired texture is reached.  If I’m planning to mix in other ingredients after shredding, I’ll shred a little less as it will continue shredding while mixing in other ingredients.

You can alternatively shred with your hand mixer and your turbo (regular) beaters or the newer flex edge turbo beaters.

Garlic:

Some jarred alfredo sauces are more garlicky than others.  You can choose whether or not to add additional garlic to the recipe.  1 medium clove = 1 tsp. minced garlic.  If you prefer garlic powder, you could go with 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon.

Make Ahead:

If you want to make ahead, increase milk to 2/3 cup.  The casserole will take longer to bake if it’s cold from the refrigerator.  I would cover for the first 20 minutes.  Then uncover and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Nutrition (approx. data estimated via online nutritional calculator.)

Calories: 397kcal (20%) | Carbohydrates: 35g (12%) | Protein: 29g (58%) | Fat: 15g (23%) | Saturated Fat: 8g (50%) | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 74mg (25%) | Sodium: 795mg (35%) | Potassium: 431mg (12%) | Fiber: 3g (13%) | Sugar: 3g (3%) | Vitamin A: 724IU (14%) | Vitamin C: 46mg (56%) | Calcium: 331mg (33%) | Iron: 2mg (11%)

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