Chicken parmesan ziti bake is a delicious, easy pasta bake that will feed a large family. It takes little time to assemble, making this the perfect dinner choice for evenings where you are in a hurry.
A friend of mine recently remarked how she wished that her family also liked a wider choice of foods. It is something that I hear moms complaining about quite frequently. This a real family-friendly recipe. Adjust the different ingredients to suit your family’s pallet. You can add greens or omit it, use your favorite bottled pasta sauce, or add plain or flavored canned tomatoes.
What substitutions can I make when preparing this chicken parmesan ziti bake, to suit my family’s preferences?
- For this recipe I used some left-over roasted deboned chicken. You can substitute this for any type of cooked chicken breast or any other left-over chicken of your choice.
- I made this pasta with a bottled tomato and basil, sauce. Feel free to use any other tomato-based sauce that your family enjoys.
- I usually add some form of green vegetable, therefore in this recipe I used asparagus. Broccoli, courgettes, peas, or even cauliflower, will be great additions to this recipe.
- Feel free to add your family’s favorite pasta shape. I used penne, but any pasta shape, like screws or shells, will work well in this dish.
How to prepare chicken parmesan ziti bake:
You will need:
- Pre-cooked or roasted chicken.
- Pasta of your choice.
- Parmesan cheese
- Mozzarella cheese (grated)
- Panko breadcrumbs
- Fresh parsley
- Butter (melted)
- Your favorite bottled pasta sauce.
- Mediterranean, canned, chopped tomatoes
- Celery salt
- Garlic salt
- Dried origanum.
To prepare:
- Mix the butter, celery salt, garlic salt, fresh parsley, panko breadcrumbs, and parmesan together. This will form the topping of your pasta bake.
- Cook the pasta until al dente. Remember once the sauce is added, and the pasta is baked in the oven, the pasta will continue to soften.
- In the meantime, chop the pre-cooked chicken into bite-sized bits.
- Drain the pasta once it is cooked.
- Mix the pasta, pasta sauce, chopped tomatoes, origanum, and chicken pieces.
- Grease a large baking dish with butter and add the pasta mixture.
- Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the pasta mixture and top with the parmesan and panko breadcrumb mixture.
- Bake in the oven, at 180° C for half an hour.
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Chicken parmesan ziti bake
A delicious, and easy Mediterranean pasta bake with a crunchy, parmesan and panko bread topping.
Servings: 8
Equipment
- Regular kitchen utensils
Ingredients
Topping
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs You can use regular bread crumbs, but the topping will not be as crispy
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp dried origanum
- 1/2 tsp celery salt
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated or powder form
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt
Pasta
- 500 g penne pasta
- 600 g basil and tomato pasta sauce
- 1 tsp origanum
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 500 ml chopped cooked chicken meat
- 1 can Mediterranean chopped tomatoes
- 250 ml mozzarella cheese
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
Topping
- Mix all the ingredients for the topping together. Set aside.
Pasta
- Preheat the oven to 180° C
- Cook the pasta until al dente and drain.
- Mix pasta, pasta sauce, seasonings, parsley, chopped tomatoes, and chicken gently
- Grease a large casserole dish and add the pasta mixture to the casserole dish. Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese and topping mixture.
- Bake for 1/2 an hour until cheese is melted and the topping is golden in color.
