No-Boil Baked Pasta {One Pan}

A very easy “add-all-ingredients-to-a-pan and bake” pasta recipe, that will leave you wanting more…

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The month end means it is time for the Shh Cooking Secretly Challenge. This is one challenge that I have been participating in since the inception of it years ago, and still enjoy doing the posts for it. Somehow, my blog seems to be having content only because of the Blogging Marathon and this challenge. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be making an attempt to make new posts. Somehow, cooking has become something that just needs to get done, as long as the folks eat what is being made. I haven’t even baked in a really long while, which explains a completely spoiled cake that happened in my kitchen over the weekend, that I wanted to cry. It is funny sometimes how I am still a “food blogger” when I hardly cook… 😀

Anyway, this month, the theme for this challenge was “Cook what you like”. I loved the theme, because it kept the whole challenge open for everyone to choose what they want to. This time, I was teamed up with Priya Vijaykrishnan, with whom I am doing this challenge for the first time. Her blog is a treasure of vegetarian and vegan recipes. Even though I was very tempted to try push an idea of having a theme, I kept it to myself. I am sometimes known to force upon my ideas onto my teammates, which of late, I realize was not the best thing that I have been doing. 😀 Anyway, after a little discussion, she gave me the secret ingredients of mixed herbs and cream, while I gave her mustard and cumin. While I go on with my post, do check out what she cooked with her secret ingredients…

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Ever since I found this way of making pasta, I have given up on making it the traditional way. I can attribute that mainly to my laziness to wash more dishes. Hehe… Then I discovered a way of just putting pasta along with all other ingredients into a baking tray and just allowing the oven to work on its magic. I actually wasn’t sure when I landed up on it. I had all sorts of questions – would the pasta be cooked, would the sauce be too runny, would the chicken be cooked, am I sure I want to do this, so on and so forth… But the ‘keeda’ in me really wanted to try it for myself and see how successful it would be. If you notice, I love my one-pot baked meals like this rice casserole and this chicken n veg casserole. They make absolutely easy and fulfilling meals. Now I add this pasta onto the list. It was a huge success and will be a must try for the pasta dinners – or lunches. 🙂

The prep time for this dish is absolutely minimal. All ingredients used are store cupboard ingredients, except the protein you end up using. I used boneless chicken breasts and cut them into small pieces to ensure that they get cooked. The tomato sauce, broth and cream are ingredients we would otherwise use. Once baked, you may feel that there is a lot of liquid in it, but when the pasta sits, it thickens and the texture becomes nice and creamy. I am sure that once you try it, you will be hooked onto making it each time you crave for pasta, without messing up your hands too much. 😉 Off to the recipe…

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5 from 12 votes

No-Boil Baked Pasta {One Pan}

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Rafeeda AR

Ingredients

• 300-350 gm boneless chicken breast
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 400 gm macaroni of choice one pack
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes 400 gm
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chicken broth refer notes
• 1 tsp mixed herbs
• 200 gm mixed parmesan and mozarella cheese I didn't use

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Keep a baking dish ready, greased with olive oil.
• Cut the chicken into small peices. Toss with the garlic powder, paprika powder and salt. Spread on the tray.
• Open the pasta pack and spread on top of the chicken.
• Now layer in the tomato sauce, chicken broth and cream one on top of the other. Using a spatula, give a slight mix.
• Sprinkle in the seasonings. Cover the tray with two layers of aluminuim foil and pock at a few places for steam to escape.
• Bake for 50 minutes. Take out and remove the foil. Be careful of the hot steam.
• Sprinkle the cheese if using with more seasonings of choice and bake for another 10-15 minutes till the cheese melts.
• Serve hot...

Notes

I made the chicken stock by combining 2 cubes of stock into one litre of warm water. 

Instead of using one whole cup of cream, you can use milk for half the quantity. 

Be creative with your seasoning.

I used chunky tomato passata, you can use any tomato sauce of your choice. 

I didn't use cheese since I ran out of cheese in my pantry. But remember, cheese makes pasta better, so use it... 😀

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