Chicken Caesar pasta bake
Pasta and chicken in a garlicky, lemony parmesan cream that tastes like Caesar dressing, baked under a crunchy golden crumb.
- 45 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $2.42 a serving
- 620 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 12 oz rotini
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup grated parmesan, divided
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2½ cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
- 2 cups baby spinach
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Each serving has about 620 calories, 30 g protein, 53 g carbs and 32 g fat, and costs about $2.42 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 400°F. Fill a large pot with water, add the salt, and over high heat.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cook the rotini 2 minutes less than the package says, then it.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 7 min
the butter in the empty pot over low heat and the garlic in it 1 minute, .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Low heat
Add the cream, milk and ¾ cup of the parmesan and over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth and just bubbling.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heat
Take it off the heat and in the lemon juice, dijon, Worcestershire and pepper.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Dolly’s tip: Worcestershire is the secret. It gives the savory, salty depth of a real Caesar.Add the pasta, chicken and spinach and until the spinach starts to , then tip it into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
the panko with the oil and remaining ¼ cup parmesan and scatter it over the top.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
15 to 20 minutes, until bubbling and the crumbs are .
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 17 min
Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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