We don't eat a lot of alfredo sauce in our house. This is for two reason.. 1. The jar stuff just isn't very good 2. My husband has flashbacks of his early adulthood eating chicken alfredo for like a week straight. It's not my place to judge, so I just leave it alone and pull it out only when my urge is strong and an Italian restaurant is not in the cards. So, yesterday afternoon as my boys and I were buzzing around town trying to take care of last minute thanksgiving errands the thought hit me that I didn't have anything planned for dinner. It seemed to fit just right with the events of my day: crazy busy and not so planned out. Without a plan I pulled up Pinterest and scrolled through my recipe folder. Seriously, what would I do without that thing?! Any way, this recipe caught my eye. I had everything I needed so I decided to go for it. Overall, it was easy to make, didn't take a terrible amount of time to cook and was a huge hit in my house. Huge hit, like, thumbs up.. lets have this again.. I'd even eat this for leftovers.. kind of hit. Success! So yeah.. it has pasta and cheese so on the healthy scale it's not SUPER healthy but it is a skinnier version and sometimes that's good enough for me. Just being real here! So, make it for your family and enjoy. You won't be disappointed!
Ingredients:
Chicken Baked Ziti Ingredients:
- 12 ounces Penne Pasta (or any pasta shape)
- 2 cups shredded, cooked chicken (about 2 small chicken breasts)
- 1 batch alfredo sauce (see below)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I used 2% low fat)
- (optional toppings: additional shredded Parmesan cheese, chopped fresh parsley)
Alfredo Sauce Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 Tbsp. flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup low-fat milk (I used 1%)
- 3/4 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
Directions:
To Make The Chicken Baked Ziti:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Cook the pasta al dente in a large stockpot of well-salted boiling according to package instructions. Drain. Return pasta to the stockpot and add chicken and alfredo sauce. Gently toss to combine until the pasta is evenly coated.
- Pour half of the pasta into a greased 11x7-inch or 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with 1 cup of cheese. Layer the remaining half of the pasta evenly on top. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted and just barely starts to turn golden. Remove and serve immediately, sprinkled with additional toppings if desired.
To Make The Alfredo Sauce:
- Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute one minute, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Sprinkle with flour, and stir to combine. Saute for an additional minute to cook the flour, stirring occasionally.
- Slowly add chicken broth, whisking to combine until smooth. Whisk in milk, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Let cook for an additional minute until thickened, then stir in Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper until the cheese melted. Remove from heat and set aside.
