Chicken Spinach Dump and Bake Pasta with Sun dried Tomatoes
Ingredients
Pan Fried Chicken
1 tablespoon butter
1 lb chicken thigh filets cut in bite-size pieces
1 teaspoon paprika powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Dump-And-Bake Chicken Spinach Pasta
1 tablespoon butter
⅔ lb dry penne pasta uncooked
1.5 cups sun-dried tomatoes weight without oil, chopped
3 handfuls spinach
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese divided
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese divided
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
Directions
Pan Fried Chicken:
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat, then add in the chicken. Fry for about a minute, then season with paprika powder, onion powder, ground black pepper and salt and mix well. Cook until the chicken has nice color on all sides.
Shove the chicken to one side of the pan and add the tomato paste to the other side. Fry the tomato paste for about a minute and then mix it all together and remove the pan off the heat.
Dump-And-Bake Chicken Spinach Pasta: Preheat the oven to 440°F (225°C).
Bring out a deep oven dish and grease it with butter.
Add in the uncooked pasta, cooked chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and half of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Mix.
Add the remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese on top. Then pour over the cream and milk, and push down any pieces of pasta that are not submerged in the liquid.
Bake in the middle of the oven for for 1 hour. Check once halfway to ensure it’s not getting to much color – if it is, cover with a piece of oven foil and keep cooking.
Bring out the pasta and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.
