This Cheesy Chicken Pasta is an easy meal that you can have on your dinner table in under 30 minutes. Gooey cheese, pasta, and chicken will have everyone licking their plate clean in a hurry.
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Can I get a hoorah? We are two weeks into this school year, and homemade dinner recipes are still being made and served by yours truly after school each day. Not to pat myself on the back or anything…ok, fine. I’m totally over here giving myself mad props.
I mean, when making dinner is not your strongest skill, you have to congratulate yourself every once in a while when you have made a few delicious meals in a row. Am I right?
You can thank this Chicken Supreme Pasta Bake and this Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Bake for my love of making gooey, cheesy dinners. These dinners got me going on this crazed pasta fetish. Cheese and pasta are the first thing I think of when I start to get dinner started each day. I should probably widen my options before my family gets burned out on the cheesy goodness!
Speaking of widening options, let’s talk about kids and their eating habits. Our kids have never been super picky about what they eat. I am so thankful that they pretty much ate everything we fed them when they were little.
As our youngest has gotten older though, he has gotten super picky. He only has a handful of things he likes to eat. I swear that boy could live on ramen noodles alone, if we would just let him. The other thing he likes are chicken strips from Steak & Shake.
He has this crazy idea that they are different from any other place. We keep trying to convince him that other chicken strips taste just like those ones, but he argues up and down with us and won’t eat them for dinner.
We have started buying the canned chicken at Sam’s and Costco to make this Grape Pecan Chicken Salad in a hurry on busy nights. Would you believe that our son actually likes this chicken? I couldn’t believe it either! I am so excited that he has widened his food options to include a protein.
The next time we were at the store I may have grabbed another big package of the canned chicken. Of course, give it a few weeks and he will probably be over it.
So, the other afternoon when I started rummaging in the cupboard for easy dinner ideas, I pulled some canned chicken out and decided to add it to an easy pasta dinner. The first question our youngest asked was what kind of chicken was in the pasta!
He was all smiles when he found it I had used his favorite chicken. (Just so you know, you can totally use a rotisserie chicken too.)
This meal actually only has a few ingredients in it, and most of them are probably already in your cupboards or pantry. The red peppers are an optional ingredient. I went ahead and used them because I didn’t want the veggies to die a slow death in the crisper like they normally do. And I also like to add a pop of color to any food I make!
How to make Cheesy Chicken Pasta:
Start by boiling your noodles. While those are cooking, sauté the peppers in butter, then stir in flour and milk to make a white sauce. Add handfuls of cheese, and let it melt into gooey goodness.
All that is left is to stir in the canned chicken and pasta and serve it up.
Easy cheesy chicken pasta for dinner time gets smiles all around! Never mind trying to add new dinners to our meals, I think I’ll just stick to making pasta forever!
More easy pasta dinners you might enjoy:
- Cheddar Broccoli Chicken Lasagna Rolls
- Chicken Parmesan Meatball Casserole from Buns in my Oven
- Chicken Pesto Pasta from Shugary Sweets
- One Pot Penne Pasta from The Little Kitchen
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Watch how to make this Cheesy Chicken Pasta recipe:
This Cheesy Chicken Pasta is an easy meal that you can make in under 30 minutes. Gooey cheese, pasta, and chicken will have everyone licking their plates clean.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces penne noodles
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup diced red peppers
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 3 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese, divided
- 1 - 13 ounce can chunk chicken (or 1 1/2 cups shredded chicken)
- 1 Tablespoon ranch seasoning powder
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the noodles according to the package directions. Drain when finished cooking.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the peppers and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the garlic and flour and stir and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Slowly whisk in the milk and cook on medium until thick. Add 2 cups of cheese and stir until melted and creamy.
- Stir in the cooked pasta, chicken, ranch powder, and 3/4 cup cheese. Season to taste with pepper. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup cheese on top and cover until the cheese melts. Serves 6.
Lisa Spencer says
What kind of cheese did you use? Maybe a cheddar jack?
Jocelyn says
You are good 🙂 Yes, I used a shredded cheddar jack cheese. I’ll add that to the recipe!
Kris Sealing says
I personally used a maid of jalapeño and pepper jack cheese and it turned out real good!
Malinda @Countryside Cravings says
I don’t get it with kids! They eat everything as babies but as they get older they start to have opinions and suddenly they don’t like that dish they have been eating for the last 5 years?!?! This dish would go great with my family and they would definitely lick their plates clean! 🙂
Marye says
This looks absolutely delicious! I think the family would love this!!
Julie Evink says
Kids…. haha! I always stock up on whatever they love then they promptly decide they don’t like it. This pasta though…. I don’t care if they like it! I’m making it for myself!
Heather Kinnaird says
my daughter gets fussier by the day, but I bet she would LOVE this
Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says
I love easy meals like this for busy weeknights! This looks like some great comfort food!
Chris Downie says
Sounds tasty.
I have just modified a traditional tuna casserole with a whole host of spices and the edition of mild peppers, and was thinking of trying something not too dissimilar with chicken.
Chris Downie says
*addition
Wendy says
Especially as fall approaches, I love this kind of cheesy comfort food! You absolutely should be patting yourself on the back, Jocelyn, for 2 solid weeks of home-cooked dinners! I am usually just cooking for 2 these days and I still find myself grabbing something out of the freezer several nights per week. I have a glimmer of hope to offer on the picky eating front. My son was a picky eater for 18 years, then he went off to college and started eating all kinds of healthy things!
Karly says
SO CHEESY. SO PERFECT. SO PRETTY. It just doesn’t get any better than a quick and cozy pasta dish like this! Love love love!
Anton says
Super tasty. I was just standing by the pantry, staring at a can of chicken, wondering what I can make with it and this was perfect. If you throw it in the oven on highest heat after topping it with cheese at the end, it forms a nice crust and creates a beautiful color.
Kerri says
Is there something else I can use instead of red peppers? My family doesn’t like them.
Jocelyn says
You can leave them out if you like. I really just added them for some color. Do they like green peppers or tomatoes? Either of those would work too.
Sydney says
I used broccoli instead.
Sydney says
I love this recipe but I changed a few things. I used pepper jack instead of cheddar jack, broccoli instead of red peppers, elbows instead of penne, and liquid ranch instead of powder. I like the liquid because it makes it super creamy. Everyone loved it!
Emily says
How much liquid ranch did you use? I like the idea of the pasta being creamy!
Jocelyn says
This particular recipe doesn’t call for ranch dressing. I just used one Tablespoon ranch powder for seasoning in the pasta.
Casey says
This looks yummy. I have started asking each of my kids what they want for dinner each week (so I don’t have to think of 3 meals). This week, my 9 year old said “cheesy pasta”….ummm…. I don’t make a cheesy pasta so I went to Pinterest. I came across this recipe and looked easy enough. I use canned chicken in several recipes because it is easy peasy so plus plus!!
I’m excited to try it this week and I’m saving your page to get more ideas!
charlotte says
You’re not alone, my son still at 10 can tell if I even switch brands of anything! Not even kidding, he only eats certain bRands of most things and chicken strips are one of the biggest areas whether frozen or restaurant, he can tell!
Laura McBrayer says
We are not ranch fans in this house. Any other suggestions for spices instead of the ranch powder. Thanks.
Jocelyn says
You could totally leave it out and the recipe would be fine. Maybe add a little more salt and pepper to your taste. I hope you enjoy it!
Sharon says
If you don’t use ranch or other prepared seasoning packets, you can just use salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. I add those to almost everything I make. Thyme and/or parsley would be good too.
Annette Parker says
Made it last night for the family – they loved it and asked that I put it in the “rotation”. We added crumbled bacon as a topping at the end and yum yum!
Jocelyn says
Oh, yum! Love the addition of bacon on top! I am so glad to hear that your family enjoyed it so much that it is going on the rotation!!!
Jamie Baszler says
I used the exact ingredients and the family loved it!
THANK YOU
Pam Carr says
This was the first result to my search for a chicken, pasta and cheese recipe. I’m glad I didn’t look further – this was a delicious jumping-off point for my limited pantry items when I did not feel like a grocery store run! I tweaked things a bit due to what I had at my disposal, but very minor: different kind of pasta (musical notes from a band fundraiser – HA!), broccoli instead of peppers, and a mixer of sliced up cheddar and provolone cheese. My 16-year old son cleaned his plate – unprecedented! It did take me longer than 30 minutes to prepare, but that is just my limited culinary skills! 10/10 for cheesy deliciousness!
Jocelyn says
I am so glad to hear that you and your son enjoyed this pasta dinner. Awesome job tweaking the recipe based on what you had on hand!!! Simple recipes like this make it great for substitutions!!! Thank you so much for letting me know how much you guys liked it!