Bought cheese sauce is the secret to this easy, speedy pasta bake recipe. Perfect for a midweek dinner, and you can freeze ahead, check out our tips. For a veggie version, leave out the bacon and use Italian-style vegetarian hard cheese instead of the parmesan.
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Yields:
4 serving(s)
Prep Time:
20 mins
Cook Time:
20 mins
Total Time:
40 mins
Cal/Serv:
654
Ingredients
1 Tbsp. olive oil
100 g smoked bacon lardons
450 g chicken thigh fillets, chopped
3 medium leeks, chopped
300 g macaroni or fusilli pasta
350 g tub fresh cheese sauce
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. freshly chopped parsley
25 g Parmesan, grated
Directions
Step 1
Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and chicken and fry, stirring occasionally, for 7-8min, until golden. Stir in leeks and continue cooking for 4-5min, until leeks have softened and chicken is cooked through.
Step 2
Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water, according to pack instructions, until just al dente. Drain well.
Step 3
Preheat grill. Return pasta to pan and stir in the cheese sauce, mustard and parsley, and the chicken and leek mixture. Check seasoning, then scrape into a 2 litre ovenproof serving dish and sprinkle over the Parmesan.
Step 4
Grill for 4-5min, until golden and bubbling. Serve with a crisp green salad, if you like.
FREEZE AHEAD Complete recipe to end of step 3, cooking pasta for just 6min. Do not preheat grill. Cover with foil and freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost for 24hr in the fridge, then cook in a hot oven for 30-40min, until piping hot, removing the foil for the final 10min so the top browns.
The GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurst is our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Our GH Kitchen Manager Linzi Pucino is our very own Italian food expert (originally hailing from the North East of Scotland!) and can be found working her way through midweek recipes that cover all bases, from haggis to ragu! Our Kitchen Editor Nadine Brown loves digging into the stories behind her favourite foods and enjoys applying her eclectic tastes to more modern, flavour-forward recipes - just don't give her too much chilli! Our Junior Food Content Produce Frankie Prichard combines a love of beautiful presentation and flavour-led, seasonal cooking in her recipe development, along with a passion for bringing people together through food. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time
