Chicken Baked Ziti

Very Italian. A little heat and great taste that will warm you to the bone.

"It was a cold and rainy night." Not really, but it is cold and rainy today and I have been working on combining some recipes this week and needed to just dive in and do it. Ever since my "Chicken Italian Bake" which was a modification of a Giada De Laurentiis recipe, I have needed to "fix it". Here it is and it worked very nicely.


Rating 9  taste 9  ease 9  crunchy top 9

Notes: I had about 1 t of crushed red pepper and it was just right for us. My wife had 3 servings. Add more if you want more "heat". I put this all together and refrigerate it for several hours so it was cold going in the oven. This prolonged the cooking time maybe 20 minutes and I ended up covering it for about 20 minutes to prevent it from drying out. I under cooked the pasta by 1/3 to prevent it from turning into mush. Finally, I chose to cook until internal temp was 160 due to the chicken.

Trim and dice chicken into approximately 1/2 inch cubes

In a large pan heat 3 T olive oil until hot then add chicken. Saute for 3 minutes then add onion and continue to saute for 5-6 minutes more until onion is clearing and chicken starting to brown some. Add garlic and saute 1 minute until fragrant.

Add all remaining ingredients except pasta and cheeses. Simmer on low while cooking pasta and cubing mozzarella. Cook pasta according to package directions but decrease time by 1/3.  Cube mozzarella into 1/2 inch cubes.

Remove sauce from heat and mix pasta and mozzarella in well.

Transfer to baking dish and top with Parmesan and refrigerate or bake at this point.

Place in preheated 375 degree convection over until internal temp is 160. Depending on your oven and if dish is cold this will take 40-60 minutes. Cover if needed to prevent drying.

Chicken Baked Ziti

by DrDan at 101 Cooking For Two May 12, 2010

Very Italian. A little heat and great taste that will warm you to the bone.

Ingredients

2 Skinless boneless chicken breast well trimmed2 T olive oil 1 medium onion chopped8 cloves garlic crushed1 T Dried Oregano1 T Dried Basel1 t salt1/2 t crushed red pepper1/2 t black pepper28 oz can crushed tomatoes14 oz can diced tomatoes6 oz can tomato paste6 oz water1 lb penne pasta (I had Barilla whole wheat1 lb mozzarella not shredded1/4 c Parmesan cheese shredded

Instructions

1) Trim and dice chicken into approximately 1/2 inch cubes2) In a large pan heat 2 T olive oil until hot then add chicken. Saute for 3 minutes then add onion and continue to saute for 5-6 minutes more until onion is clearing and chicken starting to brown some.3) Add garlic and saute 1 minute until fragrant.4) Add all remaining ingredients except pasta and cheeses. Simmer on low while cooking pasta and cubing mozzarella.5) Cook pasta according to package directions but decrease time by 1/3.6) Cube mozzarella into 1/2 inch cubes.7) Remove sauce from heat and mix pasta and mozzarella in well.8) Transfer to baking dish and top with Parmesan9) Refrigerate or bake at this point.10) Place in preheated 375 degree convection over until internal temp is 165. Depending on your oven and if dish is cold this will take 40-60 minutes. Cover if needed to prevent drying.

Details

Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 1 hour 10 mins Yield: 8 servings

Updated

April 19, 2011