A pasta bake with plenty of thick, creamy tomato sauce….made with NO CREAM….all in ONE POT! Even the pasta is cooked right in the pan with the sauce! Creamy Tomato Pasta Bake with Chicken is the ultimate recipe for low-effort comfort food to feed a family or group of friends.
My mother makes an incredible Japanese pasta bake called Makaroni Guratan, which is basically Macaroni Gratin pronounced with a Japanese accent. It is soooo typical of the Japanese to change the spelling of English words to the way Japanese pronounce it. It’s an endless source of amusement for me!
As the name implies, it is macaroni baked in a classic french “gratin” style with a creamy white sauce made from a roux. It was a childhood favourite and I used to nag my mother to make it frequently, but she only ever treated us with it for special occasions. So I got to know Makaroni Guratan as a special occasion dish.
As I grew older and started to cook, I realised why she only made it for special occasions….because it is such an effort to make! It requires four separate pots/pans/dishes. FOUR!! A pot to cook the pasta, a saucepan to make the white sauce, a fry pan to sauté the chicken and mushroom and a baking dish to bake it all in.
Shoot me now.
It is worth the effort. But I only make it for special occasions…..(they do say daughters turn into their mothers….)
But I love saucy pasta bakes, so I invented my own creamy tomato one-pot version which is really convenient for midweek meals. I don’t like to cook with cream for midweek meals so this is made using a simple roux base (don’t let that fancy sounding word scare you, it’s just butter + flour that is used as a thickener for the sauce). Also, if you wanted to make a pasta bake as saucy as I’ve made this, you would need three cartons of cream….my arteries are hardening just at the thought!
This pasta bake is based on the same technique I use for my One Pot Saucy Creamy Mac and Cheese. It is not quite as saucy so it holds together better when you serve it, as opposed to the Mac and Cheese which collapses into a pile of cheesy creamy deliciousness.
I hope you consider trying it! It’s a great one for midweek. 🙂 I mean, seriously…check out all that creamy tomato sauce!! – Nagi
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
One Pot Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta Bake (no cream)
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 small onion , diced
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 6 tbsp / 1/2 cup plain flour
- 2 cups milk (500ml)
- 2 cups tomato passata (500ml) (Note 1)
- 1 cup water (or chicken or vegetable broth) (250ml)
- 2 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 3 cups dried ziti / penne pasta (uncooked)
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- Pepper
Garnish (optional)
- Fresh basil leaves
- Freshly grated parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
- Melt butter in a deep fry pan or skillet (Note 2) over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes until translucent. Add the flour and stir to combine, then cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the milk and whisk for 1 minute, in small circles around the fry pan, until it starts to thicken. Then add the tomato passata, water, salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium high and cook for around 5 minutes or until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon (see photo below). Whisk occasionally for the first 3 minutes, then whisk constantly for the last 2 minutes.
- Do a taste test and add 1 to 2 tsp of sugar if it is a bit sour (depends on quality of passata you use).
- Add the ziti/penne, chicken and cheddar cheese and mix through. Leave it to cook for around 1 minute on the stove, then take it off the stove.
- Scatter with mozzarella cheese. Cover with a lid or foil (Note 3) and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the lid/foil and bake for a further 5 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with fresh basil leaves and grated parmesan, if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
SaveSave
You know I am such a sucker for one pot meals and creamy pasta (especially with no cream). Can’t wait to eat this one straight out of the pan 🙂
Where do you think the piece I scooped out went? Onto a plate? Nope. Straight into my mouth. Shhhhh! Don’t tell anyone!! 🙂
Oh, Ms Nagi, winter have mercy on my thighs! Another one I’m looking forward to making, along with the One Pot Saucy Mac + Cheese. Hubby is not a huge fan of creamy pasta sauces – he loves a good tomato-based sauce, with the exception of Mac + Cheese, but I know he’ll love this one. And the beauty of this recipe is that BOTH of my kids (4 and 1) will eat this! Woot!
Oooh, I get kind of nervous and excited when I hear you are planning to try my recipes!! I honestly feel like recipes get validated once you try and approve them 😉 I need to have a new icon – like a tick to indicate that it’s been “Tried and approved by Gloria” (or to improve where necessary!!). Have a wonderful Easter long weekend Gloria! 🙂
You’re too funny! Perhaps think of me as a “freelance test kitchen” more than a point of validation. ;-p
I love cooking, and have set myself a challenge to make as many different dishes as possible throughout 2015. Most of the dishes I’m cooking are healthy – and I just make the serving sizes a bit smaller for those slightly naughty ones. Your website is one of a very small number of websites that I am regularly visiting to “test” recipes from. Helps that you’re a Sydneysider, like me, and your ingredients are measured in amounts I don’t have to convert. AND your food-nerdery is greatly appreciated with the nutrition facts at the end of every recipe – it’s a MUST for me to keep an eye on how much I’m eating as I am desperately trying to lose the baby weight… from my first pregnancy… 4 years ago…
Keep up the great work, Nagi! Love your work! And wishing you a happy Easter – may the Bunny be good to you! x
Freelance Test Kitchen! I love it!! OK, I need to go work on designing an icon that indicates “Approved by Gloria”!! 😉 Happy Easter to you too!! OH and where in Sydney are you? I love meeting Sydney-siders through blown!!
PS Baby weight? What baby weight? I don’t even have a child as an excuse for the excess pudge I’m carrying around. 😉
We’re in Denistone, or as I’m always telling people, half way between Eastwood and Top Ryde. 🙂
GLORIA! I know that area well. My mother lives in Gladesville and I used to live there for 10 years too before I moved to the northern beaches. Eastwood is my dining place of choice! Dumplings, Chinese BBQ meats, Korean, YUM CHA….the list goes on! I am very jealous. Asian food in my area (Mona Vale) isn’t that great 🙁 Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
Four pots? Come on, Nagi! That’s easy 😉 Cream or no cream, this one looks like a winner!
Not everyone was born with your talent or patience for creating long, involved recipes!! Nor your eye for styling and light. Heck, I feel like a total bogan everytime I visit your blog. 😉 Hope you and D and your adopted cat have a great Easter! N x
I’ve just gone back to work after my maternity leave, and this looks just perfect as a midweek dinner. Will definitely try it!
Hope you do Mel! Little easier to make than homemade croissants 😉
Wow, 4 pots!?! Your mom must really, really love you! 😉
This one-pot-wonder of yours looks like my kind of mid-week comfort food. Gorgeous photos too, Nagi.
Totally my kind of midweek comfort meal too 🙂 Yeah, I think my mum loves us kids….sometimes I wonder though, when she rouses on us even though we’re all 30+!
Yes Ma’am, another winner. I made a creamy pasta with leftover ham for dinner last night and we were so hungry we just ate – no photos. Argh.
I think I’d do the same thing if this beautiful dish were on the table. I’d reach for a fork and not the camera. 🙂
This is the 3rd time I’ve made this in the last few weeks. I kept thinking “I should blog this, I should blog this” but kept forgetting to photograph it! The impatience of greedy people. 🙂
Your receipies look so easy, I’ll try it one of these days. I’m a french Canadian so please excuse my English!
I just had a surgery for the liver so I’ll wait to recover a little before trying. I’m glad I found your web site though.
Hi Agnes – I’m sorry to hear you had to have surgery. I wish you a very speedy recovery and I hope you aren’t too uncomfortable. As for your English, please do not EVER apologise for it. Being able to speak more than one language is a gift you should be proud of. There are so many people in this world who don’t even attempt to speak a second language, let alone be as fluent as you are. 🙂
Besides, what you wrote was perfect English! 🙂
I hope you do try this! All my recipes are easy, I only share easy ones (well, I might do the odd complicated one, but 90% of my recipes are super easy!).
Get well soon!
Nagi….perfection as always! Love this dish! And the fact that there is no cream is quite nice! 4 cups of cream? Have mercy!
I know right?? I would literally keel over from a heart attack if I ate something with 4 cups of cream in it!! 🙂
I always love your recipe notes – Nagi – today “…I don’t have a lid for the fry pan I used but I have a lid for a larger pot which I just place on top…” reminds me of myself:) This recipe sounds fabulous!
I swear, you and I are constantly bouncing messages like that back and forth! “I just made cauliflower soup” “I just made chargrilled eggplant”!! 🙂
Another amazing recipe, Nagi! I swear I cook your recipes at least once a week for dinner! Love them!
Thanks Shinee, you are so sweet! 🙂
I love gratins! Particularly nice, cheesy ones like this. I make pasta bakes without the roux base — need to try your version. Love the flavor of this! Pretty light on the photos, too.
Thank you John!! Why haven’t I seen you in my feed lately? Hmm, must go check my subscription settings!