Deliciously Cheesy Chicken and Bacon Pasta

Nov 6

This recipe may not sound the simplest at a first glance, but once you've done it once it's really easy… and the end result is totally worth it!

We find that it’s one of those meals that’s perfect for batch cooking then heating up when you’re on the go, for a quick and filling meal- Just what you need after a day of exploring!

Deliciously cheesy chicken and bacon pasta

Serves: 5 — Preparation: 5-10 minutes — Cooking Time: 1 hour

At first, we found that cooking the pasta, meat, and sauce one after the other was easiest, but now we’ve got used the recipe we use all three burners at once. This almost halves the cooking time, but if you’re in no hurry you might prefer to do things separately.

Ingredients:

300g Penne Pasta
1 Brown Onion
2 Chicken Breasts- Roughly 350g-400g
100g Bacon Lardons

Sauce:

2 tablespoons of Butter
2 Cloves of Garlic
200g Soft Cheese
250ml Milk
100g Parmesan Cheese (or whichever cheese you prefer)
100g Sun-dried Tomatoes

Seasoning:

Salt
Pepper
Dried Mixed Herbs

Method:

1- Cook the pasta per its instructions, adding a sprinkle of salt and pepper into the saucepan before it begins to boil. We use Penne Pasta, because it holds onto the sauce beautifully, but you could easily use a different type if you don’t have Penne around.

2- Dice the onion up small and put it into an oiled frying pan, then soften them on a medium heat.

3- Dice up the chicken breasts so each chunk is roughly 1-inch square. This means they will cook at the same rate and be bitesize when the time comes to enjoy it!

4- Once the onions start to soften and brown, add the chicken and bacon lardons into the frying pan and cook through, seasoning with salt, pepper and mixed herbs. We tend to go for smoked bacon lardons for the added flavour, but unsmoked is fine too!

Now for the best bit, the cheesy sauce…

5- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over a low/medium heat, then add the garlic cloves (peeled and crushed or finely chopped). Let this cook for a couple of minutes while stirring throughout.

6- Add the soft cheese into the garlic butter mixture, and stir thoroughly until the cheese has fully combined with the butter. This may take 2-3 minutes.

7- Stir in the milk until the sauce is smooth and combined, then add the sun-dried tomatoes and continue cooking on a medium heat. We like to chop up the tomatoes beforehand so they’re not whole, but it’s up to you!

8- Add the parmesan cheese into the sauce and season with salt, pepper and mixed herbs. We usually go for the pre-grated stuff, but there’s nothing wrong with grating it into the sauce yourself.

9- Continue stirring and cooking over a medium heat until the cheese has melted and the sauce is a smooth, creamy texture. If it’s too thin for your liking just give it a few more minutes, as the longer you leave it the thicker it gets.

10- In the largest pot you’ve used (I normally do this in the frying pan) combine the pasta, meats and the sauce, and mix it all together. Then serve fresh, or portion it out into freezer-safe containers and have at a later date.