Ground Chicken Pasta Bake
Whole wheat pasta baked with ground chicken, kale and cheese makes a hearty great weeknight dinner sure to satisfy your comfort food cravings
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 3 cups uncooked whole-wheat pasta (rotini, penne, etc)
- 5 cups chopped kale, stems removed
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 2 tsp rosemary
- 2 tsp basil
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 28 ounces tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp honey, or maple syrup
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup pasta water
- 2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/3 cup Italian parsley
Instructions
- In a large pot, cook pasta according to package directions, but undercook by 3 minutes. Reserve 1 cup water, drain and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13" baking dish.
- In a large skillet, heated to medium heat, add olive oil. Add garlic and onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add oregano, basil, rosemary, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook for 30 seconds.
- Add ground chicken to skillet and cook for 6 minutes, breaking meat into small pieces. Add tomato sauce, honey, vinegar and pasta water. Stir and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Add kale and stir to combine. Add pasta and combine.
- Transfer half of the mixture to prepared baking dish and top with 1 cup of cheese. Add remaining pasta mixture and top with remaining cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Notes
- This recipe originally called for ground turkey, but we prefer chicken. Spinach could also be substituted for kale.