Cheesy Pasta Bake with Chicken & Bacon

*Original post on Instagram is an ad

This dish is the ultimate cheesy chicken & bacon pasta bake, I promise you! It's the perfect home comfort, warming meal and it's great if you have a family or even cooking for just two people like I did. It is also really easy to make, taking around 45 minutes in total. The good thing about it is that we had left overs for both of us for lunch the next day😊

Ingredients for the Pasta Bake:

1. Pasta - I used the M&S Penne Pasta for mine but of course you can use whichever types of pasta you prefer. I used around 3/4 of a bag for my dish for two people but if you are feeding a family you will probably need to use a full bag.
2. 1 pack of diced chicken breasts - I bought mine from Aldi but if you do not have diced chicken breasts, I would recommend using around 3 and chop them up into chunks.
3. 1 table spoon of tomato puree
4. 1 large onion
5. 1 red pepper & 1 yellow pepper
6. 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
7. 3 x rashers of bacon
8. 100g cheddar cheese
9. 100g mozzarella cheese
10. 2 tea spoons of very lazy chopped garlic
11. 1 teaspoon of oregano
12. 1 teaspoon of thyme
13. 100g spinach
14. Small handful of chopped parsley
15. 100ml of double cream
16. Olive Oil

Ingredients for the garlic bread:

1. 1 pack of made without wheat sourdough thins from M&S
2. 'Very Lazy' chopped garlic - you can crush a couple of cloves of garlic up if you do not have the very lazy chopped garlic
3. Handful of mozzarella cheese
4. 100g of butter

Method for the Pasta Bake:

1. Firstly, fry your 3 rashers of bacon in some olive oil until they are cooked. Then, chop them up into small pieces and set aside.
2. Secondly, start cooking your pasta on the hob and pre-heat your oven to 190 degrees celsius.
3. Next, I used quite a big wok pan for this which I would recommend as you are going to put a lot into the pan. Cook the chicken for around 5 minutes in the pan.
4. Then, add your onion and cook for around another 3 minutes until the onion is slightly soft. Once the onion is slightly soft, then add your chopped up peppers, your tomato puree, add some salt and pepper for seasoning and then your herbs (thyme & oregano) 
5. Next, once you have cooked them for another 3 minutes, add in your tinned chopped tomatoes, cream and your spinach. Make sure to have the heat not too high, just around a medium heat.
6. Cook for around another couple of minutes on your medium heat, then you can add in your cooked pasta and your cooked chopped-up bacon. Leave to cook for a couple of minutes and make sure everything is really mixed in together.
7. Once everything is mixed in together and you have cooked it for a couple of minutes - transfer everything into a baking dish. I used a glass baking dish for mine that was quite deep, but you can use anything that you would usually use for a dish like this.
8. Then, top the mixture with your mozzarella and cheddar cheese.
9. Next, bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cheese turns golden.
10. When cooked, remove the bake from the oven and top with a handful of chopped parsley.

Method for the garlic bread:

This can be done whilst your pasta bake is cooking in the oven.

1. Lay 4 of the sandwich thins (that are split in half) on a baking tray (I used 4 so there was two each for us, but if you are cooking for more, then use more sandwich thins)
2. Next, in a bowl mix together about 100g of butter, a handful of mozzarella cheese and 3 tea spoons of the chopped garlic. 
3. Once all mixed and soft, then spread onto your sandwich thins.
4. Then, when the pasta bake gets around 5 minutes left to cook, put your sandwich thins into the oven to cook.

I really enjoyed making this so I hope you do too! Make sure to tag me if you do make this dish and post on social media 😊

Danielle x