Description
Feeding a crowd? Then you’re gonna need a go-big-or-go-home wicked cheesy chicken broccoli penne bake recipe.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic (6-9 cloves depending on size)
- 1 cup finely diced onion (1 medium onion)
- 1 1/2 pounds broccoli, cut into florets
- 2 1/2 pounds chicken tenderloins, cut in small pieces
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & pepper to season chicken
- 2 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used “double cheddar”)
- Fresh chopped parsley, optional garnish
- Fresh basil, optional garnish
- Chopped lemon wedges, optional
For the béchamel sauce:
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk (warmed in microwave)
- 2 cups fresh grated or shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Would you like to save this?
You'll also be the first to hear about new recipes in my weekly-ish newsletter! :)
Instructions
- Plan your time with boiling a large pot of water – it can take 20-30 minutes to bring to a boil so it’s ready to cook a pound of pasta. Add 3 teaspoons of salt to your pasta water within a few minutes before cooking.
- My step-by-step video shows all the steps if you need assistance. J
- Finely chop the garlic. My tablespoons tend to be slightly heaping and if there is a little extra garlic I usually just throw it in the recipe.
- Finely dice the onion. Set aside with garlic.
- Chop the broccoli into florets – I went with large bite-sized pieces. Use as much or as little of the stalks as you want. I know people have their preferences here. The recipe can hold 1 to 1 ½ pounds of broccoli. When I’ve made it with one pound it felt like it wasn’t quite enough.
- Cut and season the chicken tenderloins. I usually try to snip off the tendon (the white tube thing) before I cut the chicken. It doesn’t matter how you cut the chicken, just make sure the pieces are uniform in size so they cook evenly.
- Grate or shred the fresh parmesan cheese for the sauce. I couldn’t find my shredder so I used my microplane.
- For the béchamel sauce, I usually heat the milk in the microwave for a minute so it’s warm. Melt the butter in a pot then add flour and whisk. Heat should be on medium. Whisk and cook off the raw flour taste until the roux (this is a thickening agent) smells nutty. Maybe about 3-5 minutes. Add the warm milk and whisk to combine. Let the sauce get hot for a few minutes and then you will see it start to thicken. Once it’s thickened, add the parmesan cheese and turn the heat off. Give it a stir and just let it melt. Add onion powder and mix. Add 1/8 teaspoon of salt to start and mix. TASTE IT before adding more salt if you think it needs it. Set aside for now.
- Heat some olive oil in pan (maybe one tablespoon or so) then add chicken pieces. Spread evenly across pan and cook on high heat for 4 minutes without touching it. It should be turning white with a little brown sear around the edges. Turn the chicken and cook for two more minutes or so. Remove from pan and set aside– don’t clean pan.
- NOTE: Once you add chicken to the pan, your water should be boiling and add the whole box (1 pound) of penne pasta at that time. You should season the water with 3 teaspoons of salt before adding pasta.
- After you remove the chicken, add olive oil to same pan then cook onions until slightly soft (a few minutes), then add garlic, another glug of olive oil and cook and stir a few minutes.
- A few minutes before the pasta is finished, add the broccoli right into the pot of water with the pasta. Push down into water with spatula. Let it cook about 3 minutes like that. Then pour through a colander to strain the water.
- Get out your largest mixing bowl (a big one!) and transfer the pasta and broccoli there. Add the cooked chicken, garlic and onion mixture, and the cheesy béchamel sauce. I used my big wooden spoon to mix this – you may need more than one tool to mix thoroughly. You want to make sure the sauce is coating all the pasta.
- Spray a 9x13 baking dish with a little non-stick cooking spray. Add half the chicken broccoli penne mixture to the dish. Check for even distribution of the chicken and broccoli and even things out with a pair of kitchen tongs if you need to. Next, add 1 cup of the shredded cheddar and 1 cup of the shredded jack cheese to the top. Add the rest of the chicken broccoli penne (smooth out if a mound forms in the middle). Then add one cup of shredded cheddar and 1 cup shredded jack cheese on top of that – spread out evenly.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted on top and starting to brown a little.
- Optional garnishes include fresh chopped parsley or basil or both. Lemon wedges, red pepper flakes, extra fresh Parmesan on the side. Serve with your favorite salad or garlic bread if you like. Enjoy!
