Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 40 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
• 1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.
Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

**My variation: I use Barilla Plus elbow pasta because it has protein. I cook the pasta by following the directions on the pasta box. Sometimes I add other cheeses into the mix to be extra crazy!


For the chicken, I coat the cubed uncooked chicken in italian bread crumbs and bake@ 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Always try to cut the chicken as small as your patience can handle because I hate bland chicken and the bigger the pieces the more bland they are!!! 

I also use 3 chicken breasts instead of 1/2 cup because I love to have lots in each bite. And I leave out the butter, and you can't even tell the difference.** 
Because I pre-cook the chicken, I take it out of the oven as soon as the cheese melts and looks gooey. I have also tried adding 1 Tablespoon of roasted tomato pesto to it for additional flavor. It was delicious!**

Chicken pasta