Chicken Pasta Salad
A super quick meal that is delicious hot or cold- perfect for midweek meals! This recipe is perfect for the whole family (ages 6months +) and is a great way of introducing lots of veggies, colour and textures to a plate. Roasted broccoli, I think, is the unsung hero of this dish- if you have a weaning infant though I would ensure theirs is soft enough for baby led weaning (can you squish it between your thumb and forefinger?) - if you think the broccoli is too hard when roasted then you could cook a couple of florets with the pasta for baby and leave the roasted ones for the older members of the family.
Serves: 4
Prep: 10 Mins
Cooking Time: 30 Mins
Ready In: 40 Mins
- 300g Penne Pasta
- 2 Chicken Breasts
- 1 Courgette, cut into half moons
- 2 Peppers, cut into large pieces
- 1 Broccoli, cut into florets
- 150g Garlic and Herb Cream Cheese
- Preheat the oven to 200C/ 18-C Fan/ Gas 6.
- Place the chicken, courgettes and peppers into a roasting tin or large pyrex dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Pop in the oven for 10 minutes
- After 10 minutes, put the broccoli in the dish, give everything a stir (to help evenly cook the existing veg as well as coat the broccoli in a little oil). Return the tray to the oven for a further 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile cook the pasta to packet instructions and drain (reserve approximately a ladles worth of cooking water).
- Remove the tray from the oven after 30 minutes and cut the chicken into bitesize pieces. Either in the tray or in a large bowl, combine all the ingredients together (veggies, chicken, pasta, reserved cooking water and cream cheese). Give it a thorough stir so that that cheese has coated everything and serve (with optional basil leaves should you wish).
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C/ 18-C Fan/ Gas 6.
- Place the chicken, courgettes and peppers into a roasting tin or large pyrex dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Pop in the oven for 10 minutes
- After 10 minutes, put the broccoli in the dish, give everything a stir (to help evenly cook the existing veg as well as coat the broccoli in a little oil). Return the tray to the oven for a further 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile cook the pasta to packet instructions and drain (reserve approximately a ladles worth of cooking water).
- Remove the tray from the oven after 30 minutes and cut the chicken into bitesize pieces. Either in the tray or in a large bowl, combine all the ingredients together (veggies, chicken, pasta, reserved cooking water and cream cheese). Give it a thorough stir so that that cheese has coated everything and serve (with optional basil leaves should you wish).
Ingredients
- 300g Penne Pasta
- 2 Chicken Breasts
- 1 Courgette, cut into half moons
- 2 Peppers, cut into large pieces
- 1 Broccoli, cut into florets
- 150g Garlic and Herb Cream Cheese
Additional Information
I often double up the recipe and put the leftovers in school lunchboxes the next day- or simply double up the roasted veg whilst you are making it so that it can be used the next day with cous cous for a speedy lunch or main meal.
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