Creamy French onion chicken pasta bake
Everything old is new again, with our re-discovery of the flavour bomb that is French onion soup mix. Although the mix has been around since the 1950’s, it came to recognition when mixed with sour cream to become French onion dip. Since then it’s made its way into other iconic dishes – we’re looking at you apricot chicken and now into this crowd-pleasing pasta bake.
I think of this recipe for creamy French onion chicken bake as one of our “new” classics. Where a few of our favourite recipes have been on our website for years, this is a reasonably new recipe and in a short time has garnered more than 50 favourable reviews, being described as a “new family favourite.”
Everything old is new again, with our re-discovery of the flavour bomb that is French onion soup mix. Although the mix has been around since the 1950’s, it came to recognition when mixed with sour cream to become French onion dip. Since then it’s made its way into other iconic dishes – we’re looking at you apricot chicken and now into this crowd-pleasing pasta bake.
I think of this recipe for creamy French onion chicken bake as one of our “new” classics. Where a few of our favourite recipes have been on our website for years, this is a reasonably new recipe and in a short time has garnered more than 50 favourable reviews, being described as a “new family favourite.”
Why we love this French onion bake recipe
Let’s face it - it’s a cheesy pasta bake – and we all love that, but our recipe also makes use of pre-prepared ingredients that add so much flavour with very little effort. Not only the packet of French onion soup mix, but we also use supermarket-bought bbq chicken and three cheese mix. We also love that it can be assembled earlier on in the day and cooked just before serving. And, despite being a bake, there’s no turning on the oven, instead a short stint under the grill is all it needs to become bubbly and golden.
Let’s face it - it’s a cheesy pasta bake – and we all love that, but our recipe also makes use of pre-prepared ingredients that add so much flavour with very little effort. Not only the packet of French onion soup mix, but we also use supermarket-bought bbq chicken and three cheese mix. We also love that it can be assembled earlier on in the day and cooked just before serving. And, despite being a bake, there’s no turning on the oven, instead a short stint under the grill is all it needs to become bubbly and golden.
What you’ll need for our cheesy French onion pasta bake
- Pasta: We use penne but other short pastas like fusilli, rigatoni or casarecce can be used.
- Mushrooms: if your button mushrooms are super small just halve them or keep the whole. You could also use sliced cup mushrooms, but I’d avoid large field mushrooms as they tend to turn the sauce an unpleasant grey colour.
- Thyme: Thyme and mushrooms always work well together, but could also use rosemary or a pinch of dry tarragon.
- Chicken: A supermarket barbecue chicken is loaded with salty spices and a great dinner shortcut ingredients. You could also use chopped pan-fried chicken thigh fillets.
- French onion soup mix: If watching your salt intake you can buy a low salt one.
- Pizza cheese: This handy product combines cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses that are already grated for you!
- Parsley: We us continental parsley, but there’s nothing wrong with using curly as we are being a bit retro.
Additional recipe notes by Alison Adams - Food Writer and Recipe Tester
- Pasta: We use penne but other short pastas like fusilli, rigatoni or casarecce can be used.
- Mushrooms: if your button mushrooms are super small just halve them or keep the whole. You could also use sliced cup mushrooms, but I’d avoid large field mushrooms as they tend to turn the sauce an unpleasant grey colour.
- Thyme: Thyme and mushrooms always work well together, but could also use rosemary or a pinch of dry tarragon.
- Chicken: A supermarket barbecue chicken is loaded with salty spices and a great dinner shortcut ingredients. You could also use chopped pan-fried chicken thigh fillets.
- French onion soup mix: If watching your salt intake you can buy a low salt one.
- Pizza cheese: This handy product combines cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses that are already grated for you!
- Parsley: We us continental parsley, but there’s nothing wrong with using curly as we are being a bit retro.
Additional recipe notes by Alison Adams - Food Writer and Recipe Tester
How to cook our French onion pasta bake: full recipe below
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