Four Cheese Chicken Pasta Bake is a rich, creamy pasta bake made with four-cheese sauce, chicken, and noodles. Easy to prepare, even better to share.
If you love cheesy pasta dishes, check out my Easy Fettuccine Alfredo, Cheesy Sausage Pasta, or my favorite 30-Minute One Pot Cheesy Pasta.
Also check out a few of my other pasta bakes, like this Chicken Fettuccine Bake, Creamy Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Bake, Chicken Parmesan Pasta Bake, and Chicken Tetrazzini Pasta Bake.
Let me start by saying I was not a big cheese fan until I met my husband. His four major food groups in no particular order are meat, ranch dressing, cheese, and more cheese. It doesn’t matter what kind. He’s infamous at Colorado State University for hustling a giant 35 lb. cheese wheel from the staff at the Allison Hall cafeteria, which lasted him and his roommates all of 3 weeks. They even removed the lower two shelves from their fridge for the behemoth cheddar block to reside.
He was also the first person to make me a blue-cheese sauce (for steaks of course) while we were dating. Although I already loved him, this definitely was an added bonus. All our kids, especially our girls, love cheese just as much as Jake if not a little more. But it was a dish at a fancy local restaurant, Jay’s Bistro, which inspired this recipe.
At my sister’s rehearsal dinner a few years ago, we realized there wasn’t a whole lot of kid-friendly selections, so we asked for the lobster mac and cheese, hold the lobster, for our little ones. When it came out, my husband tried it to make sure it wasn’t too hot. He instantly urged me to taste it. We ordered more and ended up eating it all. The kids can have the filet with port demi-glace – we get the mac n’ cheese.
I thought I would try something similar. To add some protein, I substituted chicken for the lobster because it’s such an easy thing to add to any dish. This turned out rich and creamy, and I ended up giving half of it to one of my pregnant friends who is due any day now. She later texted me that her husband ate most of it before dinner, and her two-year-old finished what was left that night.
So just like my husband, here’s a cheesy keeper.
Enjoy! XOXO San
How do you make this Four Cheese Chicken Pasta Bake?
-
Heat oven to 350. Spray square 9×9 or oval dish with cooking spray. Cook pasta as directed and drain.
-
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour. Gradually stir in broth. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat to low. Stir in mascarpone, white cheddar cheese, Gouda, parmesan and half-and-half. Allow all cheese to melt and meld together while continuously stirring. Once completely mixed together and cheese is melted, stir in chicken.
-
Add pasta to chicken mixture; toss gently to mix well. Spoon into baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered about 15-25 minutes or until hot in the center. Enjoy!
Don’t forget to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board to save for later!
Four Cheese Chicken Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 1 pound Fusilli Bucati Corti or any desired pasta, boiled to al dente and drained
- 9 tablespoons butter
- 4 1/2 tablespoons flour
- 14.5 ounces chicken broth 14.5 ounces chicken broth
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 1 cup+ 2 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano grated
- 1 cup+ 2 tablespoons Gouda cheese grated
- 1 cup+ 2 tablespoons sharp white cheddar cheese grated
- 6 ounces mascarpone cheese
- 10 ounces cooked chicken breast sliced or cubed, I like grilled chicken
- 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese for topping grated
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350. Spray square 9×9 or oval dish with cooking spray. Cook pasta as directed and drain.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour. Gradually stir in broth. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat to low. Stir in mascarpone, white cheddar cheese, Gouda, parmesan and half-and-half. Allow all cheese to melt and meld together while continuously stirring. Once completely mixed together and cheese is melted, stir in chicken.
- Add pasta to chicken mixture; toss gently to mix well. Spoon into baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered about 15-25 minutes or until hot in the center. Enjoy!
Kids review: Sadly, when I made this all my kids were down with some horrible virus that we picked up while cruisin’ in the Bahamas. There were some leftovers that my daughter Jojo, the cheese addict, was able to try, and she loved it. My husband would always substitute boneless, skinless chicken thighs for the white chicken meat, but he and I inhaled it for dinner, and lunch and dinner the next day it was so good.
I made this for my family tonight. They loved it!!!
I am so happy to hear that. xo San
Yesterday I went and bought all the ingredients for this!! Tomorrow is my son’s birthday and I am making this for dinner! I am SO excited and can’t wait to try it!
Oh I am so excited for you! Tell him happy birthday!
What kind of quality is the Gouda you’re using? Good Gouda is a hard texture while cheaper stuff is softer.
I just made this tonight for dinner and the cheese sause OMG to die for keep you posted after dinner
We made this tonight and really enjoyed it. Grated a bunch of cheese by hand yesterday and while it felt labor-intensive then, it truly was not overall. Really only had to do that as wanted to buy the cheese at deli in blocks. By prepping the chicken the night before also, making the sauce and pasta plus baking fairly easy tonight. And the taste was worth it! Thank you for terrific recipe.
So happy to hear Sarah. xo San
Can’t buy marscapone where I live but found a substitute recipe for it online (cream cheese, sour cream, and whipping cream). Was a perfect match! Recipe was a HUGE hit for my family. So good and so easy to make!
Something just happened I think, oh yes, . . . . reality (?) came back to me, or is this just another fantasy???!! 🙂 This will definitely be our house favorite in the likes of Chicken a la King.
Thanks and Blessings
Maranatha
Hugo
I stumbled across this while cruising Pinterest and can’t wait to try it. On a side note, I’m a CSU alum and never heard about the cheese abduction from Allison Hall, so chances are I don’t know your hubby, but GO RAMS!! =)
Are you going to come back and see the new stadium? It’s amazing!
I actually still live in town and work on campus, so I see the stadium construction progress every day! It is going to be fantastic once finished! Are you local?
I made this last night for my family of seven. Loved by all. For the chicken, I made Aldi’s bacon wrapped chicken roast an hour before, then I cut that up and put it in with the cheesy pasta. I forgot the marscapone (Aldi didn’t have it but I was going to sub cream cheese but totally forgot – it was wonderful anyway!) I made broccoli on the side and while eating the leftovers for lunch today, I thought, this recipe could totally take some broccoli inside it and it could bake with the noodles. Mushrooms would be good in it too. The bacon from the bacon wrapped chicken put it over the top. Will totally make again.
cheese chicken pasta is amazing recipes i love to eat in once a week
Just came across this recipe and made it tonight for dinner. Absolutely amazing. Thanks.
What an awsome meal….we own a cheese factory and this is IT! Thank you….
And a bigger thank you to your cheese mad hubby…..I love cheese as much as he does.
Stumbled across this a year ago and just got around to making it. Absolutely delicious. Mixed it up with a healthy dose of spicy Cajun seasoning for the chicken. This may very well be one of my new favorite dishes. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
This is absolutely cheese-tastic! I made it last night, and it was just as cheesy as it looks in the pictures. Oh, it’s so good.
So easy, so good- definitely making it again!!!
This recipe is a home run! The chicken and cheese is so good together!
Such a satisfying dish! I have to make this again soon!