You don’t even have to boil the penne, cook the chicken, or sauté the vegetables! Just stir everything together and 10 minutes later you’ll have a creamy chicken pasta casserole ready for the oven. It’s a one pot meal that makes weeknight dinners easy!
Table of Contents
Looking for even more easy dump-and-bake recipes? Try my kids’ favorite sesame chicken noodles, a dump-and-bake meatball casserole, pizza casserole, dump-and-bake wagon wheel pasta casserole, chicken tzatziki, our pesto alfredo chicken pasta, this ravioli lasagna with ricotta and spinach, aloha chicken, honey soy chicken, a chicken divan casserole, this simple chicken marsala recipe, poppy seed chicken, this chicken a la king recipe, and this dump-and-bake ham, cheddar, and rice casserole, too!
There were supposed to be leftovers; I was counting on it. Alas, it was quite a hit that there were only a few spoonfuls left toward the end. Most popular pasta bake I’ve made.
– Mike
Video: How to Make Chicken Penne Pasta
Dump-and-bake dinners certainly aren’t fancy, but they help us get a homemade meal on the table — even on our busiest nights. This chicken penne casserole is just the latest in our lineup of weeknight winners!
An Easy Chicken Pasta Casserole for Busy Nights
Instead of sauteing or boiling the chicken and vegetables, this version takes advantage of my favorite dump-and-bake method to eliminate tedious prep work. There’s no need to boil the pasta in advance or to pre-cook the chicken or veggies. Instead, all of the ingredients mingle, share seasonings, and simmer together in one dish in the oven.
You’ll also appreciate that this chicken and pasta casserole is family-friendly and incredibly versatile. Change up the ingredients to suit your family’s preferences or to use up whatever you have on hand. For instance, omit the mushrooms, but add frozen corn, peas, or diced carrots. Use shredded rotisserie chicken (instead of the raw chicken) or try cooked sausage. If you don’t like cream of celery soup, swap it out for cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup instead. The options are endless!
Ingredient Notes and Tips for Success
- I typically use the Campbell’s Heart Healthy cream of celery soup, but any similar option will work well. You can pick your favorite flavor of condensed soup to use here.
- For a richer, creamier sauce, stir ¼ cup of room-temperature sour cream into the dish just before sprinkling the cheese on top.
- Cut up raw, boneless skinless chicken breasts into bite-size pieces. The meat will cook in the oven along with the pasta. You can substitute with boneless skinless chicken thighs if you prefer the dark meat.
- I use Barilla penne pasta, which has a suggested cooking time of 11-12 minutes on the package directions. You can substitute with another short pasta shape like rigatoni, elbows, bowtie (farfalle), or rotini. Adjust the total baking time if you choose a different pasta shape.
- Feel free to swap out the sharp cheddar cheese and instead use shredded mozzarella cheese, Monterey Jack, American, Colby, Pepper Jack, or even some Parmesan cheese.
How to Make Chicken and Pasta Casserole
This creamy chicken penne casserole makes weeknight dinners quick and easy! I’ve included detailed directions in the recipe card below, but here’s the overview:
- Whisk together the liquid ingredients and the seasoning.
- Add the vegetables, uncooked penne pasta, uncooked chicken, and some of the cheese.
- Transfer the mixture to a greased 8-inch square baking dish (or other 2-quart dish); cover tightly with aluminum foil.
- Bake the casserole, covered, in a 425°F oven for 45 minutes, until the pasta and veggies are almost tender.
- Remove the foil and stir the chicken mixture.
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
- Return the dish to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 5 more minutes, until the pasta is tender, the chicken is cooked through, and the cheese melts. Total cooking time will vary depending on the type of pan that you use and on your individual oven. A glass or ceramic casserole dish will take longer than a metal pan, for instance. To know when your casserole is done, taste a bite of the pasta. The noodles should be tender and the sauce should be thicker. Be careful not to overbake the casserole or the pasta will become mushy.
- Let the pasta bake stand for about 5 minutes before serving. Garnish the finished dish with fresh herbs (such as fresh parsley, fresh basil, or fresh thyme) for an added layer of flavor.
Serving Suggestions
This chicken and pasta casserole is basically an entire meal in one dish, thanks to the meat, noodles, and veggies. If you’d like to round out the meal, pair it with flaky biscuits, 3-ingredient buttermilk biscuits, cast iron cornbread, cranberry muffins, pumpkin muffins or pumpkin bread, homemade garlic bread, no-knead Dutch oven bread, our favorite house salad with candied pecans, brown sugar glazed carrots, or Southern-style green beans.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Make Ahead: You can assemble the pasta dish a few hours in advance, or even leave it covered in the refrigerator overnight before baking. The pasta will start to soften and absorb some of the liquid as it sits, so you may need to decrease the baking time slightly. You don’t want to overcook the casserole or you’ll end up with gummy, mushy pasta.
- Storage: This casserole is best enjoyed immediately from the oven. Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. The pasta will dry out a bit as it sits.
- I do not recommend freezing this casserole because pasta has a tendency to get gummy and mushy when thawed.
My friends and I keep this in the rotation, everyone loves it!!
– Maureen
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Watch How to Make It
Chicken Pasta Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup, (or sub with cream of chicken soup or cream of mushroom soup)
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup finely diced onion (I use frozen diced onion as a shortcut)
- 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- ½ cup finely diced red bell pepper
- 2 celery stalks, finely diced
- ½ lb. raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized pieces (or sub with boneless, skinless chicken thighs)
- 1 ½ cups uncooked penne pasta
- 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the condensed soup, milk, chicken broth, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir in the onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, celery, raw chicken, uncooked pasta, and ½ cup cheese.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove the foil and give everything a stir in the dish. At this point, check to make sure that the pasta is al dente (tender, but with a firm bite). If it’s still too hard, cover again and return the dish to the oven until the pasta is al dente. Once the pasta is al dente, sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of cheese over top.
- Return the dish to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 5-10 more minutes, or until the pasta is tender, the chicken is cooked through, and the cheese melts.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Variations
- Instead of using fresh diced onion, use ¼ teaspoon onion powder.
- Instead of the fresh veggies, use frozen baby broccoli florets. They’re perfectly bite-sized, which means there’s no chopping necessary. Thaw them first and they’ll soften nicely in the oven. If you prefer, you can substitute with about 2-3 cups of fresh broccoli florets. If using the fresh broccoli, you don’t need to pre-cook it. It will be soft by the time the pasta is done.
- Have leftover cooked chicken (or rotisserie chicken) on hand? Stir the cooked chicken into the casserole at the end (just before you sprinkle the cheese on top).
- Use any variety of condensed soup that you like. For instance, substitute with organic condensed soup, homemade condensed soup, or with other flavors of condensed soup (such as a can of Cream of Chicken soup and a can of Cream of Mushroom soup).
- Add buttered Ritz crackers, buttered seasoned bread crumbs, or buttered panko breadcrumbs if you like a crunchy topping.
- Season the sauce with additional herbs and spices. Good options include parsley, thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, and chives. You can also jazz up the casserole with Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, and/or sundried tomatoes.
- Add a splash of dry sherry to the creamy sauce for even more flavor.
- For a similar dish, try this dump-and-bake chicken pot pie pasta.
More Dump-and-Bake Chicken and Pasta Casserole Recipes to Try
Dump-and-Bake Chicken Alfredo Casserole
45 minutes mins
Tuscan Chicken Pasta (Dump-and-Bake!)
55 minutes mins
Dump-and-Bake Chicken Parmesan Casserole
50 minutes mins
This recipe was originally published in June, 2018. It was updated in February, 2025.
Your Dump and Bake Chicken Penne Pasta is a dream for any working mom! I’m always looking for quick and easy to prepare meals to work with my busy schedule, and this recipe would provide the perfect quick home-cooked meal. I’ll be dropping this recipe onto my thumb drive to pull up at home, and so I can prepare this tonight. I always appreciate when you provide the nutritional facts, because I never have the time to look it up!
Thanks, Denise!
I’m going to make this for the 1st time. Can I use sea salt instead of kosher salt?
Hi, Linda! Yes, you can do that! Just use a little bit less sea salt.
This looks amazing! I can’t get enough of baked meals at the moment because it’s so cold here!
Yes! This is perfect for your changing seasons in Australia!
Now that’s a good looking recipe! I hope it’s as delicious as it looks! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Isadora!
Could this be turned into a freezer meal? And at which point in the directions would you recommend putting it in the freezer?
Hi! Yes, I think it would work fine as a freezer meal. I would assemble it according to the recipe instructions through step 3. Cover and freeze until ready to bake. Then, when the time comes to bake the dish, I would allow it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight before it goes in the oven.
Hope that helps, and let me know if you give it a try. I haven’t done that myself, so I’d love to know if it works! 🙂
Turned out well. Thank you.
There were supposed to be leftovers; I was counting on it. Alas, it was quite a hit that there were only a few spoonfuls left toward the end. Most popular pasta bake I’ve made.
Awesome! Thanks, Mike!!
As a man, this was a great easy dish to make. I made my homemade cornbread to go with it. And a salad!
Awesome! Thank you!!! 🙂
I enjoyed the dish, but I don’t think my guys were big fans. I had to cook it longer than directed and ended up turning the oven up to 450. I will probably make it again, although it won’t classify as a family favorite. I do like being able to just dump everything in one dish!
Delicious! My husband and I loved this recipe! The only thing I would do differently next time is make sure the soup is mixed with the broth and milk until creamy. Mine stayed separated through the baking and so did not look creamy. But still tasty! My husband can be picky but he loved this!! Thank you for our new dinner idea!
I also used bow tie pasta because that’s what I had and it cooked nicely!
Thank you, Melinda! I’m so glad that even your picky hubby approved. 🙂
Can I replace the penne pasta with uncooked rice instead?
Hi! I’ve used uncooked rice in similar recipes before, but I haven’t tested it with this particular recipe. I think it would work, but you may need to adjust the cooking time a bit longer. Let me know if you give it a try!
I hadn’t cooked in over a year. My step children just decided it’s best to disrespect me as much as possible, so naturally I decided to give up cooking good home cooking food. Going out was getting old so I decided to try this recipe. I doubled the recipe and boy am I glad I did! I was glad it was so easy to make in case something happened with the step kids, I wouldn’t feel like I slaved all day for nothing. They were being mean to me all day, but when they are this, they gathered around me telling me this is the BEST dinner they had ever ate!!! My daughter said her tongue had no taste buds because she burnt them off, she couldn’t wait for it to cool to eat it because it looked, smelled, and tasted sooooo good! I wish I could copy al the texts that all the kids sent me last night about this dinner!! My husband agree with them too! This is definitely the best and easiest recipe available! Thank you Blair! BTW I had to forward the recipe to my oldest daughter who just moved out and is learning how to cook! Perfect for her to try!
Oh, that makes me so happy to hear, Tessa! Thank you! I hope you’ll try some of the other dump-and-bake recipes on my blog. They’re all so easy — and total timesavers in the kitchen!
Hello Blair!
I recently found your website when googling a slow cooker chicken stew (which I am also making at the moment) when this recipe for dump and bake chicken Parm popped up in a video. I don’t usually like those but I was intrigued with the thought of a quick chick Parm that require almost no work!!
I added some frozen veggies and used an ancient grain spiral pasta to make it even healthier and lower carb but still with the comfort of pasta with it.
It was delicious.!! I’m single and sometimes hate cooking for one as it’s a lot of work. So, this simple recipe which I did with amounts for 2 people worked perfectly and quickly. Thank you!!
I also want to try your Aunt Bee’s biscuits. I never have luck making biscuits so I’ll let you know how it goes!!
I truly enjoyed my Saturday afternoon finding your recipes and becoming more excited about finding simple delicious meals. Thank you!!
Hi, Jennifer! I’m so glad that you found my site and that you’re having fun trying some new recipes in the kitchen. Thanks for taking the time to leave me a note. I hope you love the biscuits! 🙂
My friends and I keep this in the rotation, everyone loves it!!
Thanks, Maureen! I’m so glad that you like it! 🙂
Delicious, we made last night and my kids and husband loved it. We added black olives because my husband loves them and it came out very yummy. Thanks for the recipe. We will make again for sure.
Would adding broccoli and cauliflower work with this recipe?
Hi, Jane! Yes — I think that would be great! If you prefer the broccoli/cauliflower really tender, you might want to parboil it (or steam it in the microwave) before adding it to the dish.
Can I make this with Costco Rotisserie chicken? And, use frozen peas?
Yes and yes! That sounds perfect. 🙂
So far, not impressed. It’s been in the oven for 1.5 hours and the pasta is far from cooked. Turned up the oven and put the lid back on. Hoping for the best so I don’t waste food at this point.
Excellent…I added a shallot finely diced, some chopped fresh tomato as I had no bell peppers and added a generous 1/2 teaspoon of Herbs de Provance…my shredded cheese in the fridge was Velveeta Mexican mix shred.. I live in an RV with a 3 ft x 4 foot kitchen..which includes the sink area and the area I put my convection oven and coffee maker. Anything I can fix in a short time, with a one pan clean up, that is tasty and satisfying…I am all in. This will be made again…and again…and I am reading through all your dump recipes!
Wonderful, Maggi! I’m so glad that you found these recipes. They’re perfect for your kitchen! 🙂
This is my first dump and bake recipe. A great idea, and it tastes really good. At my advanced age I don’t cook much anymore, so for me this was a lot more prep than I had imagined. Mainly the chopping. Next time, if I make it again, I will do all that ahead of time.
Hi, Tim! I’m not sure — I haven’t tested it a Dutch oven. In general, I find that the cast iron conducts heat better than ceramic baking dishes, so I’m guessing that it will cook faster in the cast iron Dutch oven. Just start checking it about 10-15 minutes early, and leave it in as long as necessary. You’ll be able to tell easily when it’s done because the pasta will be tender. Just don’t let it cook for too long or the pasta will get mushy.
This was the best! Can see any veggie added. Put frozen peas in mine. Reminded me of pot pie.
Thanks, Terry! Yes, it definitely has a similar flavor to pot pie — plus the pasta! 🙂
This is so good! Took about 10 minutes to put together. I added garlic, thyme, parsley and salt to mine but I add that to every chicken dish. I also substituted drained corn for the mushrooms because of an allergy. All 4 of the men in my house had second helpings of that tells you anything. (I doubled the recipe)
Yum! Thank you for sharing, Danielle. We’re so happy you enjoyed it!