I think that I managed to pack all of the season's best fresh veggies and herbs into one cheesy casserole! This Dump-and-Bake Summer Pasta with Zucchini, Corn, Tomatoes, and Chicken is a quick, light, and easy dinner that your family will love. It's so simple and so fast because you don't even have to boil the pasta! Just stir the ingredients together in one dish and pop it in the oven!
Just because it's summer doesn't mean that I've totally given up on cozy comfort food! I've only shifted gears a little bit and turned our cool weather favorites into more seasonally appropriate dishes like this Summer Pasta! Because you can only eat so many salads...
But wait! Before you run off and assume that this is a heavy, calorie-laden meal that won't jive with your bathing suit goals, hear me out!
I've lightened up the dish with loads of fresh vegetables, lean protein, and a broth-based sauce for a dump-and-run summer pasta that has less than 300 calories per serving!
Getting Kids To Eat Their Veggies
Over the past 7 or 8 years, I have found that the best way to encourage all of my boys to eat their veggies is to add the nutritious stuff to familiar meals that the kids already know and love.
I'm not "disguising" or "hiding" the vegetables, but instead making them more palatable and mild by combining them with the flavors and textures that the boys enjoy.
So when you're faced with a garden full of zucchini, fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market, or leftover grilled chicken from your recent cookout, there's no need to force-feed a grilled chicken salad to your toddler!
Instead, you can bake a fresh and light summer pasta with zucchini for an easy dinner that comes together in a matter of minutes (and it just happens to include zucchini). This is about as easy as cooking gets, since you don't even have to boil the pasta!
Making This Summer Pasta With Zucchini, Corn & Chicken
- This pasta is great for using any leftover veggies so use whatever you have
- Add different herbs and spices such as parsley and oregano
- Don't have chicken? Try using bacon or sausage
More Pasta Recipes To Try:
Dump and Bake Summer Pasta with Corn, Zucchini, Tomatoes and Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 cups diced, cooked chicken
- 1 cup halved grape tomatoes (can substitute with a can of undrained diced tomatoes)
- 1 small zucchini (about 1 cup), diced
- ½ cup corn kernels (fresh, canned, or frozen is fine)
- 12 ounces (about 3 cups) uncooked uncooked penne pasta
- 3 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 8 ounces about 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- ½ cup chopped or torn fresh basil leaves, divided
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- In the prepared dish (or in a separate bowl), stir together cooked chicken, tomatoes, zucchini, corn, uncooked pasta, chicken broth, 1 ½ cups of mozzarella cheese, about half of the basil leaves, minced garlic, and salt.
- Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes.
- Uncover; stir. At this point you should check the pasta to make sure that it is al dente (firm but just about finished cooking). If it’s still too hard, cover the dish and return to the oven until pasta is al dente. Then move on to the next step.
- Sprinkle remaining ½ cup of mozzarella over the top. Bake uncovered for 5-10 more minutes (or until cheese is melted and pasta is tender).
- Garnish with remaining basil leaves just before serving.
Lisa
Just made this for dinner and it is a tasty dish. If I make it again, I will cook the pasta first. Some of the pasta was crunchy, even though there was quite a bit of broth left in the dish. I used a slotted spoon to dish it out.
Blair
Hey, Lisa! It sounds like the dish needed to bake a bit longer. The pasta shouldn't be crunchy at the end and there shouldn't be too much broth in the dish. Hope that helps, and I'm glad that you otherwise enjoyed it. 🙂
Jim
This is one of our go to meals. It’s just tastes like summer, so fresh with produce right from the garden.
Only suggestion would be to mix the dish 1/2 to 2/3 the way through. The problem is the pasta on top (not submerged) doesn’t get cooked and remains a little too firm. But if you don’t do this, just poke all the hard pasta deep down when you take it out to add the extra cheese and it should be good.
Also, it may be a little brothy when you first take it out but that will soak in and evaporate if you take off the foil when it comes out to cool. Leftovers are even better!
Blair
Thanks, Jim!!
Faith
The dish ends up very, very watery. The pasta really should be cooked separately and then combined. Or perhaps half the amount of chicken broth. So much liquid left over at the end.
Natasha
Hey, thanks for this recipe! It has become a regular party of my rotation, good through the whole year!
Just wondering if I could freeze leftovers? Going to lose my oven to kitchen renovations soon and would love to pre-bake and store portions for microwaving in the coming few months!
Blair
Hi, Natasha! I'm so glad that you like it! 🙂
You can definitely freeze the leftovers -- just beware that the texture of the dish may be slightly "off" after thawing. Just like any pasta casserole, the freezing and reheating process may make the pasta a bit mushy or gummy -- not terrible -- just not as good as when it's straight out of the oven. Also, the frozen vegetables may be a bit mushier and release more liquid after thawing. Hope that helps!
When we had our kitchen renovated years ago, I relied heavily on slow cooker dinners. I could plug my Crock Pot into an outlet in the laundry room and just prepare dinner that way. You could even prepare slow cooker freezer meals so that you can just stash the prepped dinners in your freezer and then cook them as needed. Here are a few links to freezer meal prep sessions that you might find helpful: https://www.theseasonedmom.com/?s=freezer
Jenny De Jong
Can you make this with uncooked chicken?
Blair
Hi, Jenny! Yes! I've made many other similar dump-and-bake casseroles with raw chicken and it works fine. Just make sure that you dice the chicken into small enough pieces so that it's cooked through by the time the pasta is done. 🙂
Katie
WARNING!
I used the Banza chickpea pasta and it turned out TERRIBLE! The pasta was all mushy and doughy. It ruined everything for me. I imagine I would really love this dish, and will probably try in the future, but for now a little scared. If you are looking into a gluten free pasta, look elsewhere.
Blair
Hi, Katie! I've tried that chickpea pasta (not in this recipe) once before, and I thought it was pretty bad, too. 🙂
Emily
Any thoughts on how this would be without cheese? Similarly good?
Blair
Hey, Emily! It should still work without the cheese -- it will just be missing that cheesy flavor and texture. 🙂 Enjoy!
Kristyn
My finnicky daughter really liked this meal! I would not call this "quick," but it is definitely easy! I used canned chicken because I was too lazy to cook my own! 40 minutes is not enough to cook the pasta all the way, it needed 60 minutes, but that cooked it perfectly and there was no water left behind. I will be making this again, and using it as a meal to send to friends who need help (new parents and caregivers) with the ingredients for them to put it together themselves and feel like they are cooking! I've been on the receiving end of those kinds of meals and this would be perfect!
Blair
Thank you, Kristyn! I'm so glad that your daughter even approved. 🙂
Natasha
I've commented before but it was half query. I want to reiterate that this recipe is fantastic.
A few people have mentioned the crunchy pasta on top... We've had this too because I overload on veggies. Our solution is to put the pasta and stock in the bottom of the dish, then dump everything else on top and squash it down (not everything will be fully submerged but it doesn't matter since the chicken is cooked already). The pasta cooks through and then you just stir everything together before you too with the last cheese.
This has made the dish SO versatile because I can just add as much extra veg I want, or use up the last of a bbq chook that's a little too dry for lunches, no need to measure
We like to add parmesan on top in the last stage as well for an extra flavour twist. Thank you Blair, some variety of this recipe is in heavy rotation year round!!
Blair
Thank you for those great tips, Natasha! 🙂
Stacy
This was so good! I was worried after reading reviews but took the advice of layering the pasta and broth on the bottom and everything else on top. Cooked for the recommended time and it turned out great. I did use 2tbsp of basil from a squeeze tube vs fresh and also did tomato basil chicken sausages. Both were great subs!
Blair
Awesome! Thanks for your note, Stacy. I'm so glad that it was a hit!
Diane
We love this casserole! I have made it 3 times now and it has always turned out perfect. I followed the recipe just as written and I have not had any problem with it being too juicy as mentioned by another reviewer. The only thing I would recommend is stirring after 20 minutes of baking, which was also mentioned by someone else.
Blair
I'm so happy to hear that, Diane! Thank you for taking the time to come back here and leave a note. I appreciate it!
Ali
Hi Blair, fabulous recipe - easy and tasty. I can see it being done often in our house. I was wondering about a crock-pot version. Any suggestion for cooking time if it was done dump and bake in the crock pot? Thanks, Ali.
Blair Lonergan
Hi, Ali! I think it would work in the slow cooker, but I haven't tested it to be able to give you a specific cooking time. I always worry about pasta in the Crock Pot, since it can easily become overcooked, gummy, and mushy if you're not watching it closely to turn off the pot when it's al dente. A quick Google search suggested about 1 hour on high for penne pasta, but again -- that will vary depending on your individual slow cooker and its temperature. Hope that helps!
LT
I don't understand the positive reviews. Experienced cook, followed the recipe exactly. Ended up with a mix of raw and overcooked pasta and a soupy mess. Way, way too much chicken broth. Had to think on my feet to fix what would have been an embarrassment to serve. I did however like the flavor combinations.