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This chicken and ham pasta bake is full of meat and cheese and creamy goodness! If you have leftover ham from Christmas, Easter, or any other occasion, this recipe is perfect for using up some of it.
If you've been around my blog for any time now, you will know that I love a good pasta dish. The simpler and more flavorful the better!
I also love one-pot meals, and this is almost a one-pot meal. I say "almost," because the only other pot you will use is for cooking your pasta.
However, you will use the same pan on the stove top as the one you put in the oven.
That's why I love my cast iron cookware. It's so easy to go from stove top to oven without using different pots and pans.
My favorite short pasta to use is rotini, as all the sauces and flavors cling to every swirl and twist of the pasta pieces. If you prefer to use macaroni, shells, or penne - go for it!
How does this pasta dish taste?
Since I was going to be using chicken and ham together with pasta and cheese, it made me think of the well-known dish Chicken Cordon Bleu.
If you're not familiar with Chicken Cordon Bleu, it is a bread-crumb-coated chicken breast stuffed with ham and Swiss cheese.
Therefore, this dish is meant to taste similiar to the famous chicken breast stuffed with ham and Swiss. All the flavors are there combined with a wonderful sauce and highlighted by the swirling rotini pasta.
What You'll Need
4 cups uncooked pasta (I used rotini)
2 Tablespoons butter
1-½ cups cooked ham, diced
1-½ cups chicken breast meat, uncooked, diced
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup cream
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup panko bread crumbs, plain
1 teaspoon marjoram or oregano
1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded
How to Make
On the stove top, preheat a large cast iron skillet on medium heat. Melt butter. Add chicken, marjoram, and onion and garlic powders. Cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in a separate pot according to package directions.
Preheat oven to 400.
Turn chicken pan to low-medium heat. Add ham. Cook 5 minutes more to heat.
Turn heat on skillet to low. Add cream cheese, Swiss cheese, cream, black pepper, and drained cooked pasta. Stir together, and heat until melted (about 5 minutes), stirring often.
Top with bread crumbs and place in preheated oven. Heat for 10 minutes or until browned and bubbly.
Tips
This recipe calls for uncooked chicken, but you can use leftover cooked chicken in this recipe if you have some on hand.
If using cooked chicken, add the chicken at the same time as the instructions call for adding the raw chicken. However, you will only need to heat the chicken through, and the pan will start at low-medium heat.
You can also add the ham at the same time as the cooked chicken.
So, if you're using cooked chicken, the recipe should take about 10 minutes less time overall, and your first step would be to get the pasta started cooking.
The oven cook time is simply meant to brown the bread-crumb topping. If you don't have the bread crumbs (or don't want to use them), the recipe will still be tasty.
However, I highly recommend using the bread crumbs, as they really add to the flavor, making it more like a chicken cordon bleu.
I hope you love this creamy chicken and ham pasta bake as much as my family does! Let me know in the comments below, and don't forget to share the recipe!
More Pasta Recipes to Love:
Homemade Hamburger Helper (quick & easy)
Chicken Spaghetti with Rotel (easy & cheesy)
Pepper Jack Mac & Cheese (zesty & creamy)
Panera Broccoli Mac & Cheese (delicious copycat recipe)
Chicken and Ham Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- ½ pound chicken breast uncooked, chopped (about 1-½ cups)
- 1 tsp marjoram or oregano (dry)
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 4 cups pasta uncooked
- 1-½ cups cooked ham chopped
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup Swiss cheese shredded
- 1 cup cream
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ cup bread crumbs Panko style
Instructions
- On the stove top, preheat a large cast iron skillet on medium heat.
- Melt butter. Add chicken, marjoram, and onion and garlic powders.
- Cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta in a separate pot according to package directions.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Turn chicken pan to low-medium heat. Add ham. Cook 5 minutes more to heat.
- Turn heat on skillet to low. Add cream cheese, Swiss cheese, cream, black pepper, and drained cooked pasta. Stir together, and heat until melted (about 5 minutes), stirring often.
- Top with bread crumbs and place in preheated oven. Heat for 10 minutes or until browned and bubbly.
Nutrition
Don't Forget to Pin For Later!
I am assuming pasta and sauce are combined at no 7 before topping with crumbs - just checking! Could I ask can this be made a few hours in advance?
Yes, Valerie - I left that out and will fix it ASAP! You could make it in advance, but I would save the oven part for just before serving.
How much Swiss Cheese it’s not listed in the ingredients
My apologies, Sharon. It is written in the recipe description but not the recipe card. You will need one cup shredded Swiss cheese as well as one teaspoon marjoram or oregano. I will update the recipe card to reflect these changes. Thank you for the heads up!