Chicken Alfredo Bake - Creamy Tray Bake

Recipe: Chicken Alfredo Bake Recipe »

This Chicken Alfredo Bake is comfort food at its best! Cheese ravioli, smoky chicken, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes are tossed in a rich Alfredo sauce, layered with mozzarella and Parmesan, then baked until bubbling and golden. Great for meal prep, feeding a crowd or family dinner.

About This Chicken Alfredo Bake

Chicken Alfredo Bake is an easy to serve version of chicken alfredo. Chicken and pasta are tossed in a creamy sauce with vegetables and then topped with cheese and baked so that it is an easy pasta tray bake. This is great for meal planning, lunchboxes or just to feed a big crowd of people.

Chicken Alfredo was invented in the early 20th century by Alfredo di Lelio, an Italian restaurateur in Rome. Alfredo was trying to create a dish for his pregnant wife Ines who had morning sickness. His solution was a pasta dish of fettuccine tossed with butter and Parmesan cheese. It became popular when actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks tried it while on their Roman honeymoon. When it was brought back to America, cream was added.

My version of chicken alfredo is a bit different. For starters we use delicious smoked chicken which has a lovely moist texture. I tested so many batches of this Chicken Alfredo Bake and the smoked chicken was the clear winner! And the other difference with this recipe is that we aren't using rigatoni or another short pasta, we are using cheese ravioli just because everyone loves ravioli and y'all know I love being a bit extra.

Why You'll Love This Chicken Alfredo Bake

It's so simple and the sauce practically makes itself.

It's versatile and is a one tray dish - I love this with Swiss brown mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes but you can go with other vegetables. You can add broccoli florets, peas or baby spinach (add a max of two vegetables).

I also made this with half ravioli, half rigatoni and mushrooms and baby spinach and it was delicious! If you want to try a version of chicken Alfredo with fettuccine try this recipe.

I use ravioli but this also works with rigatoni or spiral pasta.

It feeds a lot of people, up to 8 people with a salad on the side.

Video How To Make Chicken Alfredo Bake

Video: Chicken Alfredo Bake Recipe

Ingredients For Chicken Alfredo Bake

Pasta - We are using ravioli for this Chicken Alfredo bake. Go for a cheese ravioli - we used a bacon and cheese ravioli.

Swiss brown mushrooms - Can also use brown mushrooms.

Butter - Salted butter

Onion - use a white or brown onion. You can also use leek (white part only).

Garlic cloves - fresh garlic cloves

Cream - thickened or heavy cream

Chicken powder - I use the Knorr chicken powder but use your favourite one.

Cheese - We use mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I prefer grating the mozzarella as it gives better cheese stretches.

Chicken - I LOVE chicken alfredo with smoked chicken as the texture of the chicken remains moist. You can also use raw chicken breast or tenderloins. To prepare them, cut them into a 1/2 inch dice and toss with 2 teaspoons of lemon pepper and then fry until cooked through. Set aside and add in later. But definitely give this a try with the smoked chicken because I find other chicken can be a bit dryer in texture.

Sun Dried Tomato - I love sun dried tomatoes, especially in winter when fresh tomatoes aren't quite at summer's sweetness. I usually buy a big jar of sun dried tomato strips in oil. Just drain well via a sieve or paper towels.

Parsley- Continental parsley.

Tips For Making Chicken Alfredo Bake

1 - I love adding vegetables and while it is tempting to add lots of vegetables, sometimes they leach liquid out when cooking (like mushrooms). Make sure that the liquid has evaporated before adding the cream.

2 - Make sure to cut the smoked chicken into 1/2 inch cubes so that it disperses really well and you get some in every bite.

3 - We are deliberately undercooking the pasta as it will continue to cook in the oven.

4 - Layering the bake with mozzarella in the middle ensures that you get some lovely cheesy string pulls and disperses the cheese.

5 - Let the pasta bake stand for 10 minutes and the sauce will thicken even further upon cooling.

Chicken Alfredo Bake Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Serves: 8 people

Ingredients Needed

• 625g/1.4lbs cheese ravioli
• 40g/1.4oz butter
• 1 onion, peeled and diced (around 150g/5oz)
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
• 200g/7oz Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup water
• 550ml/18fl oz thickened or double cream
• 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon or stock powder
• 200g/7oz mozzarella cheese, grated, divided in 3
• 100g/3.5oz parmesan cheese, grated, divided in 2
• 300g/10.6oz finely diced smoked chicken (1/2 inch dice)
• 180g/6oz sun dried tomato strips, drained of oil
• Salt and black pepper for seasoning
• Fresh parsley, chopped

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 SAUTE Put a large pot of salted water onto boil and preheat oven to 180C/350F fan forced or 200C/400F conventional. Add butter to a large, deep saucepan on low medium heat and saute the onions for 5-6 minutes until soft and fragrant. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms plus 1/2 cup of water and cook until softened and the water has evaporated (around 5 minutes).

Step 2 BOIL - The water should now be at a boil so now cook the ravioli for 3 minutes (usually takes 4 minutes).

Step 3 CREAM - While the ravioli is cooking, add the cream and chicken powder to the onion and mushroom mix along with a third of the mozzarella and half of the parmesan cheese. Mix to form a creamy sauce. Add chicken and sun dried tomatoes. Finally, add the ravioli and stir to coat and simmer for 1 minute. Add 1 scoop of pasta cooking water to loosen a bit if needed (it should be creamy and not watery after adding). Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Step 4 BAKE - Using a 30x22x7cms/12x9x3 inch baking dish, add half of the pasta mixture. Top with a third of the mozzarella cheese. Add the remaining pasta and the remaining third of mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with remaining half of parmesan cheese and cover with a layer of parchment. Then cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and place under the grill to brown the top. Sprinkle with parsley and sit for 10 minutes.

Personal Note

I brought this chicken alfredo bake to a family birthday picnic with my in laws last weekend. I cooked it that morning so that it was still warm in the tray and it was a bit chilly so it was nice to have something warm at a picnic. We had it at Sydney Park and everyone brought food along to share. Teddy and Milo Elliott were quite well behaved at the beginning. Even though they clearly wanted some they just positioned themselves by it but never lunged or went for some. It was more of a "I'm here if some happens to fall" sort of thing I think.

Mr NQN gave Teddy a piece of chicken which is his favourite food and Milo some bread (Milo is allergic to chicken). Then Milo stole a bocconcini off Manuela's (Mr NQN's brother's girlfriend) plate. "They must be starving!" said Manuela indignantly. We told her that dogs usually get 2 meals a day breakfast and dinner and that they were fine but if you asked the dogs, they'd probably disagree as they are always open to more food.

And later when all of the chicken was long gone Mr NQN looked around Teddy Ellliott was nowhere to be found. From where we were sitting slightly on top of a hill, we could see the whole area around us but he wasn't visible so Mr NQN went off looking for him. Teddy Elliott was all the way across the other side of the park at another picnic where a woman was feeding chicken to her kids!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever bring hot or warm food to a picnic? Do you like pasta bakes?