My Mediterranean chicken pasta bake combines whole wheat pasta, marinated chicken, juicy tomatoes, beans, artichokes and olives in one casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes, and you’ve got a delicious, make-ahead dinner bursting with layered Mediterranean flavor.
Here it is: a twist on my famous Mediterranean chicken re-imagined into a wholesome pasta bake.
I’ve made a couple of tweaks along the way, but you’ll recognize the key players including chicken, artichokes, white beans, and fresh herbs. It’s packed with Mediterranean flavors that are nutrient dense and satisfying.
This might look like a total food-coma meal, but the combination of ingredients gives you the energy you need to tackle all kinds of projects. And you won’t need a nap afterwards!
Tips:
- I use organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe because they stay moist when baked. You can substitute with chicken breast as well (just keep an eye on it so it doesn’t overcook).
- You will need a large, ovenproof casserole dish. Mine was a 9-inch, 2 quart, oval shaped dish. Everything fit perfectly.
- I like to buy marinated artichokes hearts from my Italian deli. You can also find them in most grocery stores.
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mediterranean chicken pasta bake
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dinner, Pasta & Grains
- Method: Oven-Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
My Mediterranean chicken pasta bake combines whole wheat pasta, marinated chicken, juicy tomatoes, beans, artichokes and olives in one casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes, and you’ve got a delicious, make-ahead dinner bursting with layered Mediterranean flavor.
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1½ lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces*
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2–3 tbsp. marinade from artichoke hearts
- 4 sprigs of fresh oregano, leaves stripped
- olive oil
- red wine vinegar
Bake
- 1 lb. whole wheat fusili pasta
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, whole
- 1/2 c. marinated artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
- 1/2 c. white beans, rinsed + drained (I use northern white beans)
- ½ c. Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
- 1/3 c. parsley and basil leaves, roughly chopped
- 2–3 handfuls of part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
- salt + pepper
Garnish
- parsley + basil leaves
*You can substitute with chicken breast (just keep an eye on it so it doesn’t overcook).
Instructions
- For the chicken marinade, drain the artichoke hearts reserving the juice. To a large bowl, add the chicken, artichoke juice, garlic, and oregano leaves. Drizzle with olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, and mix well to coat. Marinate for at least 1 hour, maximum 3 hours.
- Cook the pasta in boiling salted water. Drain and set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 425 F.
- To a casserole dish, add the sliced onions and tomatoes. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and the tomatoes begin to burst, about 15-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet warm 1 tsp. of olive oil over moderate heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade, pat dry, and season with salt and pepper. Working in batches, brown the chicken on both sides. It will be slightly undercooked.
- Remove the casserole dish from the oven. Add the cooked pasta, chicken, artichoke hearts, beans, olives, and chopped herbs. Stir to combine.
- Top with grated cheese and bake for an additional 5-7 minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbling. If you like it really brown, pop it under the broiler for a minute.
- Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh herbs right before serving.
Comments
Lori Orberg says
I’ve made this now three times and all the guests have had seconds. I do however double the garlic and add calamata olive juice when stirring all ingredients together. The recipe includes 2-3 handfuls mozzarella but gives no instruction when to add. Of course, I added it when mixing all ingredients. This recipe is really great. It’s wonderfully flavorful & satisfying. Even went to dinner at a friends house and brought this…. She NEVER has seconds… but she did!!!!! Love your style and I’ll be visiting often.
Lorus says
I’ve now made this twice and it is a hit with everyone. Especially me! Love this recipe. The flavors are so savory and it’s hard to stop eating when full! I would use less pasta in the future because the veggies are able to stand alone. Pasta is a yummy comfort food so essentially necessary! Can this amazing recipe be frozen? Fresh is best but I am making advance meals for an occasion.
Thanks for the recipe!
Lori
Linda Antun says
In med. Chix pasta bowl, can you use red kidney beans instead of white beans?
Emilie Raffa says
Of course! You can switch up the beans however you want, to suit your taste.
Carolyn Ramsay says
This was very tasty, lots of flavour. I thought it might be too dry. When I reviewed the comments people mentioned to add more vegetables and others less pasta; so I made sure to add lots of tomatoes 🍅 (about 15-20 sweet tasty cherry tomatoes) and didn’t find it dry. Used chedder/skim mozzarella cheese mixture from bag on the top. Took longer than 7 minutes to brown ( I didn’t allow it to brown too much basically melted cheese only again worried it would dry out; broiled for 1 minute). No issues with dryness.
Used 375 gms (1box = less than a pound) of pasta, it was plenty. Cooked in Dutch oven dish made lots.
Joe says
This was delicious! Gonna double up on the veggies next time to even put the quantity of the pasta. Great recipe, this will be on the weekly rotation! :)
KayT says
I like the flavors here. It was good, but too much pasta for me. Next time I make it, I will use only 8 ounces.
Liz says
Hi!
This looks delish. I’m working on stocking our freezer before baby comes in a few weeks. Do you think this would freeze well, and if so – how do you suggest preparing accordingly?
Thanks!
Liz
Marilyn says
Can you use feta cheese instead of mozzarella in this recipe?
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Marilyn! Sure can. Feta would be delicious.
Angelina says
This sounds tasty, & something I’m sure my family would enjoy. Some of us would really appreciate Nutr. Info., w/o (ourselves) having to plug a recipe into a website.
Emilie Raffa says
Thanks for the feedback, Angelina :)
cathy beeson says
great recipe
Ashley says
I’ve never cooked with artichoke before, so I’m very unfamiliar with what your using as a marinade. How are you doing this? Can you explain the process of this sentence?
“For the chicken marinade, drain the artichoke hearts reserving the juice. To a large bowl”
Thank you!
Emilie says
Hi Ashley,
For this recipe, I use marinated artichoke hearts which usually contain garlic, vinegar and spices. They come in a jar. For the instructions, just drain the artichoke hearts reserving the marinade or ‘juice’ that it comes in, to then create the marinade for the chicken. Hope that makes sense!
Megan says
Hi I am so excited to make this! But what is the artichoke marinade? The stuff I threat from pickled artichoke hearts?
Megan
Emilie says
Hi Megan,
Great! The recipe calls for marinated artichoke hearts, so the marinade in the recipe is the ‘juice’ in the jar. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Megan says
It did! Thank you so much!
Pat says
I tried to pin a few recipes of yours but Pinterest said they may lead to Spam. Any idea how to fix this? I don’t get spam when I come to your site. Very frustrating.
Regards
Pat
Emilie says
Hi there! Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. You know, all it takes is one person to mark you as spam and then it ruins your account. Very frustrating indeed. I put in a message to Pinterest’s support staff, so hopeful I’ll have an answer for you shortly. :)
Onawa says
What’s worse than “ancient” appliances? No appliances at all or appliances that don’t work and you can’t afford to fix or replace them.
Rivka says
For those of you who made this recipe as written, about how many serving did it make (about one cup per serving)? It says it serves 4, but I’m using this recipe for a class cooking project, and when I tried calculating the yield, I got a little over 15 servings. Thanks!
Emilie says
Hi there,
This recipe is intended to feed 4 (hungry) people for dinner. It’s not measured as 1 cup per serving. That’s probably why your calculations yielded 15 servings. I hope this helps!