Celebrity chef Maggie Beer shares her simple recipe for the perfect chicken pasta bake

Celebrity chef Maggie Beer has offered her simple crowd-pleasing recipe for the perfect chicken pasta bake.

The Australian cookbook author shared a video on social media showing how she made the easy winter favourite dish – and it’s perfect for the whole family to enjoy.

To make the comforting meal, the restaurateur used chicken mince, penne, pumpkin, verjuice, onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, tomato pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan, and parsley.

‘I’m not a pasta person all the time but if I’m having pasta, I want it to be good,’ Maggie said.

Celebrity chef Maggie Beer (pictured) has offered her simple crowd-pleasing recipe for the perfect chicken pasta bake

To make chicken pasta bake, Maggie used chicken mince, penne, pumpkin, verjuice, onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, tomato pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan, and parsley

To make chicken pasta bake, Maggie used chicken mince, penne, pumpkin, verjuice, onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, tomato pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan, and parsley

The first thing she did was cooked a packet of wholemeal penne pasta until al dente, drained and placed in a large tray with extra virgin oil stirred through with a pinch of sea salt.

Next she baked even-size pieces of pumpkin coated in olive oil and salt in the oven for up to 25 minutes at 225 degrees Celsius. 

In the meantime, Maggie prepared the tomato-based sauce mixed with chicken mince and skin.

‘Now this is made with good chicken mince and it has skin it in so it also has fat,’ she said.

Maggie said you can use whatever ingredients you have in your home like red onion instead of brown onion or replace chicken with pork or lamb mince. 

Maggie Beer’s chicken pasta bake  

INGREDIENTS

375g packet wholemeal penne pasta

400g pumpkin, peeled and chopped into even-sized pieces

2 tbsp verjuice, to deglaze the pumpkin

2 onions, peeled and diced

2 garlic, peeled and diced

Rosemary and thyme

750g chicken mince

600g tomato pasta sauce

140ml extra virgin olive oil

200g mozzarella cheese

2 tbsp parmesan, grated

Flat-leaf parsley

Salt flakes

METHOD 

1. Cook pasta to packet instructions. Drain and transfer into a large tray. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt flakes. Shake the tray from time to time while it’s cooling.

2. Pre-heat oven to 225°C. Place chopped pumpkin on a tray and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and add a pinch of salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes, then deglaze with verjuice and cook for a further 5 minutes.

3. Heat 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion slowly. Once soft, add in the garlic and then the fresh herbs. Cook on low heat, until the onion is translucent.

4. Transfer the onion mix to a bowl.

5. Using the same frying pan, heat 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Add one-third of the chicken mince, stirring continually, cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside, repeat for the remaining two batches of chicken. Once all chicken has been browned return it all to the pan and remove it from heat.

6. Transfer pasta to a large baking dish and add the onion mix, tomato pasta sauce, chicken and juices and half of the roasted pumpkin and mix through until well combined.

7. Reduce oven heat to 200°C.

8. Top with remaining pumpkin and torn mozzarella and bake for 15 minutes.

9. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with parmesan, then return to the oven on the grill setting for 5 minutes.

10. Garnish with chopped flat-leaf parsley and when serving, drizzle with a flourish of extra virgin olive oil and some freshly cracked pepper.

In the same frying pan over high heat, she fried off the chicken, using a whisk to break up the mince. She said a wooden spoon would leave 'clumps' of mince when cooking

In the same frying pan over high heat, she fried off the chicken, using a whisk to break up the mince. She said a wooden spoon would leave ‘clumps’ of mince when cooking

To assemble the pasta dish, she mixed the penne with the sautéed onion, garlic and herbs, followed by the tomato pasta sauce

To assemble the pasta dish, she mixed the penne with the sautéed onion, garlic and herbs, followed by the tomato pasta sauce 

Over low heat, she sautéed the onion slowly until it’s translucent, then she added the garlic and fresh herbs. Then she transferred them to a bowl and set aside.

In the same frying pan over high heat, she fried off the chicken, using a whisk to break up the mince.

‘I used a whisk rather than a wooden spoon so it’s not clumping,’ she said. 

‘When I’m frying I get a different flavour. I get a more pronounced flavour. And because it’s a chicken mince, it needs hardly any cooking. I just add a bit of salt.’

To assemble the pasta dish, she mixed the penne with the sautéed onion, garlic and herbs, followed by the tomato pasta sauce.

After de-glazing roast pumpkin pieces with verjuice, she stirred half of it into the pasta bake

After de-glazing roast pumpkin pieces with verjuice, she stirred half of it into the pasta bake

She topped the pasta bake with mozzarella cheese and parmesan and placed into the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for just 15 minutes

She topped the pasta bake with mozzarella cheese and parmesan and placed into the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for just 15 minutes

Once stirred through, she added the chicken mince, including its juices, and mixed the ingredients together until well combined.

After de-glazing the roast pumpkin pieces with verjuice, she stirred half of it into the pasta bake. 

‘The pumpkin will squash a bit because it’s beautifully cooked,’ she said, adding: ‘The other half of pumpkin will go on top.

She topped the pasta bake with mozzarella cheese and parmesan and placed into the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for just 15 minutes.

‘This needs very little cooking because every ingredient in here is already cooked. I just want the mozzarella to go golden,’ she said.

Maggie served the dish with fresh parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and cracked pepper on top.

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