Simple Pasta and Chicken Recipe

Every so often, I cook full meals for friends and family. When doing so, my favorite is pasta dish of some kind. At times like these, it's more about fun. So I don't usually count calories or think about diet and other weight loss concerns. It's the food and someone usually bring the drinks.

Here's a reasonably easy pasta and chicken dinner to make, though it takes 20 minutes to prepare and about 1 hour to cook. If I have a day or so to plan, I'd most likely use a slow cooker for the meat sauce, but there's another way as outlined below:

Baked Chicken and Pasta

Baked Chicken and Pasta

Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces;
  • 4 tbsp butter;
  • 1 onion, chopped fine;
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt;
  • 1/2 teaspoon table salt;
  • Ground black pepper.

Direction:

-- Cooking the Chicken Thighs

Preheat oven at 385 deg F.

Drizzle chicken thighs with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).

Salt, pepper, and season both sides.

Arrange chicken thighs on a baking pan lined with foil.

Stick in oven and bake for 60 minutes.

-- Preparing the Pasta and Meat Sauce

Wait 30 minutes then boil water for pasta.

Add seasoning and the bow tie pasta.

In a sauce pan, sweat the garlic and onion until translucent then remove.

Brown the hamburger meat, season with bit of salt and garlic powder. Do not over cook the hamburger since it will finish cooking in the sauce.

Add pasta sauce, onion, and garlic.

Simmer on low.

When the pasta is tender, use a strainer to remove water.

Mix pasta to the meat sauce.

Stir until pasta and sauce are thoroughly mixed.

By now, chicken should be finished. Serve pasta and chicken together. I usually add a side salad with it.