Sheet-Pan Pasta Bake With Chicken and Kale

This is a great easy dish with a few tweaks. Roast the tomatoes with about 3-4 cloves chopped garlic, and quite a bit of red pepper flakes for about 20 minutes or so, then add the kale on top and roast for a few minutes longer until it has a little crunch. I also use lentil pasta, but don't over cook it! After that I follow the recipe chicken is good, but pulled pork is better and I often have more of that left over than chicken. I make this a couple times a month.

• mpjcox

• La Center, WA

• 9/13/2023

Awful. Bland, bitter. Waste of $20 and good ingredients.

• Tarryn M

• Austin, TX

• 6/15/2022

This was really yummy and easy for a weeknight dinner. Our store was out of kale so I roasted some broccoli and used that instead - it worked really well and didn't add any extra time since I did it while the pasta boiled. The tomatoes didn't cook down quite as much as I like so I might roast them separately for a minute or two as well next time.

• Katie H

• Louisville KY

• 3/21/2022

Please season food your food. This recipe is basic, and it needs to be modified a bit. As written, it is only suitable for elderly people on bland diets. If you are considering this recipe, season it. Add Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes. The tomatoes were okay, but you can also nix them, or use them at the end as a garnish/topping. Kale can be swapped for spinach if that's more to your liking. Garlic is your friend - especially in this recipe. Also - onions and peppers - and did I mention spices? Please consider fresh basil as a garnish/topping, too.

• Emm

• California

• 1/19/2022

This was quite good, with some changes as suggested by other reviewers. I added garlic powder, italian seasoning, and red pepper flake to the pasta mixture. We halved it and I used about 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of each. I also put the kale and tomatoes in the oven at 450 for 3 minutes prior to combining them with the pasta mixture. After that, the kale was bright green but not wilted or crispy. I think it was a good weeknight meal. I'm not sure how it would be without any seasoning though, so if you completely skipped any seasoning I'm sure it probably came out super bland. I think you could play with the seasoning. I might also skip tomatoes and put it red onion or leek. But overall pretty good.

• Anonymous

• Minneapolis, MN

• 10/8/2021

Made this last night for the family, to somewhat surprisingly rave reviews!! After reading comments did similar doctoring to add flavor. But it was easy to do and I was pretty informal with what I threw in. Definitely pop the kale/tomatoes in the oven first before combining. Also, I added chicken jus that i had left over into the cooked, which added nice flavor. The casserole definitely needs a bit of liquid. I sautéed onion and garlic and threw it in with the pasta, and pretty liberally sprinkled onion powder, garlic powder, a little cayenne, and some italian seasoning. The result was yummy! Not as heavy as a traditional mac n cheese, but very satisfying. and easy to play with!

• bwalton01

• CA

• 4/6/2021

So here’s the scoop. If you have leftover chicken & a bunch of kale staring you in the face threatening to go bad, this is a good recipe to use so food doesn’t go to waste. As others have noted, it needs doctoring. I added red pepper flakes, a little garlic powder, some scallions & subbed diced roasted red peppers (drained from a jar) for the tomatoes. And more salt & pepper. I’d give this a B- overall. I wouldn’t run to make it again, but it worked out great for the ingredients I had on-hand. PS I also would admonish the author/editor of this recipe. It’s poorly written. If you are not an experienced cook, I could see this dish going very wrong for you.

• srchanin

• Oakton, VA

• 12/27/2020

This was terrible - dry and bland, with the mix of things that don’t go together. Do not make this. You will ruin the ingredients!

• snovalija

• Canada

• 12/9/2020

Based on other reviews, I knew I wanted more flavor. It was pouring rain, so I didn't want to dig garlic. I had some Penzey's Spices Sate blend sitting out after using it earlier, so I added that to both the base & the topping. Definitely not something I would normally add, but I really liked the flavor. I added half a bell pepper & didn't have enough mozzarella, so I added some Irish Dubliner, which is more sharp. There's enough cheese I would be fine with less chicken & will also try the variation a friend made, subbing 16 ounces of diced & lightly browned tempeh for the chicken. Next time I'l try smoked paprika. Definitely a keeper.

• armadillo99

• Tennessee

• 11/17/2020

Our family really loved this, using the recipe as described. Easy and flavorful!

• carolynduran

• Portland

• 8/8/2020

Made this tonight and it was my husbands favorite dish so far, in years of cooking!! Used Italian flavored Panko, brown rice pasta, creme fresh, and a different mustard. Otherwise followed the recipe. We loved that the kale and tomatoes were nearly raw, and the kale was slightly crispy. Will definitely make again!!

• terrys1

• Washington State USA

• 6/10/2020

Writing this during the pandemic so I made a lot of adjustments even without reading the reviews beforehand. This dish was amazing, and I think there are two components I used that elevated it above the recipe as-written: feta cheese and Mama Lil's peppers. I used vine tomatoes instead of cherry, which I chopped and cooked with the onion and some garlic. Added a green bell pepper too since it needed to get used. While the pasta was cooling, I added the kale to let it wilt a bit and poured in some of the Mama Lil's oil to impart spice and keep the pasta from sticking together. I only had chickpea crumbs onhand and used those instead of breadcrumbs but I don't think it made much of a flavor difference. Also, I prefer denser dishes, so piled it all into a lasagna pan to roast instead of a sheet pan. Will absolutely make this dish again, particularly as pandemic leftovers are essential.

• cls2160

• Oregon

• 5/20/2020

I followed a different version of this recipe, and it's really good! Instead of having actual meat in the dish, cream of chicken was used instead - and it turned out great! Next time I make this, I probably will use less kale (half a bunch).

• Anonymous

• Indiana

• 3/21/2020

This was very tasty although I did make a few major changes based on all the other reviews. I used Italian turkey sausage instead of chicken, I sautéed half an onion and 2 cloves of garlic before adding the cooked pasta back to the pot, roasted the kale and tomatoes for 5 ish minutes before adding the pasta to the sheet tray, and added red pepper flakes. I would definitely make it again with these substitutions - and I would definitely try it with cooked chicken!

• huggmichelle9598

• Minneapolis, MN

• 10/16/2019

So I'm reading a lot of "bland" comments and was concerned about the same happening to my dish. After all, that is the most dreaded outcome for an epicurean haha. The key here (I think) was choose your meat and season it accordingly aka on the heavy side! B/c of the tendency of white meat to dry out, I stayed away from the chicken lol. Besides, I didn't randomly have a roasted chicken chilling in my fridge. ;P That being said. We had some Italian fennel sausage in the freezer that I picked up somewhere awhile ago... AND THAT WAS AMAAAZING!!!! Highly recc'd that you swap out the chicken for some Italian-style sausage. It works well with the Parmesan. You could also do some chorizo or other well seasoned sausage probably... but then would adjust the cheese choice too. I also didn't bother mixing the "chicken part" with the "kale-tomato bit". I just layered it all - kale mix on bottom, chicken mixture, then breadcrumbs & cheese on top. My sheet pan and oven were also too small... so I used a glass dish. Worked fine too.

• carynmlombardo

• Tilburg, the Netherlands

• 8/14/2019