Recipe Thursday: Bacon Chicken Pasta Bake

As promised, here is your recipe for this week. It is a simple pasta bake dish with Chicken and Bacon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken cut into bite size pieces
6 slices of bacon cut into bite size pieces
1 jar Alfredo Sauce
1/4 cup heavy cream (maybe just a bit less)
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced.
1 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes
2 tbsps fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsps butter melted
1 cup Bread crumbs (maybe a bit more)
1/4-1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
3/4 to 1 lb Penne Rigate Pasta or other short pasta

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.
Cook pasta according to package directions, a bit less than al dente. (Don't overcook or the pasta will become too gooey and overdone in the oven)
Sautee chicken and bacon together in 2Tbsps olive oil until browned and crispy.
add garlic and alfredo sauce and cream. Heat through until bubbly.
Remove from heat and add the fresh basil, and then add the pasta.
In a separate bowl, combine the melted butter, Parmesan Cheese and Bread crumbs. You want the mixture to be crumbly.
Transfer pasta mixture to casserole dish (I use my Pampered Chef 9 in square baker)
sprinkle top with bread crumb mixture and back in oven approx 20 minutes until top is crisp and bubbly.

Enjoy!