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It’s easy. It’s filling. It’s carby, spicy, and cheesy. A creamy Cajun chicken pasta bake might be what you need to change up your weekly meal plan. You can make it with a saucepan, a frying pan, and an oven dish, but if you’re actively against washing up, you can cook it incrementally in one, plus an oven dish.
This budget-friendly can easily be scaled up or down to match the number of people you’re planning to feed. As pasta bakes are suitable for freezing, you can always cook an extra few servings so you’ll have enough for a few lunches, or to freeze for future use. If you cook it and decide you like it, you can also add it to your batch cook rota. See: pasta bakes freeze well.
Let’s get cooking – but first, how much will it cost?
Ingredients (with prices)
- 750g chicken breast – £5.85 Tesco
- Capsicana salsa – £2.85 Tesco
- 500g pasta – £0.75, Tesco
- 300ml Creme Fraiche (or double cream) – £0.85, Tesco
- Onion – £0.12, Tesco
- 1 tbsp Cayenne pepper – £1.00, Tesco
- 1 tbsp Paprika – £1.00, Tesco
- 1 tbsp Chilli powder – £1.00, Tesco
- 1 tbsp Ground cumin – £1.00, Tesco
- Mature cheddar cheese – £2.50, Tesco
- 1 pepper – £0.65, Tesco
- Seasoning
Total: £17.57
Serves: Five
As we always say, check your cupboards before you go shopping. If you’ve been ingredient prepping, check your freezer as well in case you have a bag of diced peppers or onions available to use. If you’ve got a few half empty pasta bags in the cupboard, chuck them all into the pan together. Waste not want not.
To make your creamy Cajun chicken pasta bake more protein heavy, add extra chicken, or add in some red beans in true Louisiana Cajun style. While not the same, kidney or pinto beans will do just fine as an alternative here in the UK. Or go full gym bro and stir in some cottage cheese while crumbling feta across the top. To make it lower fat, use 0% fat creme fraiche and cheese; the opposite if you’re trying to bump up the calories.
If you have none of the ingredients in the list and are facing paying £16.34 for five dinners, you can bring the cost down by making a few swaps:
- Head to Aldi and get 1kg of frozen chicken breast for £4.25. The 300g of leftover chicken can be used to make battered mini fillets, chicken chasseur, or just oven cooked, sliced, and used in sandwiches.
- Switch the salsa to a cheaper, un-branded one. We prefer the Capsicana salsa for its smoky flavour, as well as the fact we find many other salsas too tomatoey.
- Opt for a smaller amount of chicken. You can make the Cajun chicken pasta bake just as filling by using red (or kidney) beans and more vegetables.
With the quantities in the ingredients list, we manage to feed three fully grown men, a dieting mum, and a luncher. Five meals in total.
The creme fraiche is an obscure ingredient to buy, so you don’t want to waste half a tub by not knowing what to do with the rest of it. We used it for two different dinners: this, and in a peppercorn sauce for some steak and chips (we were feeling bougie). But if you search “creme fraiche” recipes before you go shopping, you’ll be able to prepare yourself for using the other half of the tub.
Method
Prepare your veg – dice it, finely chop it, make it ‘rustic’… It’s up to you. Once down, set aside. You can grate your cheese now, or while you’re waiting for the pasta to boil.
Step 1
Fill your saucepan with water and boil, add pasta once bubbling, follow the packet instructions for timings, however, undercook your pasta by two minutes. The last of the cooking will be done in the oven.
Step 2
While waiting for the water to boil, dice chicken, add a drizzle of oil to a frying pan over a high heat, and then add the chicken.
Step 3
Once the chicken has browned, add the chopped pepper and onion (and any other veg you are using) to the frying pan and cook until soft. It should take about five minutes. Add an extra splash of oil if it begins to stick.
Step 4
Reduce to a medium heat, number four on an electric hob.
To the pan, add your spices and season. (Add in extra chilli if you like your Cajun on the spicier side.)
Step 5
Add the salsa, stir, and cook for a further five minutes.
Step 6
Add three large tablespoons of creme fraiche, or double cream, and stir in completely.
Step 7
When the pasta is cooked – keep an eye on it while doing the above steps – strain it, keeping two tablespoons of pasta water aside, and tip into an oven dish.
Splash the saved pasta water into the sauce. Once added, stir, and then add the Cajun chicken to the pasta. Mix the sauce in with the pasta, ensuring each piece gets an even coating. Sprinkle the top with grated cheese.
Step 8
Place the dish in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden. Leave it for longer if you like the sticking up wisps to be dark and crunchy (mildly burnt).
If you have the budget, serve with a side of garlic bread.
