This Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine is a family-friendly, healthy pasta dish packed full of veggies and more.
There’s nothing like a wonderful baked pasta dish. This three cheese chicken penne florentine has plenty of cheese melted throughout to make it a fabulous comfort food meal. It’s always a favorite at the dinner table. This recipe calls for using low fat cheeses. You can definitely use full fat cheeses, if you’d like.
Ingredients needed:
- olive oil
- mushrooms
- sweet onion
- red bell pepper
- spinach
- oregano and black pepper
- cottage cheese
- penne pasta
- chicken breast
- cheddar cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- 2% milk
- can of reduced-fat cream of mushroom soup
How to make Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine:
Sauté mushroom, onion and bell pepper in olive oil until tender. Then add spinach, oregano and black pepper.
Process cottage cheese in the food processor until smooth. You can use skim ricotta in place of the cottage cheese, if you’d like. Then combine the puréed cottage cheese with the spinach mixture, cooked pasta, chicken, cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, milk and cream of mushroom soup. Spoon that into a casserole dish, and then sprinkle more cheddar and Parmesan cheeses on top.
The result is a wonderful, creamy and cheesy baked pasta. We love having this for dinner at my house, and I hope you do too. Enjoy!
Here are a few more chicken pasta recipes you might like to try:
- Tuscan Chicken Pasta
- Greek Chicken Pasta Toss
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Chicken Pasta Primavera
- One Pot Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Pasta
Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine
Recipe Details
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 3 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup chopped sweet onion
- 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- One 16-ounce carton nonfat cottage cheese
- 4 cups hot cooked penne (about 8 ounces uncooked)
- 2 cups shredded roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- ½ cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
- ½ cup 2% reduced-fat milk
- One 10.75-ounce can condensed reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of mushroom soup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, onion and bell pepper to the pan and sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add the spinach, oregano, and black pepper, sautéing 3 minutes or just until the spinach wilts.
- Place the cottage cheese in a food processor; process until very smooth. Combine the spinach mixture, cottage cheese, pasta, chicken, ¾ cup cheddar cheese, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, milk and soup in a large bowl. Spoon the mixture into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup cheddar cheese and remaining ¼ cup Parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.
Notes
- Full fat cheeses can be used in place of the low fat cheeses in this recipe, if desired.
- Ricotta cheese may be substituted for the cottage cheese.
