This Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine is a family-friendly, healthy pasta dish packed full of veggies and more.
Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine
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 and parmesan cheeses
- 2% milk
- reduced-fat cream of mushroom soup
✏️How to make Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine:
- 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.
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!
➡️Recipe Tips:
- 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.
- You can also use an Italian cheese blend in place of both the cheddar and Parmesan cheeses, making this recipe even easier!
- Feel free to add any additional veggies you love.
★How to Store:
If you’ll be using the leftovers in the next few days, store tightly covered in the refrigerator. Three Cheese Penne Pasta Florentine can also be frozen for up to three months wrapped tightly to avoid freezer burn.
✔️What to do with Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine:
- Take it to a potluck dinner. It’s sure to be the hit of the night!
- Have a friend or neighbor who’s needing some extra help? Prepare the recipe up to the baking point. Leave a friendly note with the baking instructions and you’ll have made someone’s day just a little easier.
- If you want some of the leftovers, hide them!
❤️Why I love this recipe:
- Start to finish it only takes 50 minutes to make.
- Who doesn’t love baked pasta? At only 275 calories per serving, this tastes decadent, but really isn’t
- It’s a crowd AND kid pleaser!
Here are a few more chicken pasta recipes you might like to try:
Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine
This family-friendly, healthy pasta dish is packed full of veggies and more!
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.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 275kcal, Carbohydrates: 26g, Protein: 28g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 45mg, Sodium: 542mg, Potassium: 712mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 1760IU, Vitamin C: 29mg, Calcium: 261mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
