Chicken & Cottage Cheese Pasta Bake
Packed with nutrients, this pasta bake boasts a combo of chicken mince, tomato sauce, spinach and a topping of cottage cheese and cheddar.
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 500 g chicken mince
- 1 onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 300 g fusilli or rotini
- 400 g tinned crushed or chopped tomatoes
- 1 ltr hot water
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
- 160 g cheddar grated
- 600 g cottage cheese, see notes
- 2-3 large handfuls spinach, frozen is fine
- Salt & black pepper to taste
See notes for baby & toddler tweaks
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large preferably non-stick saucepan over a high heat. Add the chicken mince and the onions and fry, stirring often for around 6 minutes, or until the meat is starting to go golden. Use your spoon to break the meat into little chunks as you go. Drain off excess fat if there is any.
- Add the garlic, pasta, hot water, tinned tomatoes, sugar, paprika, herbs, salt and black pepper to a large pan and stir well. Turn heat to high and once boiling, turn heat to medium and cook over a rolling boil, stirring often for 12 minutes. Then add the spinach and continue to cook for a further 2-4 minutes, until the pasta is cooked through and the sauce has cooked away and is just coating the pasta.
- Remove from the heat and stir in around ¼ of the cheese until melted. Transfer to a large oven dish and level out. Top with a layer of the cottage cheese, followed by the rest of the grated cheese.
- Bake at 200ºc/180ºc fan/400ºf/gas 6 for 25-30 minutes, until the cheese is starting to go golden round the edges.
Notes
You can use fat-free cottage cheese if you like, bear in mind it is lower in protein.
Baby & Toddler
Use regular cottage cheese, not fat-free. Hold back on adding in salt.
6 months + Use a pasta shape like rigatoni or penne. Once cooked, slice up any spinach leaves in their portion and chop up the melted cheese so it’s more manageable for them.
12 months + Once they are using cutlery, you can use fusilli/rotini and chop it up into small bites.
STORAGE
Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days (cook day + 2). Leftovers can be frozen, just defrost for 24 hours in the fridge and reheat in the microwave, stirring halfway, until steaming hot all the way through.
Nutrition - per serving
Calories: 622kcalCarbohydrates: 60gProtein: 46gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 126mgSodium: 836mgPotassium: 1041mgFiber: 3gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 570IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 385mgIron: 3mg
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