Hairy Bikers Chicken Kiev Pasta Bake Recipe

Hairy Bikers chicken kiev pasta bake takes the garlic, herbs, and crunchy crust of a kiev and turns them into a family pasta dish. It comes from Everyday Winners, serves 4 at around 760 kcal, and needs just 15 minutes of prep before an hour in the oven.

‘Chicken kiev re-imagined as a pasta bake’ is how the headnote puts it, and the trick is clever because nothing gets deep-fried or stuffed. Instead, garlic and herbs go into a blitzed sauce with 100g of parsley and Parmesan, which coats the pasta like a rough pesto.

The thighs roast for a full thirty minutes before they go anywhere near the pasta, because that time in the oven caramelises the edges. Tearing the meat by hand instead of slicing keeps the pieces rough, which means more surface catches the sauce and the breadcrumb topping.

Hairy Bikers Chicken Kiev Pasta Bake Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Baking Cuisine:British Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 15 minutesCook time:1 hour Rest time: minutesTotal time:1 hour 15 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:760 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Chicken thighs roast with onion wedges and lemon, then get torn and tossed with short pasta in a garlicky parsley and Parmesan sauce. Panko breadcrumbs dotted with butter bake on top until golden and crunchy.

Ingredients

For the Bake

• 2 large onions, cut into slim wedges
• 500g boneless chicken thighs, skinned if you like
• Zest and juice of ½ lemon
• 1 tsp herbes de Provence or Italian mixed dried herbs
• 2 to 3 tbsp olive oil
• 300g short pasta
• Sea salt and black pepper

For the Sauce

• 100g parsley, coarsely chopped
• A few basil leaves
• 100g Parmesan cheese, coarsely grated
• 3 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped

For the Topping

• 30g butter
• 50g panko breadcrumbs

Instructions

1. Roast the chicken and onions: Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Put the onions and chicken thighs into a large roasting tin, then sprinkle over the lemon zest, juice, and herbs. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper, drizzle with the olive oil, and roast for 30 minutes, stirring every so often to stop the onions catching. Remove from the oven and roughly tear the chicken into pieces, then put them back in the tin.
2. Cook the pasta: Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water according to the packet instructions. Drain when al dente, reserving about 200ml of the cooking water.
3. Blitz the sauce: Put the parsley, basil, Parmesan, and garlic in a food processor with salt and pepper. Blitz to a coarse paste, then add some of the pasta water and keep processing until you have a green-flecked sauce. Mix in the remaining pasta water.
4. Assemble and bake: Add the sauce and the drained pasta to the chicken and onions in the roasting tin, along with 20g of the butter. Mix everything thoroughly, then sprinkle the panko breadcrumbs over the top and dot with the remaining 10g of butter. Bake for a further 20 minutes until the breadcrumbs are golden and everything is piping hot.

FAQs

Why does the recipe use thighs instead of breast?

Thighs can handle thirty minutes of roasting without drying out, which is why the book calls for 500g of boneless thighs rather than breast. Breast meat would turn chalky by the time it goes through both the roast and the second bake, and the filling would taste dry. The recipe says you can keep the skin on if you like, and those crispy skin pieces add extra crunch when torn into the pasta.

What is the green sauce in the pasta bake?

The sauce is basically a rough pesto, made by blitzing 100g of parsley, basil, Parmesan, and garlic in a food processor. Pasta cooking water thins it out, and the starch in that water helps everything cling to the pasta instead of sliding off. The 100g of parsley is not a typo, because at that quantity it becomes the backbone of the sauce rather than a garnish.

Does it actually taste like chicken kiev?

The three things that define a kiev are garlic, herbs, and a crunchy breadcrumb shell, and this pasta bake has all three in different form. Garlic runs through the sauce, herbes de Provence season the chicken, and panko breadcrumbs bake golden on top. What you lose is the butter-ooze when you cut into a real kiev, though the 30g of butter adds some of that richness.

For another comforting baked pasta, their beef lasagne layers a red wine ragù with ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan instead of a béchamel.

Can I make it ahead of time?

You can assemble everything in the roasting tin up to the panko stage, then cover and keep in the fridge for up to a day. Add the breadcrumbs and butter dots just before baking, since they need to go on dry to crisp up properly. If baking straight from the fridge, add five to ten extra minutes so the centre heats through.

For another pasta dinner that batch cooks well, their spaghetti bolognese makes enough ragù to freeze portions for busy weeks.

What should I serve with chicken kiev pasta bake?

This is a full meal in one tin, so all you need alongside is something fresh and light to cut through the richness. Their American layered salad brings a tangy buttermilk dressing that balances the cheesy pasta.

And if you want another cosy chicken dinner later in the week, their chicken stroganoff is a fast creamy mushroom dish that takes just thirty minutes.