Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake
An easy weeknight casserole loaded with chicken, artichokes, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes – and all you need is just 10 min prep!
I kind of have a thing for casseroles. It’s just one of those things thats put a big smile to my face.
Mainly because casseroles remind me of pure comfort food – comfort food that you can pop right in the oven, and then bring it to a friend in need or a family who just had a newborn. Or for ourselves when we just need some good old comfort food in our house.
It’s even better when the casserole has all of our favorite ingredients – chicken, artichokes, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes – my ultimate weakness. And when you throw in some rotini pasta, Monterey Jack cheese and crisp breadcrumbs, that’s a casserole I can get onboard with 7 days a week.
Best of all, we received Butters’ stamp of approval on this too!
Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake
Ingredients
- 8 ounces rotini pasta
- 1 ¼ cups milk
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 12.5-ounce can premium chunk white chicken, drained
- 1 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 14-ounce can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
- 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-drained
- ⅓ cup julienned sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup Panko*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9×13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- In a large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, garlic, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, artichokes, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan and pasta.
- Add pasta mixture to prepared baking dish. Place into oven and bake until cooked through and golden brown, about 18-20 minutes.
- Heat olive in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add Panko and cook, stirring, until browned and toasted, about 3 minutes; set aside.
- Serve pasta immediately, sprinkled with Panko.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
This is a weeknight staple for our family and one of the few casserole-y the casserole-haters in our house will eat!
We omit the red pepper flakes and panko, sub 6 Cheese Italian for the other cheeses, use 12 oz GF pasta (it doesn’t come in 8oz), increase the cheese, and add a layer of cheese on top.
This was very good! I instead used fresh cooked chicken and spinach because I already had it on hand. I used 1/2 tsp salt but felt it needed a little more so I’ll increase for next time. The dish was not heated through after 20 minutes so I also needed to cooked mine for 30 minutes. I’ve added this to my “Favorite Casseroles” list!
Overall we were not wowed by the flavor, but it was a decent meal. Perhaps more salt, marinated artichokes, and/or some nutmeg in the sauce would have helped.
After reading other reviewers’ experiences with a runny sauce, I took the following precautions:
Let the pasta sit in the colander for a 5+ minutes to drain thoroughly
Patted the artichokes dry with a paper towel
Let the tomatoes sit/drain in a fine mesh strainer for a few minutes
Used freshly shredded cheese, as the ant-caking agents in pre-shredded cheese bags can prevent sauces from coming together
Thoroughly squeezed thawed spinach through a clean dish towel
Used whole milk
Cooked the full 20 min instead of 18
Allowed the casserole to rest for 5-10 min after coming out of the oven
Other slight modifications in my prep:
Used medium shells for the pasta
Cut the artichokes down to about 1 inch chunks
Used 1 lb frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs, cooked in an instant pot on high pressure for 15 minutes, which came to about 11.5 oz cooked
Made the recipe as written and it came out delicious. The amount of sauce was perfect Making again in the future for sure. Thank you!
This dish is delicious! I made the recipe exactly as written and it turned out perfectly. My husband and son devoured it. I am making it for my mom for Mother’s Day dinner…that is how good this is! It is also a very pretty pasta dish with the twirly rotini, green spinach and red tomatoes. The toasted panko on top is a must.
Delicious combination of ingredients yet…
A little too dry. Needs another egg, more milk, more cheese.
I will do this again making those adjustments. It may need a few more minutes to bake with my changes.
But overall, this was a tasty dish. Thanks
Very tasty, fast, and simple dish! I was worried about using canned chicken, but you can’t even tell!
OMG, this looks amazing. This is another, must make yummy dish
I made this last night and it was fabulous! My family can not eat pasta, so I substituted steamed cauliflower. I also used a rotisserie chicken, made prep quick! I did need to bake it more like 30minutes, but it came out perfect!
To those who have made this dish, how did the sauce come together for you? In my case, although the flavors were DELISH, the milk just puddled at the bottom of the casserole, and while the cheese did melt, it never combined with the milk to create a sauce no matter how much I stirred. Did anyone else have this problem? Thoughts on what I might’ve done wrong? Thanks!
Yep, same issue here.
Same for me too, I was thinking maybe use a little less milk? Or cook a little longer? Would adding an extra egg thicken it? Not sure but, it tasted yummy. I love the artichoke and spinach combo.
Curious if you used pre-shredded cheese or shredded it from a block. I have read in other recipes that an ingredient in the pre-shredded cheese (which prevents it from all sticking together in the package) can have the effect of not of really “taking” as a sauce.
Could you freeze this before baking? Say, for filling up a new mom’s freezer? 🙂
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I made this and wow, oh wow! Let me firstly say, this recipe isn’t just Damn Delicious, it’s Fucking Delicious, if I may say so without being censored.. I made a few substitutions as everyone does. Firstly I used 12 oz (1.5 cups) of shredded pan fried chicken. I more than doubled the garlic because organic garlic cloves are substantially smaller than conventional, so there were about 8-ish little cloves freshly chopped I put in. The grocery picking service I use accidentally gave me dried bagged sun-dried tomatoes instead of the fresh kind in oil, so I used those and splashed a few shakes of olive oil in as well to make up for that. Lastly, I used 5 oz. of fresh spinach and 5 oz. of the frozen but thawed and drained spinach. This worked out very well well for me. This has got to be the best pasta dish I’ve ever had. I was licking my fingers and licking the serving spoon after. Simply amazing. It had the perfect amount of juiciness to it. I will file this into my regular stack for sure. Thanks so much for sharing this!!!!!
I tried this recipe tonight and while I thought it was delicious as it was, the general comment I received from everyone eating was “needs more chicken and less artichoke.”
I bought Colby Jack cheese by mistake. Do you think it will taste as well as the Monterey Jack cheese?
I am also looking for a really good chicken piccata with capers and lemon sauce recipe, if you have a good one please post it. I absolutely love all of your recipes!!!!! Keep them coming!!!
Colby Jack should work just fine.
We are eating this right now, and it is…damn delicious.
I’m going to try the toasted panko on some other dishes too.
Made this tonight with fresh chicken (just chopped it up after I cooked it) and fresh spinach – Loved this recipe! Great dish for families. It was so good, I made two bakes 🙂 Highly recommend it!!
OMG , So pinning this one too ! i am loving your recipes and your blog ! Loving Butters in the pic.. so cute !
LOVED this! Adding to the weekly dinner rotation – so easy, not expensive, and such great flavor! I sometimes find casserole dishes to be a little bland, but this was so yummy! We’ve really been enjoying your blog – baked zucchini sticks, one-pot pastas, and asian salmon in foil are all new favorites around here – thank you!
making again this week! 🙂
I am a latecomer to cooking with both artichokes and jarred sundried tomatoes. Tried this and love it with a few tweaks; I prefer to cook a whole chix and debone, I only had long grain brown rice on hand so I substituted it as my pasta, used fresh spinach and even used the skim milk I had in my frig. I found the moisture level to be perfect and loved eating this knowing how healthy it is compared to so many chix casseroles. My new go-to recipe when I have my chix cooked, deboned and ready to use! Thanks!
I don’t often write reviews or comments but I ALWAYS read them. This warrants a comment. I LOVED this recipe. My husband absolutely did as well. This will make a normal rotation in our house. We made it as is! Great way to sneak in veggies for a picky reader! The flavors were wonderful!
Just fixed this for my family and it was a huge hit. Did not have any chicken but had ground veal (go figure) so I used that instead. I have just recently come upon your blog but have already made several meals and they have all been wonderful!!!! This is my new favorite food blog, thanks!!!
Ca a l’air super bon.
Good recipe
thank you very much
Made this tonight and it was delicious! I used half and half instead of milk to get a creamier consistency and it turned out perfect. I also added some shredded parmesan to the panko mixture and used 1 cup of panko with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, mixed it all together and then spread over the top of the casserole before putting it into the oven. The end result turned out fantastic with lots of flavor and creaminess. This one is definitely going into the meal rotation at my house! Thank you for the recipe!
Tried it tonight – the flavors were great! It came out a little on the dry side, though, but I can’t figure out why. I followed the recipe exactly…any ideas or suggestions to make it less dry? Sometimes my oven runs hot so it could have just been that. Thanks in advance 🙂
I’m so glad you tried this out! As for the dryness, you can try to reduce the amount of pasta so that there is enough of a sauce to go around. Hope that helps!
Tried this recipe last night. It was pretty good, just think you should probably cut back on the spinach. It was a little over-powering. Great recipe though!
I’m so glad you tried this recipe! As for the spinach, please add or reduce as needed to fit your preferences.
This totally rocks! Delicious!
I have never used sun-dried toatoes. Can I use drained canned tomatoes instead?
Yes, that should be just fine!
Woah! Sundried tomatoes, pasta AND cheese? This meal looks like a winner for sure! YUM!
I am having a dinner party and this looks delicious. I am one that likes to have things done in advance. Can you put this together and store in the fringe in the morning and then take out and bake right before the party?
Yes, that should be just fine. But I recommend letting it sit out at room temp for about 30 min-1 hr prior to baking.
I would suggest not putting the panko crumbs on until taking it out of the frig. While in the frig, the crumbs will absorb moisture and it could make more of a crust when baked than the lovely crumbly topping shown on the beautiful pictures here.
I love casseroles too. This one seems exceptional to me. I am soooooooooo sure it can’t be because it’s lunch time for me. I love Butters. My friend has a corgi and I stayed with her last weekend. So I got to play with Misty a lot. They are so much fun. I am Misty’s Auntie.
I told her about Butters—for real. Smiles——
Made this last night and it was awesome! (Next time I’ll be sure to drain the spinach more because it was a little watery when it came out of the oven) What do we think about freezing this recipe??
I’m so glad you gave this a try! And yes, draining the spinach is very important in a recipe like this since frozen spinach does retain quite a bit of water. As for freezing, unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! I recommend using your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Ahhhhh…totally comforting and love adding Panko on top.
Why used canned chicken? Simply bake or saute a few chicken breasts or thighs (or a combo) chop and freeze in one cup portions, pull out as needed, defrost and add to recipe.
Elizabeth – we all have our own preferences. If you prefer to use frozen-defrosted chicken, that’s great! I personally like to use canned chicken from time to time because it just makes prep time so much easier!
Love the flavor of sun dried tomatoes but not the texture. For me and the hubby I’d puree it in the food processor. BUTTERS is stinkin’ adorable……..
This looks fantastic Chungah! I made a bake the other week as well, and it always makes for such a lovely, hearty feelgood meal 😀 x
Would fresh spinach work for this recipe?
Yes and no – you can use fresh spinach but because they are not broken down, you would have to significantly reduce the amount of spinach to make sure everything would fit in the baking dish.
If I were going to use fresh spinach, I would use a trick I learned when using fresh kale when pasta is included. I put the kale (or in this case spinach) in the colander then poor the pasta and all the boiling water from the pasta over it when I am draining the cooked pasta. Does that make sense? It will wilt your kale/spinach so it will fit better in the casserole.
Genius hack!
I bought fresh spinach b/cb/c I didn’t have time for the frozen to thaw.
Rotini pasta is my favorite! Can’t wait to add sun dried tomatoes, artichokes and cheeeese to it 🙂 Butters is too cute, btw…looks like a little fox!
Even the dog loves casserole. This easy dinner looks amazing!
I have never had artichokes! I just may try them in this recipe. I can’t imagine what they would even taste like, but this dish looks GREAT! Everything that i have fixed of your recipes are absolutely delicious!
I’m not a big fan of canned chicken. If I used chicken breasts or chicken tenders, do I need to cook them before putting them in the baking dish or can I put them in raw and the oven will cook them?
I recommend cooking the chicken prior to assembling.
I love artichokes and spinach together, I’m sure those flavours are popping in this casserole! Perfect for an easy weeknight meal, I’m in! Great Recipe!
Hi there, this recipe sounds wonderful and I want to make it. If I was to use fresh cut up cooked chicken, would I still use the same amount? Or, do you use canned chicken because you need the liquid from it as well? Love your recipes. Thanks.
Yes, please use the same amount as indicated in the recipe.
Who doesn’t love face planting into a big, warm and ooey-gooey casserole on a cold winter night? And this casserole looks perfect for above mentioned face plant-age. Love those artichokes! Pinned!
This looks delicious! Will have to try it sooner rather than later! 🙂
I do not eat meat. Is this worth making without the chicken or am I better off making something else.
If you will be omitting the chicken, I recommend substituting additional vegetables, to taste.
Thank you for the nice recipe Chungah.
I could live off artichokes (especially in dip form or mixed with cheese!) and love sundried tomatoes! This is a winner! And Butters…tooo cuuuuuute!
Random…..is your shooting table a marble-topped table? Or do you shoot on a marble slab you put on the table? I thought it was the later but given the Butters image, I think it’s the former! I need that table!
I love those sun dried tomatoes and artichokes, such a great weeknight dish!
I’ve been eating artichokes straight out of the jar recently. Obsessed. I should probably make this so I can enjoy them and at least pretend to be a normal person.
Hah, there’s nothing wrong with eating artichokes straight out of a jar!