This Italian Chicken Bake uses simple, store-bought ingredients, yet tastes restaurant-quality!
This recipe truly makes the best hearty family dinner. It’s easy to make, full of flavour and is perfect all year round. Follow me…
Italian Chicken Bake Ingredients
The full recipe is down in the recipe card, but let me just quickly go over each ingredient and why we’re using them:
- Focaccia – This is a rosemary and sea salt loaf I picked up from the supermarket, but you can use any variety you can get your hands on. This is simply sliced and placed on top at the end to bake.
- Milk – This makes up around half of the sauce. I recommend semi-skimmed.
- Stock – This makes up most of the other half. I recommend using zero/low salt to give you more control over the saltiness of the dish.
- Cream – Not too much, but this adds a gorgeous richness to the filling.
- Parmesan – Deepens the savoury flavour of the sauce.
- Chicken – I recommend chicken thigh as it’s much more robust than breast.
- Seasoning – I use Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic powder to season the chicken.
- Flour – This will thicken the sauce.
- Oil – I use sun dried tomato oil from the jar, but you can sub olive oil.
- Pancetta – Adds loads of flavour and pairs beautifully with the chicken.
- Onion – Fried in the excess pancetta fat.
- Spinach – Bulks of the filling, adds a pop of colour and pairs nicely with the creamy sauce.
- Sun Dried Tomatoes – These add a huge amount of flavour to the sauce.
You should find some form of focaccia in most supermarkets, but if not, just use another Italian-style loaf; preferably something flavoured like rosemary and sea salt.
Italian Chicken
The chicken is essentially going to cook 3 times:
- Fry – This is mainly to get some colour on the chicken and lock in the seasoning.
- Simmer – This helps a flavour exchange between the sauce and chicken.
- Bake – Condenses all the flavours together and crisps the top of the bake.
As such, it’s important that you use thigh instead of breast. Thigh is much more robust and won’t dry out over the long cooking time.
When frying the chicken, make sure it’s spaced out, at least enough so each piece has contact with the pan so it can brown properly. The frying stage is mainly about browning the chicken, so don’t panic if it’s not cooked right through.
Process shots: dice chicken (photo 1), coat in oil and seasoning (photo 2), add to pan (photo 3), fry then remove (photo 4).
The Filling
I think you’ll be surprised at how flavoursome the filling is, given there aren’t actually that many ingredients.
Recycling the fat
The filling actually starts from where the chicken leaves, i.e. in the leftover fat. From there, you’ll render out even more fat from the pancetta. All this excess fat is used to bind with the flour to create a roux and thicken the sauce. Typically you’d add butter to do this, but in this instance there’s no need because we already have enough fat. This also means we get all the bonus flavour too!
Consistency
You want the sauce to be pretty thick, just so the topping has something to sit on and everything stays nice and compact. The spinach will thin out the sauce a little once stirred through, because it leaks out water as it wilts.
Process shots: fry pancetta (photo 1), fry onion (photo 2), stir in flour (photo 3), stir in stock, milk and cream (photo 4), stir in parmesan, chicken and sun dried tomatoes (photo 5), simmer then stir in spinach (photo 6).
Italian Chicken Bake
One thing I recommend doing once the filling is in the dish is letting it rest before you add the topping. This will allow a ‘skin’ to form and give the topping something to rest on and prevent it from sinking into the filling.
For the topping, I recommend slicing the bread to a similar size as croutons. From there, it’ll only need a light spray of oil (focaccia is already quite oil-heavy by nature), then you can throw everything in the oven until golden and crisp!
Process shots: rest filling (photo 1), add topping (photo 2), spray with oil then bake (photo 3).
Serving Ideas
I typically let everything sit for a few minutes, just so it retains its shape and isn’t too runny. I actually usually serve this dish as it is without any sides.
If you want to add a side, I’d go for something light like a side salad. It’s gorgeously rich and already has the bread on top, so a salad complements it beautifully.
For more deliciously similar recipes, check out my Tarragon Chicken Bake and Chicken and Chorizo Potato Bake!
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this Italian chicken bake shall we?!
How to make Italian Chicken Bake (Full Recipe & Video)
Italian Chicken Bake
Equipment
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
- Kitchen Roll/Paper Towels for drying sun dried tomatoes
- Medium Sized Mixing Bowl (for coating chicken)
- Large Pan & Tongs
- Wooden Spoon
- Jug (for liquids)
- 25cm x 17cm / 10" x 6.5" Baking Dish (or roughly the same size)
- Serving Spoon
Ingredients
Chicken
- 600g / 1.3lb boneless skinless Chicken Thighs, diced into bite-sized pieces (see notes)
- 1 tbsp Sun Dried Tomato Oil from the jar (sub olive oil)
- 1 tsp Dried Italian Seasoning
- 1/2 tsp EACH: Salt, Garlic Powder
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Bake
- 100g / 3.5oz Pancetta, diced
- 1 small White Onion, finely diced
- 3 tbsp Plain Flour
- 240ml / 1 cup Chicken Stock (zero/low salt – see notes)
- 240ml / 1 cup Milk (I use semi-skimmed)
- 120ml / 1/2 cup Double/Heavy Cream
- 20g / 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 100g / 3.5oz Sun Dried Tomatoes, thoroughly patted dry to remove excess oil
- 100g / 3.5oz Baby Spinach Leaves, large stalks removed and roughly diced
- 150g / 5.3oz Focaccia, sliced into small croutons (see notes)
- Oil Spray, as needed
Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the diced chicken with oil and seasoning until the chicken is fully coated.
- In a large pan over medium-high heat, space out the chicken and fry both sides for 3-4 minutes until the chicken browns (should be cooked through at this point, but it will continue cooking later, so don't panic if it's not). Remove the chicken and place it in a bowl to one side, leaving any excess oil/fat in the pan.
- Lower the heat to medium and add the pancetta. Fry until crispy with the fat rendered out, then add the onion and fry until soft and golden. There should be a good amount of fat in the pan now, but if it's very dry, you can add a dash of oil.
- Stir the flour into the fat, then gradually pour in the stock, milk and then cream, whisking as you go to prevent lumps from forming. Stir in the parmesan until it melts, then stir in the chicken (plus any resting juices) and the sun dried tomatoes.
- Bring to a simmer and stir now and then for 8-10mins until nice and thick, then check for seasoning and adjust if needed. Stir in the spinach until it wilts and combines, then pour into a baking dish and leave for 15 minutes or so until a 'skin' forms over the top. During this time, preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
- Scatter over the diced focaccia, closing as many gaps as possible, then lightly spray with oil and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden and crisp on top and bubbly around the edges.
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition
Looking for more?
You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’
