This chicken pasta bake is a cheesy, rich comforting dinner recipe with bold flavor from sun-dried tomatoes and capers.

I love a good baked pasta recipe, and this chicken pasta bake checks all the boxes. It’s cheesy, rich, and just a little briny and tangy. Best of all? It’s easy as anything to make.

The key to this pasta bake recipe is a paste made from blitzing sun-dried tomatoes and capers in a food processor. This adds an irresistible tangy, briny undertone to the sauce.

What you need to make my pasta bake recipe:

To make this chicken pasta bake, you need the following ingredients:

Chicken: I use chicken thighs because they won’t dry out like breasts. I season them liberally with salt, pepper, and a good quality Italian seasoning blend.
Sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and garlic: These are the aromatics of the sauce. I blitz them in a food processor to form a paste. I use an onion in the sauce as well, but this won’t be blended into the paste.
Whole peeled tomatoes: Use crushed tomatoes if you don’t have whole peeled. If you want to cut the simmer time in half, use your favorite store-bought tomato sauce instead.
Pasta: I love rigatoni, but any tubular pasta works in this pasta bake, so try it with ziti or penne. You could even use fusilli or rotini instead if you prefer.
Cheese: The best part! I add ricotta to the sauce, and I top the bake with grated mozzarella before baking. I finish the dish with finely grated Parmesan right before serving.
Fresh herbs: Top the bake with fresh parsley or basil leaves, depending on what you have available.

How to cook it:

Step 1: Start with the chicken. Dice up the boneless, skinless chicken thighs into bite-sized cubes. Season all over with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Add a few pinches of crushed red pepper for a little extra heat. Fry up the chicken in olive oil until mostly cooked through.
Step 2: While the chicken cooks, blitz the sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and garlic in a food processor. Add the paste and the diced onion to the chicken and cook for 3–4 minutes.
Step 3: Simmer the sauce. Add whole peeled tomatoes to the chicken and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes, mashing the tomatoes as they cook.
Step 4: Cook the pasta. As the sauce simmers, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until 2 minutes under al dente.
Step 5: Assemble the bake! Add the cooked pasta to a large casserole dish, add the sauce, and toss to coat. Cover with mozzarella and bake for 20 minutes until bubbly and browned.
Step 6: Let the bake stand for 5–10 minutes, and then serve it up! Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top and garnish with fresh herbs.

I recommend serving this with my roasted broccoli and spinach. You can chuck the broccoli in the bottom rack of the oven as the pasta bake roasts!