I really love barbecue and the taste of barbecue sauce. I have rarely met a barbecued 'anything' I didn't like. Of course, some barbecue is far superior to others and I do prefer my homemade barbecue sauce to the store bought, but I use the store bought sometimes also.
I had some chicken breasts and I had some barbecue sauce and a taste for pasta of some kind, so I decided to try a barbecue chicken pasta dish.
The results turned out better than I expected and even the pickiest of eaters loved it. My husband, who doesn't care for a lot of barbecue sauce flavor even loved it and I ate some leftover for lunch today and it was even tastier.
Here is what you will need:
3-4 boneless chicken breasts
1 bottle barbecue sauce of your choice
1/2 can or about 1 1/2 cups Coke
10 oz. pasta (bowtie, penne, rotinni)
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 cups cheddar cheese ( 1 for cheese sauce and 1 for topping)
8 oz cream cheese
6 slices Swiss cheese
8-9 slices bacon
salt
pepper
blackened seasoning
garlic powder
Sprinkle some chicken breasts with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and just a little blackened seasoning (optional). You only need about three chicken breasts. I cooked a whole package and will use the rest for another meal. I am thinking about a barbecue chicken salad...yum!
Pour 1/2 can of Coke over the chicken. You can use Diet Coke. Cover with any kind of barbecue sauce you like. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour. These were large so I cooked them for an hour. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Once cool chop about three of them into bite size pieces.
Cook about 8 or 9 strips of bacon until crisp.
Make a cheese sauce. I do this in the microwave. Melt 1/2 stick butter, add 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, microwave for 30 seconds. Whisk in 3 cups milk and microwave 3 minutes. Whisk again removing any lumps. Add cream cheese (softened and cubed), Parmesan cheese, and cheddar cheese. Microwave 3-4 more minutes and whisk again to remove any lumps. It should be thickened somewhat at this point and the cheeses melted.
Add 2 Tbs. of barbecue sauce to the cheese sauce and whisk well. If you like the taste of barbecue a lot, like I do, you could add 3 Tbs. to the sauce at this point.
Boil 10 ounces of pasta just until it is al dente. I use bowtie, but penne or rotinni would work well also. This will be a little more than 1/2 of a 1 lb. box. Add the drained pasta to the cheese sauce and mix together. Pour half of it into a 9"x13" baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Layer about 1/2 of the chicken over this.
Layer the rest of pasta/cheese sauce next with the rest of chicken over this. Drizzle this layer with more barbecue sauce. I just used about a 1/4 of a cup.
Layer Swiss cheese slices over the last chicken layer.
Finish with the chopped bacon and the rest of the cheddar cheese. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until bubbly and the cheese is starting to brown...about 30-40 minutes.
So delicious!!!
