This cheesy baked chicken rigatoni is an easy, cozy casserole featuring tender chicken, rigatoni pasta, flavorful marinara, and layers of ricotta and mozzarella cheese. You’ll love this family-friendly recipe for dinners or a potluck, it’s a hug on a plate!

A serving spoon lifting a portion of cheesy baked rigatoni from a casserole dish, with melted cheese stretching.

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Why We Love Baked Rigatoni with Chicken

Cozy Dish – This recipe is cozy and comforting like a warm hug. This is a dish I have brought to help out another family when someone is sick or has a new baby and everyone will love this recipe.
Easy To Prep Ahead – I like to make this kind of dish on the weekend either for a Sunday dinner or to help us get ahead for the week. You can also freeze this dish to finish baking later.
Family Favorite Dish – Mostly pretty familiar flavors for kids in this dish, and the pesto is there for flavor without turning the dish a funny color. This cheesy baked pasta recipe is also fairly easy to modify to your own family’s tastes.

Ingredients For Baked Rigatoni with Chicken

Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions below in the recipe card.

For The Pasta

Rigatoni pasta
egg
Ricotta cheese I used whole milk ricotta for a creamier bake
basil pesto
parmesan cheese grated
salt
pepper

For The Chicken

chicken breast
Italian seasoning
garlic powder
salt
pepper
olive oil

For Layering The Pasta

Marinara sauce divided, 32 ounces is 4 cups. Use your favorite sauce.
Mozzarella cheese shredded

How To Make Cheesy Chicken Rigatoni Pasta

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Start a large pot of salted water to boil.
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water in a medium sized pot according to the package directions until al dente according to package instructions. (Usually about 10-11 minutes.) Drain the pasta well and set to the side, pouring it back into the large pot.
Crack the egg into a large bowl and stir to break the yolks with a fork. Add ricotta cheese, basil pesto, parmesan cheese, ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper. Mix well until combined and set to the side.

A clear glass bowl full of unmixed ingredients including parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, pesto sauce, and black pepper for baked rigatoni.

Cut the chicken into about one and a half inch pieces. Place in a large bowl and add Italian seasoning, garlic powder ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Mix well until the chicken is fully coated in the seasoning.
Place the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Cook the chicken over medium high heat for 7-8 minutes, stirring as needed occasionally until brown

Diced, seasoned raw chicken being cooked in a large skillet from above.

A large black skillet with cooked, seasoned chicken pieces with a bowl of marinara and a large pot full of cooked rigatoni pasta nearby.

Add the chicken and 2 cups of marinara sauce to the pasta. Stir until combined.
Place 1 cup of marinara in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish and spread over the bottom of the pan. Pour the pasta mixture into the pan.

A rectangular baking dish is filled with red tomato sauce on the bottom with a pot full of rigatoni pasta and chicken covered in sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese nearby.

A white rectangular dish filled with rigatoni pasta and chicken coated in a red marinara sauce.

Top the pasta with 1 cup of marinara evenly over the pasta. Dollop the ricotta mixture evenly over the pasta sauce then smooth evenly with a spoon. Top the entire pan evenly with mozzarella cheese.

A white rectangular baking dish filled with layers of rigatoni pasta, chicken, tomato sauce, and a thick layer of ricotta cheese mixture spread on top.

A rectangular baking dish filled with an unbaked rigatoni with chicken topped with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and place in the oven for 23-25 minutes. When ready, the sauce will be bubbling and the cheese is melted and lightly browned on top. Let stand for five minutes, then serve. Sprinkle with fresh parsley or fresh basil if desired.

A white rectangular baking dish filled with baked rigatoni, topped with melted cheese.

Variation Ideas And Recipe Tips

This rigatoni bake recipe is pretty flexible, so don’t be afraid to adjust to your own tastes.

Add Vegetables – This is a great dish to add extra vegetables, especially to clean out the fridge or freezer. Vegetables like carrots, bell pepper, broccoli, corn, and mushrooms can all be diced small and be mixed into the pasta and chicken mixture.

Other vegetables that have more water in them such as spinach, zucchini or even onions will taste better if you sautee them in a pan first before adding them to the pasta. These vegetables tend to release more water as they cook and can make the pasta gummy. By sauteeing the vegetables first your pasta won’t become gummy when added to this chicken rigatoni recipe.

Swap Pasta Shapes – While we love rigatoni, you can swap any short noodle shape into this recipe. Try farfalle, penne, ziti, or rotini. I don’t recommend using a long pasta shape, like spaghetti or linguini for this easy pasta recipe.

Use Cooked Chicken – You can swap in precooked chicken, like rotisserie chicken, into this recipe. Just season the chicken, then add it straight to the pasta and sauce mixture, no need to precook.

Make It Spicy – Adding crushed red pepper flakes or a pinch of cayenne pepper to the casserole or at the table can give this recipe a little more spice. Also try adding a spicy marinara instead of regular marinara.

A bowl of baked rigatoni with chicken and cheese next to a baking dish in the background filled with more pasta bake.

What To Serve With Baked Rigatoni Casserole

This hearty dish is a meal on it’s own, but adding a few sides can help round out your meal. I often start with a vegetable like a bagged salad or fresh green salad is a great start.Honey roasted carrots, baked zucchini fries or keep it simple with some steamed broccoli.

Bread with Italian food is usually a hit. While a baguette or rolls work, these cheddar garlic biscuits or homemade garlic knots are always a welcome on the table. Or this pull apart garlic bread made with refrigerator biscuit dough is also tasty.

If I need an appetizer, Italian wedding soup, pizza dip or air fryer mozzarella sticks are always a win!

Can You Freeze This Baked Chicken Rigatoni Casserole?

Yes you can absolutely freeze this recipe, it freezes and reheats well. Please make sure you don’t skip the step where you add more marinara to top of the pasta before adding the ricotta cheese layer. This extra layer of sauce will help keep the ricotta from drying out.

When it’s time to heat up the frozen pasta expect it will take it much longer to cook through, expect 30-45 minutes so the whole recipes is gooey.

Cook everything in the recipes and layer everything in the pan when freezing. Then freeze it without heating up the whole pan, with the cheese still shredded and loose. This also works great in disposable aluminum pans.

Leftovers of this recipe can be frozen also after you bake it. I recommend if you are freezing leftovers that you freeze in individual portions to make it easier to reheat. Then microwaving is usually the easiest way to reheat.

How Long Will This Baked Rigatoni Recipe Last?

Expect this baked rigatoni with chicken will last about 3 days if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can also cover the pan with saran wrap or aluminum foil tightly.