I think a creamy, cheese pasta bake is the thing that I could eat most often without ever getting tired of it. For one, they’re easy to throw together. For two, they’re great to make ahead and bake later. For three, they make excellent leftovers. And four? There are a million and one ways to make them. You tweak a couple of ingredients but follow the same method, and you’ve got a whole new dish. See? You can never tired of a pasta casserole! This particular version takes its cues from Chicken Alfredo and serves up a hearty pasta bake that’s full of creamy, savory, garlicky-parmesan flavor. It always hits the spot.

What Do You Need to Make Garlic Parmesan Pasta Casserole?

You might have a lot of this in the pantry! You’ll need:

• Penne pasta. (Or another short pasta.)
• Butter.
• Flour.
• Half and half.
• Garlic.
• Garlic powder. (Yes, both!)
• Italian seasoning.
• Parmesan AND mozzarella.
• Chicken. Cooked, please. And chopped.

This is a great option for leftover rotisserie chicken in your fridge!

How Do You Make Garlic Parmesan Pasta Casserole?

It’s pretty simple!

First, boil your pasta. Or, you can use my favorite trick, which is to put your dry pasta in a baking dish or bowl, and then cover it with boiling water and let it sit off the stove while you work on the rest of the ingredients. It ends up al dente and bakes through more in the oven once you assemble the casserole.

While the pasta cooks (in either method), you’re going to make a béchamel, but this time with half and half. (We want this extra rich, okay?) The process of making a béchamel is to melt butter and then whisk in flour. In this recipe, you don’t need to brown the roux (the butter and flour), you just need to cook it long enough to get the raw flour flavor out.

Once it starts to smell nutty, whisk in the half and half. The sauce will thicken up around the time it starts to bubble; you just want to whisk often to avoid any lumps.

There! You have a creamy sauce! Now it’s time to flavor it. Stir in garlic, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and some salt and pepper. Whisk in the parmesan cheese, adjust your seasoning, and then stir that sauce together with the pasta and your cooked chicken.

I like to use a little trick when assembling casseroles for extra cheesiness. Rather than putting all the cheese on top, I like to put half of the sauced pasta in the baking dish, top it with half of the cheese, followed by the rest of the pasta, and then the remaining cheese. That way you get ooey-gooey melty cheese throughout once it bakes.

And trust me, you get plenty of ooey-gooey cheese. You also get a creamy sauce with nuanced garlic flavor that’s better than anything you can get out of a jar. It’s comfort food done right!