Chicken macaroni cheese with crispy pancetta
- Published: 11 May 21
- Updated: 25 Mar 24
Use up leftover chicken in this delicious chicken macaroni cheese with crispy pancetta and rosemary. Serve with a crisp green salad for an easy family dinner.
Never let chicken go to waste with our leftover chicken recipes, including nourishing baked chicken, mushroom and thyme brown rice risotto.
- Serves 4
- Hands-on time 25 min
Ingredients
- 12 slices pancetta
- 300g macaroni
- 175g leftover roast chicken, shredded or pack of cooked chicken breast
- 125g freshly grated mature cheddar
- 325ml milk
- 125g mascarpone
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 100g fontina or gruyère, grated
- 1 tbsp chopped rosemary leaves
- Crisp green salad to serve
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6. Put the pancetta on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with baking paper and top with a second baking tray. Bake for 8-10 minutes until crisp, then leave to cool. Turn the grill to medium high.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for 6-8 minutes or until just al dente. Drain and set aside, keeping the pan to hand.
- Put the chicken, cheddar, milk, mascarpone, mustard and some salt and pepper in the empty pan then, over a medium heat, stir to melt the cheese.
- Remove the pan from the heat, stir the pasta into the sauce until combined, then crumble in half the pancetta.
- Scrape the mixture into the baking dish, sprinkle over the fontina or gruyère and the rosemary, then grill for 2-3 minutes until the top is golden.
- Crumble over the remaining pancetta and serve with a green salad, if you like.
- Recipe from May 2021 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 873kcals
- Fat
- 49.6g (27.3g saturated)
- Protein
- 45.5g
- Carbohydrates
- 59.2g (6.6g sugars)
- Fibre
- 3.7g
- Salt
- 2.9g
delicious. tips
Don’t waste it: Got leftover chicken from your Sunday roast? Use it to pimp your mac ‘n’ cheese.
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