Chicken Bacon Spinach Tortellini Bake

Easy and delicious Chicken Bacon Spinach Tortellini is a recipe that comes together fast and is sure to be your new favorite! Make ahead instructions included for a fast and delicious weeknight dinner.

Creamy and delicious comfort food doesn’t get any better or easier than Chicken Bacon Spinach Tortellini bake. This crowd pleasing dish is always a hit and perfect for busy weeknights, casual get togethers, or a comforting Sunday supper.

This simple to put together recipe includes supermarket staples like rotisserie chicken, crumbled bacon, frozen spinach, and cheese tortellini. Just add the homemade creamy Alfredo cheese sauce, and you have a delicious meal that the whole family will love.

One bite and you’ll agree that this is the tastiest way to serve tortellini. Add the no-boil and one pot simple instructions, and it’s guaranteed to be on your dinner rotation when you need a simple fast meal that’s delicious!

How to Make Easy Alfredo Sauce

The cheesy Alfredo sauce for this recipe is so simple to make that you’ll never buy store-bought again! With just a few ingredients you can master Alfredo sauce at home and add it to all of your favorite pasta dishes.

Traditional Alfredo sauce may seem intimidating or laden with fat, but this version is super simple and made with 2% milk… no heavy cream needed!

To start, simply make a rue consisting of melted butter and flour. For this recipe, I added two cloves of minced garlic, but you can omit if you’d like. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan or dutch oven and whisk in the flour.

For Alfredo sauce, the ratio is 1:1 butter and flour. Whisk the butter and flour until the flour is light golden brown in color and all of the graininess has been cooked off. Next, add the milk and bring to a low simmer. Continue whisking so that there are no lumps in the sauce.

Once the mixture comes to a simmer, and has thickened turn off the heat and add seasonings and cheese. For a traditional béchamel sauce, you would add a dash of nutmeg and serve as is. To turn into a Alfredo sauce, add in mozzarella and parmesan.

Additionally, you can turn this béchamel into a cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese. Just add cheddar, gruyere, or whatever cheese you like. Toss with pasta and other mix ins and you are all set!

What to make with Crumbled Bacon

If you’re a Costco fanatic like me, you’re sure to have seen their giant bags of Kirkland Crumbled Bacon. I have always been a bacon purist, preferring to crisp and crumble my own, freezing leftovers to use for future recipes.

However, my bacon crumbling days are over! After trying packaged crumbled bacon, I’m giving my frying pan a rest. These are not like traditional bacon bits at all. They are legitimate smoked, cooked, and crumbled bacon, that tastes just as good as my homemade stuff.

Since finding this timesaver, my recipes have become even tastier. Why not when you can add a handful of delicious smoked bacon crumbles to your dishes. I like to add it into anything from scrambled eggs, to pastas, to taco meat.

Here are two tasty recipes to make with Kirkland crumbled bacon:

• Chicken Bacon Ranch Pinwheels are so easy to make for your next party and can be made up to a day in advance. Great use for that leftover rotisserie chicken too!
• Bacon Cheddar Crustless Quiche is one of the dishes I love to make ahead and reheat for a quick and delicious breakfast. Don’t miss the surprise ingredient in here that ensures the fluffiest eggs!

For more ideas, check out Southern Living’s 9 New Ideas for Crumbled Bacon post.

Chicken Bacon Spinach Tortellini Recipe

This delicious Chicken Bacon Spinach Tortellini Bake recipe comes together in minutes. Because this dish comes together so quickly, be sure to have your ingredients prepped and ready to go!

To start, you will need about 2 cups of diced cooked chicken. This is a great recipe to use up any leftover rotisserie chicken you may have on hand. Alternatively, you could boil or bake a chicken breast and dice it. No chicken, no problem! Just leave it out all together.

Also, be sure to have your frozen spinach thawed and drained before starting. Personally, I like to place the thawed block of spinach in a fine mesh sieve and squeeze out all of the excess liquid before starting.

Firstly, make the simple Alfredo béchamel sauce following the directions above. Add in one cup of shredded mozzarella and ½ cup of parmesan and stir to melt.

Next, add in the uncooked tortellini. Here I used cheese tortellini that you find in Costco. This comes in two 1.5 pound packages and is reasonably priced at under $10.

Stir in the pasta being sure to coat all of the tortellini.

Lastly, pour the tortellini mixture into a greased casserole dish or 9 x 13 inch baking pan and sprinkle on remaining ½ cup of mozzarella.

Make-Ahead Baked Tortellini

For make-ahead instructions, simply cover and refrigerate the dish at this point. Alternatively, you could freeze this dish for later. When ready to cook, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and following baking instructions below, adding an additional 5 minutes of bake time.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for until the sauce is bubbly and the tortellini is cooked through. To brown the cheese, simply turn on the broiler for the last minute or two of cooking.

Chicken Bacon Spinach Tortellini is the ultimate comfort food. You’ll love how quickly and easy this delicious recipe comes together. Make ahead and save even more time bringing a tasty meal to the table.

For another delicious pasta dish, be sure to check out this Baked Spaghetti with Ground Turkey! And, if you love pasta, you’ll definitely want to try this delicious 5-Ingredient Chicken Parmesan Casserole.

Tried this recipe? Be sure to comment and let me know what you think. Enjoy!