dried pasta - can I make a bake without cooking it first?

[daveywarbeck]

The fact I make lasagne with dried pasta sheets makes me think I should be able to, but does anyone do this? I want to be lazy and cook the chicken and pasta in the sauce in the oven all at once rather than pre-cooking then assembling.

i wouldn't personally. I think it would be rock hard. Know what you mean about the lasagne though but that is very thin sheets.

That's my worry, that it won't cook. Will it disintegrate though if I pre-cook it and leave the bake in long enough to cook the chicken?

You can do but you have to make the sauce a lot more liquid and cook it for a lot longer. Probably just as easy to precook the pasta.

Yes, I do it all the time. As you have correctly said, it holds its shape and will not go mushy.

We've just had a bean casserole tonight that uses mini macaroni. Didn't precook it and only added it in the last 40 minutes of cooking in the oven having been in the oven at gas 3 for 1 hour and 45 minutes already. I did have a lot of liquid in there though so that helped.

Those pasta bake sauce things in a jar go into a dish with raw pasta and water then straight into the oven but have no idea of quantities or timing

I do. Just give it about 40 mins at 180 degrees