We Tried Chris Hemsworth's Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake And We're Here For It

From dad bod to God bod to… Home cook? Chris Hemsworth recently released his quick and easy recipe for a Smoky Tomato & Chicken Pasta Bake.

The Australian actor, who's best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, took to Instagram with his personal trainer, Luke Zocchi, and his Thor stuntman, Bobby Holland Hanton, to showcase one of the many recipes found on Hemsworth's wellness app, Centr which offers personalized workout programs and meal plans on a digital platform.

The app provides workouts, recipes, and general wellness tips and tricks from Hemsworth and the team that has helped him throughout his career.

To start the hilariously chaotic video, Hemsworth states they are making a "smoking" chicken pasta bake instead of a smoky bake — the smokiness coming from the smoked paprika in the homemade sauce. That mishap is followed by a few more silly outtakes, but, in the end, Hemsworth and the team create what he describes as a "good family meal."

While Hemsworth doesn't give any ingredients or measurements in the video, we got a hold of the recipe to try it out for ourselves. It's a pretty straightforward dish — the most time-consuming part is making the homemade sauce using tomato passata.

Tomato passata is an ingredient that originated in Italy and is now used commonly throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia. It's just uncooked tomato purée that's been strained to remove any seeds or skin. Sometimes it's also referred to as strained tomatoes.

The only U.S. brand we could find that made tomato passata was DeLallo, but if you can't find it, you can simply use regular tomato purée. The only difference is that tomato passata is uncooked and tomato purée is cooked.

Chris Hemsworth's Smoky Tomato & Chicken Pasta Bake

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 7 ounces penne pasta
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 cups tomato passata (or tomato purée)
• 14 ounces pre-cooked chicken breast, shredded
• 1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
• 1/2 cup mozzarella, grated
• 2 sprigs of fresh basil, leaves picked

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add penne. Cook according to directions or until al dente. Strain, toss with half the oil to make sure the pasta doesn't stick together, and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium-deep pan, add remaining oil, onion, and garlic and cook until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in paprika and oregano.
4. Add balsamic vinegar and passata and continue to cook until fully incorporated.
5. Add chicken, Parmesan, and pasta and mix well.
6. Place in a medium baking dish. Top with mozzarella and bake for 12 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.
7. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes and top with fresh basil to serve.

Pasta Bake Taste Test

Any recipe with the words "pasta bake," has us interested and we're going to try it. Pasta bakes are always incredibly simple to make — and even though Hemsworth's recipe required cooked chicken and making a homemade sauce, it was still pretty fast. To make it quicker, though, you could definitely use leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken.

The balsamic vinegar in the tomato sauce is a fun addition — but really the only thing you can taste is the smoked paprika, but it has a nice flavor.

If you like your pasta extra cheesy and saucy, we'd recommend adding a little bit more of each. Our jar of tomato passata was 24 ounces, so we probably should have just used the entire thing. We'd up the quantities of both the Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses as well — and while fresh Parmesan is better, bagged mozzarella is the way to go in this dish. This bake also definitely has the potential for customization, from adding veggies to using gluten-free pasta, and we appreciate a versatile recipe.

Zocchi was right, though, this pasta bake is better in the following days. The flavors really meld together in the fridge — and reheating it allows you to add more melty cheese if you want.

We're not sure if this dish is part of the Thor diet, but it's delicious nonetheless. It has a place in our rotation for sure.