Chicken Macaroni Gratin

By Nagi Maehashi

This creamy Chicken Macaroni Gratin is a firm comfort food favourite in Japan. Made with chicken, mushrooms and macaroni, baked in a béchamel sauce with a crunchy golden topping, it’s a pasta bake done the Japanese way!

My mother has always made béchamel sauce for this Chicken Macaroni Gratin a very specific way which is different to the way most béchamel sauces are made. It takes longer than the way I make it, but I dare not muck around with it because it’s her recipe! And also because the way she makes it, she uses less butter and yet it comes out silkier. The secret? By using less butter, the roux is initially very dry, rather than a wet paste like the way most quick béchamel sauces start. When this dry roux (which has the consistency of wet sand) is cooked over a low temperature for around 6-8 minutes, it starts to sweat and eventually transforms into a wet paste.

The milk is then added, and as it heats up, it thickens into the silkiest béchamel sauce you’ll ever have.

Chicken Macaroni Gratin

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

Total Time

1 hr

This creamy pasta bake is a comfort food favourite in Japan! This is my mother's recipe. The béchamel sauce in this recipe is quite unique because it uses a much higher flour to butter ratio, and it is cooked longer over a very low heat. This yields an exceptionally silky béchamel sauce that also happens to be much healthier than the usual!

Recipe Type: Main

Cuisine: Japanese

Serves: 5 -6

Author: Nagi@RecipeTinEats (guest post for mum!)

Ingredients

Bechamel Sauce

• 40 g / 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (6 tbsp / 75g) plain flour
• 3 1/2 cups milk , full or low fat
• 1 chicken bouillon cube , crumbled
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, tasty, gruyere) (note 3)
• White pepper , optional

Filling

• 250g / 0.5 lb macaroni / elbow pasta
• 1/2 tbsp / 15g butter
• 1 onion , halved and finely sliced (note 1)
• 300 g / 10 oz chicken thigh fillets , skinless and boneless, cut into small bite size pieces
• 200 g / 8.5 oz mushrooms , sliced (button or Swiss brown)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Topping

• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)
• 1 1/2 tbsp melted butter or 1 tbsp olive oil (optional)

Instructions

Bechamel Sauce

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat if using gas, medium low heat if using electric stove. Add flour and mix - it will look dry compared to roux you are probably used to making.
2. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring constantly, ensuring that the roux does not change colour. It will transform from a dry roux to a wet paste (see photos below).
3. Once it becomes a wet paste, add about 1/4 of the milk and mix well to incorporate until lump free. Then add the remaining milk and chicken bouillon cube.
4. Increase heat to medium. As the milk heats up, the sauce will thicken. Stir regularly at first, then constantly as it thickens. Once the Sauce is thick enough to coat the back of the wooden spoon (test: draw a path with finger, if it stays, it's thick enough, see photo below), remove from stove immediately.
5. Stir through cheese and pepper. Add salt to taste. The Béchamel Sauce should have the consistency of a thick pouring cream - not too thick (it thickens more in the oven). If it's too thick, add a touch of water.

Filling

1. Cook pasta per packet directions minus 1 minute. Drain well, then return into pot (off stove).
2. In the mean time, melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add chicken and cook until the surface turns white, then add mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to adjust the flavour.
4. As you cook the mushrooms, they will leech water. When this water is evaporated, pour the Filling into the pot with the pasta and mix. The oil will coat the pasta and stop it from bloating as it bakes.

Bake

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
2. Pour Béchamel Sauce into the pasta mixture, mix well, then pour the m mixture to the baking dish (note 2).
3. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and parmesan if using. Optional: Drizzle with melted butter or olive oil (more golden top but mum never did this).
4. Bake for 20 minutes until the edges are bubbling and it is golden on top.
5. Remove from oven and serve!