We Tried Chris Hemsworth’s Smoky Chicken-Tomato Pasta Bake to See If It’s As Tasty As It Sounds

If you thought Chris Hemsworth was dreamy in Thor, wait until you find out that he can cook. In fact, you can access a slew of recipes on the actor’s wellness app, Centr, which hooks users up with popular workouts, meals and shopping lists. And it’s not all salads and protein shakes, given that this smoky chicken-tomato pasta is among the ranks. In our latest episode of Celeb Bites, a YouTube series where we cook and bake like the stars, we tried it ourselves to see if it’s as tasty as it sounds.

Hemsworth shared the dish on Instagram last August, accompanied by his trainer Luke Zocchi. According to Men’s Health, his personal chef, Dan Churchill, likes to prepare the bake for him on the regular for lunch, since it’s a “big bulk item: plenty of carbohydrates and a good source of protein.”

The dish is a mix of tender penne pasta, shredded chicken and from-scratch tomato sauce, made with sautéed onion, garlic, balsamic vinegar and tomato purée. Once the pasta is assembled and placed in a casserole dish, it’s crowned with grated Parmesan and shredded mozzarella for good measure. Once baked, it turns gooey and golden brown on top.  

While the recipe is pretty low lift, you could cut even more corners by using jarred or canned tomato sauce and substituting store-bought rotisserie chicken instead of cooking your own. But we never mind putting in a little effort when it comes to pasta, so the call is yours.

Watch the episode above for our rating and the full recipe.