Joey's BBQ Chicken and Baked Bean Casserole

Ok, sooo......just go with me on this one, k?
I had a crazy idea. I know. I know. That's not exactly new. But this was a GOOD one! If you know me, or at least if you follow my recipes, you know I can't just leave a recipe alone. I'm always trying to come up with different things to do with it. In this case, I wanted to try something new with baked beans. I have to say, I'm pretty famous for my Baked Beans, thank you very much. So I kept thinking "what else can I do with them?" I've done casseroles with ham and beans, rice and beans, and chili dogs. I've done maple beans, pineapple beans, and of course, you can't go wrong with Trisha Yearwood's Baked Bean Casserole. But then I thought, instead of always doing pork and beans, what if we do BBQ CHICKEN and beans instead? I thought, ooo I bet that would go great with some mac and cheese. (ok, here comes the crazy part) .... and then I thought.. what if I do a casserole that combines all three??? BBQ Chicken, baked beans, mac and cheese, all in one. That sounds pretty amazing, dontcha think?! I asked my nephew, Gregger, if that sounds like it would be good.... I won't tell you EXACTLY what he said, but suffice to say he was 100% on board, and immediately volunteered to be a taste tester. LOL
So, where to start? Well, I found a recipe for one of those Bubble Up Bakes. Do you know the ones I'm talking about? It's a casserole that uses canned biscuits. You cut them up, toss them with your casserole ingredients, then bake it. The biscuit pieces puff up and there you have it, Bubble Up Bake. Now, I've tried them before, even shared recipes for them. But my issue is that the biscuit pieces in the center never seem to bake all the way through, and you're left with big pockets of raw biscuit dough. (Cue the Price is Right loser music). Not exactly what I want in a casserole. So basically, I just used that recipe as a springboard for this recipe. Swapped the biscuits for pasta, added a few of my own tweaks, and here we are! Chicken, beans, pasta, cheese, all in one big hearty casserole. All you need is a fresh crisp salad and there's dinner! I must say, it's pretty awesome. I knew I definitely wanted it to be a pasta dish, but I didn't want to just toss some baked beans with pasta. So That's where the can of tomatoes comes in. Full disclosure, when I first made the sauce, I thought "wow, that is FAR too much sauce", but then when I mixed everything together, it turned out to be the right amount! The pasta really drinks it in! Btw, this recipe makes a GIANT casserole. What can I say? I can never seem to make a casserole that fits into a 9x13 casserole dish. I always start adding things, and then the next thing I know, I have the casserole that ate New Jersey. Sorry not sorry! Luckily, my sister gave me a GIANT casserole dish that always seems to accommodate my casseroles. Normally, I'd try to scale things back for the sake of posting the recipe, but this time I'm owning it. So, you can either cut the amounts back to fit your 9x13, split it into two casseroles (and freeze one), or use a giant dish that will feed an army. LOL Also, one more thing, there are a couple steps to the recipe, so I'm gonna ask you to multitask, but it's all pretty simple to do. I have complete faith in you. If you give this a go, let me know how you like it! And also, if you have any other ideas for baked beans, send 'em my way! I've love to give them a try!


1 lb cavatappi or other cut pasta
6 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1 onion, roughly chopped
flour, salt, and pepper for dredging
1 pkg boneless skinless chicken (3 or 4 breast halves)
1 28oz can baked beans
1 28z can tomato sauce
1 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbs mustard
1 tbs kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)
16 oz cheddar cheese
8 oz mozzarella cheese



Heat oven to 350ºF.
First, boil the pasta: Add a handful of salt to a pot of rapidly boiling water. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions, but drain it a minute before reaching al dente. Drain well.
In the meantime, add the bacon to a cold skillet. Place it over medium heat. Gradually brown the bacon, making sure you render a good amount of fat from it. When the bacon starts to crisp, add the chopped onion. Saute until the onions begin to soften. Meanwhile, prepare the chicken. Yes, I know. Pasta boiling, bacon and onions cooking, yes, I'm asking you to multitask. I told you! What, you thought I was kidding? You can do this! Stay with me...
Place a bit of flour in a shallow bowl, enough to dredge the chicken. Add salt and pepper. Cut up chicken to small bite size pieces. Dredge in seasoned flour until evenly coated. Pat away excess flour (you can also use a ziplog bag to shake them for easier cleanup!).
Remove the bacon and onions from the pan and place in a very large mixing bowl, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. Add the chicken pieces to the pan. Lightly brown the chicken on all sides, adding an extra drizzle of oil when needed, but don't cook all the way though. Do this in batches, so as not to crowd the pan.
 While the chicken is cooking, add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the mixing bowl... the baked beans, BBQ sauce, tomato sauce, brown sugar, mustard, liquid smoke (if using), salt, and pepper. Add the chicken to the bowl as you remove it from the saute pan. Add the drained pasta and half of the cheddar cheese to the bowl. Toss all until well coated. Pour into sprayed casserole dish(es), either one large casserole, or two small ones. (it definitely won't all fit in a 9x13, but like I always say, More is More!) Top with remaining cheddar cheese plus all of the mozzarella. Cover with foil. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until heated through. Remove foil and bake for 15 more minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.



Tips:
Yes, Yes, I know there are several things going on at once. Just stay organized and you'll be fine. To save time, you could make each of the components ahead of time, say, the night before. And then when you get home from work, toss them all together, pour into your casserole dish, and bake. Actually, you can even do the whole thing the night before.... assemble it and all, then cover it and pop it in the fridge until you bake it the next day.