This Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken is a meal that comes together in just over 20 minutes that is a total crowd pleaser!
When you scan the ingredients in this recipe, or, quite simply, see the photos, you know it’s going to be a winner. Pasta + chicken in a creamy parmesan garlic sauce with sun dried tomato = a sure fire hit with everyone!
It’s pretty hard to go wrong when it comes to pastas in creamy sauces (like Caesar Chicken Pasta). For me, the trick is finding the right balance so it’s creamy but not so rich that it’s too heavy to have as a midweek meal. It would be easy to make a creamy pasta using loads and loads of cream. But what I like to do is use a mix of cream with chicken broth and parmesan. The chicken broth adds flavour to the sauce and the parmesan both thickens it as well as adding savouriness to the sauce.
Having said that though, this recipe has more sauce than most cream chicken recipes around because it’s a two-in-one recipe. That is, there’s enough sauce to serve with the chicken as well as tossing through pasta.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention! Another little trick to thicken sauces without adding yet more cream is to toss the pasta in the sauce with a splash of the pasta cooking water. The starch in the water mixes with the oil in the sauce and thickens it. This is called emulsification and it’s a step in all real Italian pasta recipes. Gone are the days of dumping plain pasta in a bowl and spooning over the sauce which results in watery sauce at the bottom of the bowl. Nope, you want that sauce to stick to the pasta, and the way to do that is by tossing the pasta in the sauce on the stove. That way every piece of pasta has sauce clinging to it, rather than sliding off into the bottom of the bowl. :-)
Enjoy!
Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken
Ingredients
- 8 ounces ziti or other pasta of choice
- 4 small chicken breasts
- ½ teaspoon salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons butter
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 4 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 1 ¼ cups chicken broth
- ¾ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese plus extra for garnish
- ½ - ¾ cup sun dried tomato cut into strips (Note 1)
- 1 cup baby spinach optional
- ¼ cup basil leaves sliced
Instructions
- Cook ziti according to packet directions MINUS 1 minute. Just before draining, scoop out ½ cup of pasta cooking water.
- Meanwhile, sprinkle chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Pound to 1″ thickness if they are thicker than that.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook for 4 minutes on each side, then remove onto a plate, cover loosely with foil to rest.
- Melt butter in the skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 1 minute.
- Add mushrooms and cook until golden – about 2 minutes.
- Add broth, cream, parmesan and sun dried tomato. Stir and bring to a simmer. Simmer rapidly for 3 minutes until slightly thickened. Season sauce to taste with more salt and pepper.
- Add pasta, cooking water and baby spinach. Toss for 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce has thickened – the starch in the pasta cooking water will emulsify with the fat in the sauce to thicken it.
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pasta to serving plates. Top with chicken then spoon over remaining sauce in the skillet. Garnish with fresh basil and parmesan. Serve!
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
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Excellent, easy dish — I changed it up a bit (used twice as many mushrooms … because mushrooms!; and cut the chicken breasts into tenders) The dish came together in about 30 minutes total. Next time I will double the sun-dried tomatoes, add more spinach and double the sauce because it was delicious!
While my son would disagree, I couldn’t agree more…mushrooms!! Glad you enjoyed it, Jody.
This dish was excellent. I made the dish was chicken tenders and it worked great. I also used sour cream instead of heavy cream and it was a great substitution. The portion was large and the taste was memorable. I would definitely make this dish again.
Thank you for this recipe- it’s a must try and a keeper! I made this dish last week with a couple of changes. No mushrooms (I’m the only one in the family that likes them). I cut up the cooked chicken and added it to the sauce, then tossed with the pasta. And dear hubby accidentally bought vacuum-packed, smoked sun-dried tomatoes which totally changed the flavor of the dish. Even with those changes, it was so darn good the whole family was fighting over it. Thank goodness I made enough for leftovers for a few days. I’m making it again tonight only this time with oil packed sun-dried tomatoes. :-)
So happy to hear this recipe was a hit with your family Rosie! You’re going to have to make a double batch tonight!!
This was an excellent recipe, every one in the family loved it. I loved that the sauce wasn’t too heavy. The only thing I changed was I cut the chicken in bite size pieces, and added some fresh basil!
This is definitely a go to recipe!
This was fabulous. After cooking the chicken, I sliced and added to the pasta. The sauce needed to be a little thicker so added a tsp of cornstarch. Will make yhis recipe agin.
Your recipe says Note 1 next to sun-dried tomato ingredient. I don’t see any mention of sun-dried tomatoes in your notes.
Sun dried tomatoes in oil will be best, but vacuum packed will work too. Updated, thank you!
Could you substitute the heavy cream for plain yogurt?
I haven’t tried it that way, please let us know how it goes if you do try it.
About how much chicken does the 4 pieces come out to? I have a pound and a quarter, but want to know if I need to adjust the measurements!
It is approximately 2 pounds
I made this dish for dinner tonight – I didn’t have all the ingredients so improvised a little – it was absolutely delicious, best pasta we’ve had in ages – this will be my new “go to “.
Loving your website. Trying this recipe tonight. Hamburger soup two days ago was a huge hit!
Thank you so much Cherie!! Enjoy!
Absolutely scrumptious!
We made this this past weekend and it is absolutely wonderful. So much flavour ! Will definitely make it again.Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Hmm, this looks delicious. A quick one: is it possible to reheat it?
Yes, you can reheat this!
Hi Nagi, wow! thank you for sharing this, it looks so yummy and inviting I have a hard time taking my eyes off it. Do you think it would still maintain its taste if I make it in abundant and reheat it later?
Yum, this looks delicious!
-Gabby