Creamy, delicious, sun-dried tomato pasta with chicken is your family’s new favourite meal. It is simple, flavourful and comforting, and a toddler favourite.
Sun-dried tomato pasta with chicken also referred to as Tuscan chicken pasta, sounds like it might be complicated but is actually quite easy to make. It has few ingredients and all the magic happens in one pot.
This is a recipe that I used to have to plan for since sun-dried tomatoes were rarely found in my house. Since this recipe has become so popular though, I now always keep a few jars of sun-dried tomatoes in the pantry.
Preparing Sun-dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken Thighs: Use boneless skinless chicken thighs for this dish. They are easy and quick to cook and keep their moisture well.
Onion: Onions add sweetness to this recipe. I like to use a simple yellow onion which has a nice sweet flavour once cooked.
Italian Seasoning: Italian seasoning is a mixture of multiple spices. Typically it includes oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary and marjoram.
Heavy Cream: Cream is one of the main stars of this dish. Ideally, you want to use heavy whipping cream or heavy cream which has between 36% and 40% fat content. I find that this isn’t typically available in the grocery stores near me so I settle for whipping cream which is usually between 30% and 35% fat. This cream will thicken nicely and create an almost fluffy texture to the sauce.
Parmesan: Grated parmesan cheese is perfect for this recipe, and I don’t mean freshly grated. The relatively inexpensive pre-grated type is just right here. The flavour is perfect and I always find it a bit of a waste to use the freshly grated stuff in a sauce where it just melts away. Save the expensive fresh stuff for topping your pasta.
Garlic: Garlic is a bulb that is edible and is grown in soil. Though the green shoots it sprouts, called garlic scapes, are also edible, we are referring to the actual bulb that the scapes grow from. Garlic bulbs are made up of multiple cloves and depending on the variety you may have anywhere from 4 to 10 cloves, if not more. This is important to know because recipes will often call for a specific number of cloves but you want to make sure you know what the actual measurement is to add the right amount.
Sun-dried Tomatoes in oil: Sun-dried tomatoes are tomatoes that have been dehydrated in low temperatures. We use sun-dried tomatoes that have been packed in oil as we also use the oil to add even more flavour to the sauce.
Penne Noodles: Penne noodles are short cylindrical noodles that are cut at an angle. I love these noodles for this dish because they holds the sauce and all the flavourful bits inside each noodle ensuring that you get all the goodness in every bite.
How to Make Sun-dried Tomato Pasta
We will prep while everything is cooking so start by adding the
olive oil and sun-dried tomato oil (from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes) into a deep pan. Heat the oils up on medium-high heat.
While the oil is warming, season the chicken thighs on each side with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.
Once the oil is hot, add the chicken to the pan. Cook it for approximately 5 minutes. Then flip the chicken to the other side and cook for another 5 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, peel and dice the onion and peel the garlic.
Slice or dice the sun-dried tomatoes. This is strictly based on preference. We have picky eaters at our house so for us it’s usually the smaller the better.
Once the timer is up, remove the chicken from the pan and set it aside on a plate.
Now add the onions to the pan and cook for a minute just until slightly softened then add the sun-dried tomatoes. Cook for 2 minutes until the onion is translucent and the tomatoes have softened.
Next, press the garlic into the pan and cook for 30 seconds, then add the cream. Stir the cream with the rest of the ingredients and warm up. Once there is steam coming off the cream add the parmesan. You don’t want the cream to boil, just be hot enough to melt the parmesan. Stir until the parmesan is fully melted.
Now add the chicken back to the pan and cover it with a lid. Turn the temperature down to low and simmer for about 20 minutes. Stirring the sauce occasionally to prevent burning.
While the sauce simmers, fill a pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add the pasta, stir to prevent sticking and cook according to package instructions.
Using two forks, shred the chicken in the pan and mix well with the rest of the sauce. This step is optional, you can leave the thighs whole. However, I find that the chicken goes much further if you shred it. It becomes part of the sauce as opposed to having a piece of meat on the plate with a side of pasta.
Once the pasta is ready, strain it and add it to the pan with the sauce. Do not rinse the pasta. Rinsing the pasta rinses away the starch that helps the sauce stick to the noodles.
If you have it on hand, toss in some julienned basil right at the end. You want it to stay fresh and not cook to keep its fresh bright flavour and colour. I didn’t have any fresh basil on hand so I used frozen.
If you didn’t shred the chicken, you can serve the noodles directly on the plate topped with chicken and sauce.
Tuscan chicken recipes most often include spinach. You can add spinach to our sun-dried tomato pasta with chicken while the sauce is simmering. I love to serve this pasta with our simple side spinach salad with lemon dressing so I skip the spinach in the dish.
Substitutions
Cream: Substitute with half and half. You can also use milk and a couple of tablespoons of butter.
Chicken thighs: You can use chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs but the cooking time will vary.
Penne: some of my favourite noodles for this pasta dish, other than penne, are fettuccine and spaghetti. There is honestly no wrong choice with this sauce.
Storing Sun-dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken
Sun-dried tomato pasta sauce keeps well in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to a week. Ideally, you want to cook fresh pasta whenever you are serving the sauce. You can however keep cooked pasta in the refrigerator for two to three days.
Can you freeze sun-dried tomato pasta?
Yes!! You can freeze the sauce, but skip the noodles. As mentioned above, you always want to serve freshly cooked noodles.
If possible, freeze the sauce in a microwave-safe dish so that you can quickly defrost and heat it up when you need it. Alternatively, freeze in an aluminum foil tray and defrost and reheat in the oven.
More Pasta Recipes:
Sun-dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- Knife
- Large pot
- Colander
Ingredients
Instructions
- Put both oils in a deep pan and heat up on medium-high heat.1 Tbsp oil from sun-dried tomatoes, 1 Tbsp olive oil
- While the oil is warming, season chicken on each side with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.1 lb chicken thighs, 1 tsp Italian seasoning, ¼ tsp salt, Pinch ground black pepper
- Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and sear on each side for approximately 4-5 minutes. Then flip the chicken to the other side and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
- While the chicken is cooking, peel and dice the onion and peel the garlic. Dice the sun-dried tomatoes.¼ cup onion, 1 clove garlic, ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes
- Remove the chicken from the pan and set it aside.
- Add the onions to the pan and cook for a minute. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.¼ cup onion, ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes
- Press the garlic into the pan and cook for 30 seconds, then add the cream.1 clove garlic
- Stir the cream with the rest of the ingredients and warm up. Once there is steam coming off the cream add the parmesan. Stir until the parmesan is fully melted.1 cup heavy cream, ½ cup parmesan
- Add the chicken back to the pan and cover with a lid. Simmer on low for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent burning.1 lb chicken thighs
- Fill a pot with water. Bring the water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook according to package instructions.
- Optional: Using two forks, shred the chicken in the pan and mix well with the rest of the sauce and add fresh basil.Fresh basil
- Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the shredded chicken and sauce. Do not rinse the noodles. If you didn’t shred the chicken, you can serve the noodles directly on the plate topped with chicken and sauce.
- Serve with a side spinach salad.
Video
Nutrition
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