Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta (30 Minute Recipe)
Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta combines classic comfort food ingredients, chicken, and penne pasta into one tasty dish!
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 16 ounces uncooked penne pasta
- 8.5 ounces sun-dried tomatoes with Italian herbs packed in olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic peeled and quartered
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- ¼ teaspoon salt or adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper or adjust to taste
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
Optional Garnish
- extra salt or pepper to taste
- chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Fill an 8 quart pot with water, cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Add a small handful of salt to boiling water and cook pasta to al dente (about 7-9 minutes). Drain in a colander.
- While pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Drizzle oil in the hot skillet and immediately add chicken. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook 3-5 minutes on each side, or until cooked to an internal temperature of 163°F.
- Remove chicken from the pan and set on a cutting board to cool. Once cool, cut chicken into bite sized pieces.
- While the chicken is cooking, drain sun dried tomatoes, reserving about 2 tablespoons of the oil. Combine the contents of sun-dried tomatoes, reserved oil, and chopped garlic in a blender or food processor. Blend until the mixture is smooth, scraping the insides of the blender down as necessary.
- Add sun dried tomato mixture to the skillet and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir in heavy cream, then cook on medium-high heat until slightly boiling. Add in shredded mozzarella cheese and stir to melt.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer. Add in cooked chicken.
- Add drained penne pasta to the skillet and stir until combined and the pasta is well coated. Continue to simmer for 2-3 minutes on low. Stir in fresh basil. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Garnish with additional fresh basil if desired. Serve warm, and enjoy!
Notes
- If your drained pasta is starting to dry out and stick together, I recommend stirring in a little bit of olive oil.
- To thicken the sauce, you can stir in extra shredded mozzarella. Add a small amount at a time and stir until completely melted.
- For spicier chicken penne pasta, I recommend adding crushed red pepper flakes.
- If you don’t have fresh basil, you can substitute baby spinach. Spinach doesn’t have quite as much flavor as basil, but it’s still a great vegetable to add because of its health benefits.
- Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator. Use within 5 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 735cal | Carbohydrates: 69g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Cholesterol: 130mg | Sodium: 430mg | Sugar: 4g | Fiber: 5g | Calcium: 178mg | Iron: 3mg