Tuscan-Style Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce is a one-pan meal that will turn boring chicken breasts into something very flavorful and fun! All flavors blend perfectly: roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and spices (basil and crushed red pepper)!
Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Breasts
- This skillet chicken is inspired by Italian flavors: sun-dried tomatoes and basil. The creamy sun-dried tomato sauce is perfect for skinless, boneless chicken breasts: it keeps chicken moist and juicy. Say good-bye to dry chicken!
- It's a one-pan recipe. The beautiful thing about cooking everything in one pan is that you have only one pan to clean. It's as simple as that!
- The homemade sun-dried tomato cream sauce is so good: roasted garlic and sun-dried tomatoes are combined with cream, shredded Mozzarella cheese, and just the right amount of spices!
What to serve with Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken
- Pasta. There is enough sauce in this recipe to serve over pasta. I recommend thin pasta such as angel hair or short pasta, such as penne.
- Roasted vegetables, such as asparagus, broccoli, or green beans.
- Jasmine rice.
- Cauliflower rice.
You can also try Parmesan Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Rice or Asiago Bacon Roasted Asparagus.
How to Make Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken
1) In a large skillet, roast minced garlic with sun-dried tomatoes in the olive oil on medium heat. You can use the oil from the jar with sun-dried tomatoes:
2) Remove sun-dried tomatoes and garlic from the skillet, leaving some olive oil in the skillet.
3) Cook the chicken breasts until they are done and no longer pink in the center.
4) Remove the chicken from the pan, return sun-dried tomatoes and garlic, and make the creamy sun-dried tomato sauce.
5) Return completely cooked chicken breasts to the skillet (with the creamy sauce) and warm everything up!
Voila, the most flavorful and moist sun-dried tomato chicken is ready!
More Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Recipes
- Mediterranean Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Artichokes
- Sun-Dried Tomato, Spinach, and Bacon Chicken
- Chicken and Bacon with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Creamy Tuscan-Style Chicken Breasts with Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Chicken Breasts:
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 6 oz sun-dried tomatoes , in oil, from a jar
- salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil , either from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes, or just use olive oil
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 2 large chicken breasts , halved horizontally (about 2 lb)
Cream Sauce:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup part-skim, low-moisture mozzarella cheese shredded (not fresh mozzarella!)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon basil if using dry basil, if using fresh basil you can add more
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes at least, add more to taste
Instructions
How to cook chicken breasts on stove top
- Note: if using sun-dried tomatoes in oil (in a jar), make sure to drain sun-dried tomatoes from oil, before using them. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this drained oil for sauteing as described below:
- In a large pan, on medium heat, saute garlic and sun-dried tomatoes (drained from oil) in 2 tablespoons of oil (reserved from the sun-dried tomatoes jar - see note above) for 1 minute until garlic is fragrant.
- Remove sun-dried tomatoes and garlic from the pan, leaving the olive oil in the pan.
- Add chicken breasts, halved horizontally, salted and lightly covered in paprika (for color).
- Cook the chicken on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side.
- Cover the pan with the lid, remove from heat, and let the chicken sit, cooking in its own juices, with heat off, until completely cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet.
How to make creamy sun-dried tomato sauce:
- To the same, now empty, skillet, add back sun-dried tomatoes and garlic.
- Add 1 cup of heavy cream, bring to a brief boil and reduce to a simmer.
- Add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, constantly stirring to melt the cheese.
- Add 1 cup of milk gradually, whisking until nice and smooth, while on simmer. You might not use all of the milk. Use just enough to thin out the sauce to your liking.
- Add basil and crushed red pepper - mix to combine.
- Add cooked chicken breasts. Season with salt. Reheat until warm.
Notes
- Use pre-shredded Mozzarella cheese labeled as part-skim, low-moisture. It is usually sold pre-shredded or as a hard block of cheese.
- Do not use fresh Mozzarella, usually sold as large balls or a log.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
I placed the cream, tomatoes and garlic in a blender before heating with the milk and cheese and other ingredients, to make a smoother creamy sauce.
The result was great.
Will make it again.
I am making your mozzarella chicken with sundried tomatoes how can I make this ahead of time and can I heat on low to warm when ready to eat
I just made this tonight, but I added a few things that I think improved it. Instead of just dusting the chicken with salt and paprika, I used Perfect Blend Chicken and Fish seasoning and added turmeric and sesame seeds. The turmeric was the biggest surprise; it really did something special to the chicken! Then, at the end, I added sliced mushrooms.
Richard, so glad you liked the recipe! Your additions sound delicious, especially the turmeric.
Just made this recipe yesterday, and it was fantastic! Everyone raved at how delicious it was, it is now my go to entrée to make for special occasions. Thank you!!
Joanne, you're very welcome! So glad everybody liked this recipe - makes me happy! 🙂
Made your wonderful recipe for dinner tonight. The husband LOVED it! He hasn't stopped raving! It's a great sauce for pasta too! For once, a recipe that delivers! I'm a fan! Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
Can I leave the milk out?
You can leave the milk out if you don't mind your sauce too thick. The only reason I use milk is because with the all the heavy cream and Mozzarella cheese, the sauce might get too thick. You can also use less Mozzarella, only 1/2 cup if you don't want to use milk.
Made this tonight for dinner, was very pleased with it. It was very easy to make and it was delicious! Had to make a couple of revisions since I didn't have any basil (which I always do) instead I used fresh rosemary and Italian seasoning. Also, I didn't have any heavy cream so I used half and half which was no.problem it took no time to thicken to desired consistency. Will def. make it again.
Thank you, Stephen, I am glad you liked it! Half and half is always good alternative to heavy cream!
Made this today for dinner. Very good recipe. Would make again. I did use bow tie pasta as I had no penne.
Thank you - I am glad you liked it!
Julia, do you have a video on this recipe?
I made this recipe this weekend. It was amazing. Thank you so much for posting it. Seriously cannot wait to make it again. 🙂
Thank you, Deb, so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
chicken....ohhhh chicken...how I love thee! The sauce looks scrumptious!