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Chicken Mozzarella Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes - Italian-inspired dinner with the best homemade creamy pasta sauce! The sun-dried tomato pasta sauce is made from scratch using basil, red pepper flakes, garlic, paprika, cream, and shredded Mozzarella cheese.
I am a huge fan of pasta, and some of the most popular pasta recipes on this site include this chicken mozzarella pasta that you are reading right now, creamy chicken pasta with bacon, and pesto chicken pasta. One thing all these pasta recipes have in common is that they use creamy, comforting sauces.
If you want to try chicken pasta that is more refreshing, without the creamy sauce, I whole-heartedly recommend family favorite chicken pasta with spinach and tomatoes or super flavorful Italian sausage pasta.
Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken
- This recipe features sun-dried tomatoes and basil. Both ingredients are popular in Italy and in the Mediterranean region.
- The most prominent flavor in this recipe is the homemade sun-dried tomato sauce. The sauce is made from scratch by combining cream with shredded Mozzarella cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, and red pepper flakes.
- Cooked chicken and penne pasta are then smothered in this delicious creamy Mozzarella pasta sauce. There is enough sauce to coat every single bite.
Ingredients for sun-dried tomato sauce
- 3 garlic cloves
- 4 oz sun-dried tomatoes
- olive oil
- salt
- paprika
- basil
- 1 cup half-and-half (or ½ cup heavy cream + ½ cup milk)
- 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
How to make sun-dried tomato sauce
- In a large skillet, cook 3 cloves of minced garlic and 4 oz of chopped sun-dried tomatoes in 1 tablespoon of olive oil on high-medium heat for about 1 minute.
- Add ½ cup of heavy cream + ½ cup of milk (or 1 cup of half-and-half) to the same skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer.
- Add 1 cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese.
- Simmer and stir until the cheese melts and forms a creamy pasta sauce.
- Add 1 tablespoon of dried basil, paprika, and at least ¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.
- Season with about ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Cooking Tips
- Use either sun-dried tomatoes without oil or sun-dried tomatoes in oil (in a jar). Note: if using sun-dried tomatoes in oil (in a jar), make sure to drain sun-dried tomatoes from oil, before using them.
- Sprinkle a small amount of paprika over the chicken before cooking - it adds flavor as well as the color to the dish.
- Make sure to reserve some pasta water as you will DEFINITELY need it to thin out the cream sauce.
- Feel free to increase the amount of spices for this recipe: basil, red pepper flakes, paprika. This will make the sun-dried tomato sauce even more flavorful!
- Make sure to season the chicken mozzarella pasta with just the right amount of salt. That means you might have to add more salt. Salt will enhance the flavors of basil and sun-dried tomatoes.
How to Make Chicken Mozzarella Pasta
1) In a large skillet, on medium heat sauté garlic and sun-dried tomatoes in the olive oil. Remove the sun-dried tomatoes from the skillet.
2) Season sliced chicken with salt and paprika.
3) Add the chicken to the skillet and cook on high heat.
4) Add back the sun-dried tomatoes. Add half-and-half and shredded Mozzarella cheese.
5) Bring the mixture to boil, then reduce to simmer and stir the sun-dried tomato sauce until the cheese melts.
6) Add spices: basil, crushed red pepper flakes, salt.
7) Add cooked and drained penne pasta and stir to combine.
More recipes featuring sun-dried tomato pasta
- Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Mozzarella Sauce features shrimp instead of chicken.
- Asiago Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach - this sun-dried tomato pasta is made even more flavorful with the addition of Asiago cheese and spinach.
- Scallop Pasta features scallops - another protein you can use in place of chicken in a recipe that is otherwise very similar to this one.
- Creamy Mozzarella Pasta with Smoked Sausage is a great choice if you want to make the same pasta with sausage.
- Sun-Dried Tomato and Mushroom Pasta is the meatless version of this recipe.
Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken and Creamy Mozzarella Sauce
This easy Italian-inspired Chicken Mozzarella Pasta features sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, red pepper flakes, and paprika. The sun-dried tomato sauce is the star of this recipe!
Ingredients
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 4 oz sun-dried tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breast tenderloins , sliced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup half and half (or use ½ cup heavy cream + ½ cup milk)
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded (do not use fresh Mozzarella, use pre-shredded Mozzarella)
- 8 oz penne pasta (for gluten free, use gluten free brown rice pasta)
- 1 tablespoon basil
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup reserved cooked pasta water or more
- ¼ teaspoon salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet, sauté garlic and sun-dried tomatoes (drained from oil) in 2 tablespoons of olive oil (reserved from the sun-dried tomatoes jar) for 1 minute on medium heat until the garlic is fragrant.
- Remove the sun-dried tomatoes from the skillet, leaving the olive oil.
- Add sliced chicken (salted and lightly covered in paprika for color) and cook on high heat for 1 minute on each side. Remove from heat.
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Reserve some cooked pasta water. Drain the pasta.
- Slice sun-dried tomatoes into smaller pieces and add them back to the skillet with chicken.
- To make creamy pasta sauce, add half-and-half (see substitution for half-and-half in the Recipe Notes section below) and Mozzarella cheese to the skillet, and bring to a gentle boil.
- Immediately reduce to simmer and cook, constantly stirring, until all cheese melts and creamy sauce forms.
- Add cooked and drained pasta to the skillet with the cream sauce, and stir to combine.
- Add 1 tablespoon of basil, and at least ¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.
- If the creamy sauce is too thick: Add about ½ cup of reserved cooked pasta water to the skillet to thin it out. Do not add all of pasta water at once - you might need less or more of it.
- Season the chicken pasta with salt and more red pepper flakes, to taste, if needed. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes for flavors to combine.
- Note: Make sure to salt the dish just enough to bring out of the flavors of basil and sun-dried tomatoes.
Notes
- What is half-and-half? Substitute ½ cup of milk + ½ cup of heavy cream for 1 cup of half-and-half.
- If using sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil (in a jar), make sure to drain sun-dried tomatoes from oil, before using them. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this drained olive oil.
- Do not use fresh Mozzarella. Fresh Mozzarella is usually sold as a large ball or small balls in a brine or water solution. Do not shred fresh Mozzarella. Use pre-shredded Mozzarella cheese sold in bags.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information
Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta with Chicken and Creamy Mozzarella Sauce
Amount per Serving
Calories
641
% Daily Value*
Fat
24
g
37
%
Saturated Fat
9
g
56
%
Cholesterol
117
mg
39
%
Sodium
700
mg
30
%
Potassium
1626
mg
46
%
Carbohydrates
62
g
21
%
Fiber
5
g
21
%
Sugar
12
g
13
%
Protein
43
g
86
%
Vitamin A
810
IU
16
%
Vitamin C
13.7
mg
17
%
Calcium
258
mg
26
%
Iron
3.9
mg
22
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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.
This recipe was originally published in October 2014 and updated in 2018.
Easy to make and packed with flavor. My family couldn’t get enough — I’ll definitely make it again.
Needed more cheese, salt and I added heavy cream with the half and half. Was a little too dry.
Thank you, Traci, for your feedback! This dish always benefits from more cheese!
Could this recipe be made ahead of time?
Hi Audrey! I'm personally not a fan of making creamy cheese-based sauce dishes ahead of time. When reheated, the sauce is very likely to lose its delicate texture, and might separate into grease.
Hi there, planning to try out this recipe, is there a specific type of Mozzarella that you prefer to use for this recipe? Do you shredded it yourself or do you buy the generic brands of already bagged shredded Mozzarella cheese like Sargentos?
Hi Michelle! For this recipe, I always buy bags of pre-shredded Mozzarella cheese that's labeled Low-Moisture and Part-Skim. I find this kind of pre-shredded cheese works really well here. 🙂
What a lovely pasta! I would use more cayenne than you, but that’s just me!! Delicious.
Thank you for your wonderful review! 🙂
Or a fan of tenderloins. Can you use thinly sliced breasts instead?
Yes, this would work beautifully with thinly sliced breasts!
You told me how to cook tomatoes stead of using sun dried and gave me a recipe but I cannot find it
Hi Sally! Here is the recipe with oven roasted cherry tomatoes: https://juliasalbum.com/chicken-spaghetti-with-burrata/#recipe
I love this recipe- my family loved it- i made it several times last year and im making it again tonight! Thank you for this wonderful flavorful pasta recipe!
Dawn, I love that it’s become a repeat favorite for your family!! Thank you for making it again and again — that’s the best compliment ever!! 🙂
I made this dish a few months ago, and the family loved it! Today, the kids were literally begging me to make "that one chicken thing with the pasta and tomatoes" which could literally be any of 100 things. We went back to pinterest and searched through the saved pins until they recognized the picture. So now I'm off to the market for sundried tomatoes. Thanks for posting this easy family favorite recipe that will forever be known around here as "THE chicken thing with the pasta and tomatoes"
Oh my gosh, this made me laugh out loud!! So glad your kids hunted it down on Pinterest like little detectives! 🙂 Thanks for sharing this, Jeannette, you totally made my day! 🙂
Can I make the sauce part and freeze it ?
Hi Jen! Unfortunately, I don't recommend freezing creamy, cheese-based sauces as they tend to lose their texture, separate, get greasy or grainy when thawed.
Can this be made with orzo instead of the pasta? If so, how much orzo?
Hi Cherie! This would be so good with orzo! I would use 1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo.
Thank you! Can’t wait to make this!
Let me know how it turns out!!
A full cup of mozzarella is insane. It ruins the whole pasta. Do not recomend
good！
Awesome!
Hi Julia
How do I change this recipe to Metric? I've managed to do it with your other recipes but can't see that option for this one. Thank you! ☺️
I will look into this!
Fast and easy with flavors that are restaurant quality!
Enjoy
Thank you, Bruce, for your review, I appreciate it! 🙂
I have made this recipe three times since discovering it about 6 weeks ago. So easy and delicious!
So glad you've enjoyed this recipe, Laurie! Thanks for your review! ❤️
I never buy pre shredded mozzarella due to the additives. Can you tell me why it’s better in your recipe ?
I’m pretty sure I’ve made this from fresh mozzarella