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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
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 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.
Julia-
Could you sub whole milk in for half and half?
Hi! This looks delicious! I was wondering if I could make a larger batch of this ahead of time and refrigerate and then reheat the next day? Do you think it would turn out the same? Could I heat it in the oven? Thanks!
So no one else had a problem with the milk and cheese separating? I've never boiled those two things together and not had it look like it had curdled.
You probably had the heat too high and you have to stir it constantly or it will curdle on you.
Where's the Marsala? I think it was left out of the recipe. Definitely need Marsala wine in Pasta Marsala.
This is delicious, I made some of my own changes but the recipe is just fantastic. I added more garlic, only because I love garlic and used a oregano, basil and tomato spice blend when I sautéed the garlic and sundried tomatoes. This meal is definitely a keeper at my house. Thanks for sharing!
It's absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Well this was AMAZING!
I absolutely love it!! and it's so easy to make! 😀
I did not like this dish at all! I'm sorry, there was no flavor whatsoever.
I made this for dinner tonight. I subbed the half n half with whipping creme and the pasta water with chicken broth. The sauce is AMAZING!! It would definitely go well with any seafood as well as chicken.
The pic got me to try this.I am not a fan of penne or white sauces with cheese.This was delicious though! I had boneless skinless chicken thighs & used those +added mushrooms & deglazed the pan with white wine b4 adding cheese & 1/2&1/2. Tasty, quick and inexpensive-a great recipe that I am glad I tried.
After learning how to infuse flavors I did just that with this recipe... I used fresh basil inall steps of the recipe, as well as using fresh basil for garnish before serving and used 3 med-large garlic cloves in every step to infuse spices, and it turned out amazing. The second day it was even better than the first and it was hard to believe because this is a great recipe I now have to make over and over for everyone.
We made this with minor changes and the quinoa with sweet potato last night for dinner and we LOVE both very very much. We love plant-based and are hooked, but it is hard to stay fully committed. We have seen amazing results in our cholesterol levels. It is definitely worth the changes in ones diet. We will continue to follow you and all your great recipes. Love your list of kitchen items and " have to" foods in the pantry. We work 10-5, 5 days a week, so coming home to cook is not our aim. Hate it, so on days-off I put on my apron and have some fun. And to me it is fun. We do not want to eat beef, veal or pork, husband eats fish, I prefer not to. And cheeses are not good for us, we are in our 70s, so not good, but oh how we love love cheese. We just cheat. Got to die of something... Thank you and all your hard work. It gets to those who are open and ready. You do bear fruit. God Bless You.
I enjoyed the dish and would make again but I think I will need to tweak the seasoning on my end. The main issue I have with this recipe is the sauce technique. I don't know how everyone gets a smooth sauce by adding the cheese after the chicken and tomatoes. As I read it my gut told me this was against everything I had been taught about cream sauces and sure enough when I tried it the cheese clumped to the chicken and tomatoes making them stick together and separate from the cream. Did not matter how much I stirred or heated the cheese never dissolved after this. Next time I would go back to my gut - Put the cream in the pan (not a hot pan, only cool to warm) and slowly heat to simmer, add the cheese and remove from heat/keep on low simmer until it melts into the cream then stir until smooth. Simmer until thickened. Only after the sauce is smooth would I add the chicken, cheese or pasta. I think this will work out better next time!
The same thing happened to me! I have been going through all the comments looking to see if anyone else had that problem. I too thought this was not the regular way to make a cream sauce, but went ahead with the recipe following it to the letter, thinking if this turns out, it will be so easy! Well, it did not turn out - I too will go back to the old ways - I don't want to toss this recipe - the flavors are delicious! I will try again.
Charlene, I had leftovers for lunch the next day and when I microwaved it the cheese melted and the sauce turned into on of those oily smooth ones you get when you take home leftover pasta from an italian restaurant. It was actually quite good and the flavours even better the next day. I think if I can plan ahead next time I'll make the cream sauce a day ahead and let it marry in the fridge before warming it on the stove and adding the fresh cooked chicken an pasta. For a sure a keeper with a few tweaks.
Question - how do you avoid having your garlic turn into a blackened, burned mess?
Thanks!