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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.
This is a fantastic recipe. One of the best things I've ever made. I added some spinach, mushrooms and canned artichoke hearts to it.
So happy to hear that! Great idea to add spinach, mushrooms and artichokes!
Do you cook chicken first? I am weird about my chicken
In this recipe I cooked sliced chicken first, and then added the ingredients for the sauce to the skillet with chicken and the chicken continued to cook in the sauce. However, because of the cream and the sauce, the chicken remained moist and tender.
Thought it was easy to make and very tasty. The whole family enjoyed the pasta. The only thing I changed was to cut the tenders into smaller pieces.
Thank you, Bridget, I am glad your whole family liked this pasta! Yes, cutting the tenders into smaller pieces is a great idea!
Would it work to substitute the chicken for shrimp?
Yes, shrimp will work great in this recipe, too.
How long do you cook the cheese and half and half for? And do I start boiling water as the cheeses cook? Just confused how you get an hour of cooking. Thanks!
We love this! I made it for the first time tonight and It's a winner!
I don't know why people have issues. I like garlic so I did 5 and I added Parmesan (again just a preference) and it was fabulous. Kids and husband devoured it and I'll be making it again for sure.
I have made this recipe 3 or 4 times and it is always amazing! For UK users, I find single cream works really well - even Elmlea. Lidl do good sun-dried tomatoes in oil and Tesco for buffalo mozzarella (I'm wary of shredded mozzarella) This has definitely become a favourite
I'm seeing a lot of mixed reviews, and I just don't get how this turns out for some people. 2nd time making it because I completely forgot I already made it once until it was too late. Both times I'm disappointed. I used a dutch oven. On medium heat. Garlic still burns? Definitely wouldn't add it until the chicken. And don't even get me started on the sauce...I lowered the heat and still curdled. Should have heated it separately. After adding more ingredients it still wasn't creamy. And I used smoked gouda in addition to added spices to help the blandness but it still wasn't what I hoped it would be. Maybe they need to be added earlier/differently to help infuse. And I added so much salt I could feel the high blood pressure coming on. Overall way too much cream, cheese, etc. and salt to help this dish out and not worth trying to make it right again.
It turned out really great!
However I replaced mushroom
(Few vegetarian's at home) for chicken and it was still delicious 🙂
5/5 Absolutely fantastic!!! <3
The garlic burned in seconds since it was on HIGH heat. The sauce never really became a sauce. Not enough cream...I used heavy cream instead of 1/2 1/2. It was just a stringy mess of cheese. I salvaged it though by adding more cream and a bit more oil. My 9 year old declared it the best meal ever. I'll make it again but won't use HIGH heat right away.
Our favorite go to recipe!!! Sooo easy! I just made this from start to finish in 1 hour and that was with frozen chicken!
I had chricken already but had to buy everything else. I went to a super target and spent $15 WITH buying ingredients to make apple turnovers for dessert!
My sundries tomatoes were $3.40
I'd say a very inexpensive dinner and dessert for a family of 3 plus there was left overs! Yay for lunch tomorrow!
I've made this about 4 times now!
Tiffany, I am so glad to read such an enthusiastic review - thank you! 🙂 🙂 🙂 I am SO HAPPY you enjoyed it so much that you've made it 4 times now!
Tried this when our son and daughter-in-law dropped over. It was a hit! Everyone loved it, and I will be making this again. Thanks for this great recipe..
Suzanne, I am so glad your family has enjoyed this recipe! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Just made this ....it was wonderful! I added sautéed mushrooms and red pepper strips to it also. Husband wants me to make it again......and again....