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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.
Cooked this tonight and it was a family favorite. Such an easy meal to put together on a weeknight.
So glad you liked it! 🙂
still waiting a response
how soon can I expect a reply
hi I am having 8 girls for lunch can I double this recipe and also they will be here early how can I make this recipe ahead of time and can I then heat in oven?
Yes, you can double the recipe easily! I prefer not to make this ahead, but actually reheating it in the oven is a good idea. Reheat it in the oven briefly, without letting the sauce boil too much so that the sauce does not separate.
What is the serving amount? 1 cup, 2 cups? Sounds like a wonderful tasting dish but could easily use up your calorie allowance for the day.
Yes, it's a high-calorie dish. The whole recipe makes 4 servings.
Excellent but cheese sauce caused the chicken and tomato to clump. Could you mix the sauce with the pasta and then add in the chicken and tomato?
If your sauce clumped, I would bring the sauce to a brief boil to make sure the pan is hot enough. Then reduce to simmer immediately and keep the sauce simmering while you stir it.
You could also use heavy cream instead of half-and-half, and use half the cheese to make the sauce. Then, as the sauce starts to thicken, gradually add more cheese, if needed. If the sauce is too thick, thin it out with milk or cooked pasta water (that you reserved from cooking pasta).
Sauces clump when the temperature of the ingredients are off. I have italian heritage i know. Sauces need to be in seperate pan and cold cream cold butter all cold low heat stove.
To add you have to constantly stir it in the pan not let it sit and curdle. Never put creams etc on off shoot to a high boil..start at low and leave it at low to slowly boil while you stir. When done pour on the pasta. Also depends on pasta brand too. Starchy is bad. Want the pasta to be a bit firm when cooked. I like to make my pasta at home from scratch personally.
Good points about making the sauce. Bring the sauce to a very low simmer point, not a high boil. Then, constantly stir the sauce until the cheese melts.
I asked my guys at work to make this for dinner and they knocked it out of the park. Everyone in the firehouse loved it and this recipe will now become a staple in our firehouse. Thank you from Annapolis FD Engine 35!
So glad you tried this recipe and that it became a staple in your firehouse! Your comment made my day! Thank you so much for stopping by and letting me know that you enjoyed this recipe!
I have a question, my husband can't eat milk, so want to try with soy milk, do you think it will work? He has a dairy clergy, but can eat some cheeses, but not milk and definitely not heavy cream. Do you think it will work? Has anyone ever asked this? Well, I'm going to go for it and I will let you all know!!! Wish me luck!!
Can you husband eat coconut milk? If your husband can eat coconut milk, use coconut milk! It's a great substitution for heavy cream! Lots of people have used it in this recipe and it worked beautifully!
I haven't made this yet, but I am wondering if artichoke hearts and capers would work in this recipe. Any thought?
Made this and it was pretty bland 🙁 double everything to make more of a sauce. Maybe I’m missing something? It definitely looked like it had more of a flavor than it actually did.
Make sure to season the dish with just the right amount of salt. Sometimes, undersalting the pasta with the sauce can make the dish really bland. Next time gradually add more salt and see if it helps to bring out more flavors. Also, add more basil and red pepper flakes for more flavor.
Going to make this tonight- thank you! What’s sides do you like to pair with this dish? (:
Serve a simple salad, such as spinach salad with toasted nuts and olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. Or make this tomato cucumber avocado salad.
This was fantastic. I had searched for a pasta with chicken, sundried tomatoes and cream similar to one I’d had at restaurants in the Bay Area. I added one strip of bacon, crumbled and sauteed the chicken and garlic/tomatoes in the same pan I cooked the bacon in for a smokey flavor. My family LOVED it!!
Thank you, Christy! So glad you enjoyed this pasta dish. The addition of bacon sounds delicious!
Made exactly like recipe and added parmesan cheese! Fantastic!
Anna, I am so glad you liked this pasta!
I love this recipe, I've made it a few time now. I think my luck came from using Hungarian paprika, it just happened to he what I had and the flavors are amazing! This time I added shrimp and spinach to fancy it up for cozy date night dinner. I love it even more now!! TFS!!
I am so glad you have been enjoying this recipe! Yes, Hungarian paprika would taste great with this pasta!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I will try it!
You're very welcome! Enjoy!
I followed the directions and recipe exactly how you wrote it and it curdled while cooking. Our dinner was ruined. I DO NOT recommend bringing sauce to a boil as the recipe calls for.
Will make again with my own temp adjustments and ingredients.
I had the curdling issue as well! I think the oily base was too hot to add the half and half right then. Will probably try again, with some adjustments.