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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.
I've seen this recipe pop up on your site but never tried it until tonight! OMG! THE BEST PASTA DISH I'VE HAD IN AGES!! LOVED IT & WILL BE MAKING IT AGAIN. THANKS!
Kathy, thank you for such a positive and enthusiastic comment - I appreciate it! 🙂 Glad you gave this recipe a try and enjoyed it!
This was so good! I made this on a whim and didn’t have any mozzarella and used parmesan instead. It didn’t come out as thick but u just used some cornstarch to thicken it up and it was still delicious!
Jessica, thank you so much for such a helpful comment! Glad to hear you were able to thicken up the sauce with some cornstarch.
Wow. This was awful. Please rework this so another family’s dinner isn’t ruined. Off to order pizza.
What was awful about it? If you're going to post a statement like that, you should at least give the author some reasons for it. Did you change something? Forget something? Maybe you didn't like a particular ingredient? Out of the 6 recent comments posted, there is 1 negative....yours. So, it would be interesting to see what you actually don't like about it.
Thanks, Sharon! Yes, constructive criticism is good, and in many cases, it even helps to improve the recipe and it is also helpful to everybody (me, other readers). The feedback you're referring to is very much unclear.
Question, I have to use fresh mozzarella cheese, should I adjust the quantity and add parmesan as well?
I made this last night, since I couldn't get shredded mozzarella I had to shred it my own. It made the sauce clumpy and stringy, so next time I will use parmesan cheese and some cream cheese. Other than that, it was great. So easy to make and tastes great.
I am glad you gave this recipe a try and liked it! What kind of non-shredded Mozzarella did you use? Fresh one (soft and usually sold as balls) or a block of solid Mozzarella (usually sold in rectangular blocks)?
I wouldn't use fresh Mozzarella cheese here. By fresh Mozzarella do you mean soft Mozzarella that is usually sold as large balls or logs? If so, this kind of cheese won't work here. The solid Mozzarella cheese (sold as rectangular blocks or shredded) is what I used here. It is usually labeled as "part-skim, low-moisture Mozzarella".
Made this tonight. I make a lot of pasta dishes. We loved this one. It was delish! Added two handfuls of fresh spinach so I wouldn’t have to make a vegetable. LOL!
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Rena, I am so glad you gave this recipe a try and enjoyed it! The addition of spinach is delicious! 🙂
This was SUPERB! I subbed cashew milk for the milk and cream, and added some kale just before serving (needed to use it up). I’m so thankful I doubled the recipe so that we have leftovers. Thank you!
You are so welcome! I love your comment because you made such interesting substitutions. I am glad the cashew milk worked!
Trying this for dinner and hope my boyfriend likes it
I hope you love this recipe, Laura!
This was amazing .. my husband and grandson loved it .. I didn’t have basil so I used oregano and it was good next go around I will have the basil .. thanks for the great recipe .. this is one for my saved file…
I am so flattered by your comment - glad this recipe is in your saved file. And, thank you for the 5-star rating! 🙂
Delicious and easy. We thought it was restaurant quality!. I garnished with chopped parsley. Thanks for the recipe.
Abbie, I am very flattered by your comment. Glad this recipe was a success!
Just tried this and it has the best flavor! Sooo Good!
Lauren, I am glad you tried this recipe and enjoyed it! And, thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
This is the best pasta dish. We all love it. Taking too covered dish today
Carolyn, thank you for the compliment - I really appreciate it! 🙂
I have made this about a dozen times. This last time I messed up. I thought I always used fresh mozzarella and never noticed the part where it said not to, but today I did. The fat in the cheese separated while making the sauce and it was SUPER oily. I left it to simmer and hopefully thicken and used a paper towel to soak up the oil layer, went to add the noodles and it was like all of the sauce had disappeared. It was just greasy noodles and chicken. So sad. Love this meal and was looking forward to it. Do not use the fresh mozzarella. Maybe get some as a garnish but man it ruined it.
Hanna, even though this recipe did not come out well this time (but you did make it about a dozen times with success!) - I LOVE YOUR COMMENT! Because it emphasizes the important point - DO NOT USE FRESH MOZZARELLA CHEESE IN THIS RECIPE! Use part-skim, low-moisture mozzarella that usually comes pre-shredded or in rectangular, solid blocks of cheese.
Absolutely delicious! Easy, inexpensive and fast enough to make on a weekday. Just as good or better than many Italian restaurants for about a third of the price. I added Parmesan at the end which made it even better. My whole family loved it! This is definitely a keeper!
Terri, this is one of the best comments I've ever run across on my website. So glad you tried this recipe and enjoyed it! 🙂
Served this to my 2 grown grandsons and they loved it! Thanks for the recipe.
Jerry, you are very welcome! I am glad the recipe was enjoyed! 🙂
But, why not fresh mozzerella?
Fresh mozzarella has too much moisture. Use Mozzarella that is labeled as part-skim, low-moisture. It is usually sold pre-shredded in bags or as solid rectangular blocks of cheese.