Creamy Tuscan-Style Chicken Breasts with Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce

Skinless, boneless Tuscan-Style Chicken Breasts with Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce are an easy, one-pan recipe. Thanks to a rich, silky, creamy sauce, chicken breasts are tender, moist, and never dry. Make the sauce by roasting garlic and sun-dried tomatoes in the skillet, adding the cream, shredded Mozzarella cheese, and just the right amount of spices (basil and crushed red pepper)! It's one of the best ways to cook chicken breasts!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword creamy chicken, sun-dried tomato chicken

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings servings

Calories 629kcal

Author Julia

Ingredients

Chicken Breasts:

4 garlic cloves , minced
6 oz sun-dried tomatoes , in oil, from a jar
salt
2 tablespoons olive oil , either from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes, or just use olive oil
½ teaspoon paprika
2 large chicken breasts , halved horizontally (about 2 lb)

Cream Sauce:

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 cup part-skim, low-moisture mozzarella cheese shredded (not fresh mozzarella!)
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon basil if using dry basil, if using fresh basil you can add more
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes at least, add more to taste

Instructions

How to cook chicken breasts on stove top

Note: if using sun-dried tomatoes in oil (in a jar), make sure to drain sun-dried tomatoes from oil, before using them. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this drained oil for sauteing as described below:
In a large pan, on medium heat, saute garlic and sun-dried tomatoes (drained from oil) in 2 tablespoons of oil (reserved from the sun-dried tomatoes jar - see note above) for 1 minute until garlic is fragrant.
Remove sun-dried tomatoes and garlic from the pan, leaving the olive oil in the pan.
Add chicken breasts, halved horizontally, salted and lightly covered in paprika (for color).
Cook the chicken on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side.
Cover the pan with the lid, remove from heat, and let the chicken sit, cooking in its own juices, with heat off, until completely cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
Remove the chicken from the skillet.

How to make creamy sun-dried tomato sauce:

To the same, now empty, skillet, add back sun-dried tomatoes and garlic.
Add 1 cup of heavy cream, bring to a brief boil and reduce to a simmer.
Add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, constantly stirring to melt the cheese.
Add 1 cup of milk gradually, whisking until nice and smooth, while on simmer. You might not use all of the milk. Use just enough to thin out the sauce to your liking.
Add basil and crushed red pepper - mix to combine.
Add cooked chicken breasts. Season with salt. Reheat until warm.

Notes

Use pre-shredded Mozzarella cheese labeled as part-skim, low-moisture. It is usually sold pre-shredded or as a hard block of cheese.
Do not use fresh Mozzarella, usually sold as large balls or a log.

Nutrition