More Pasta Recipes
Marry Me Chicken Pasta
Marry me chicken pasta is the recipe that earns its name every single time. Tender chicken in a rich, creamy sun-dried tomato sauce with parmesan and Italian herbs, all tossed through pasta for a dish that feels genuinely special without being complicated. This is the kind of meal that gets requested on repeat, and once you make it you'll completely understand why it went so viral. Save this recipe for date night, a dinner party, or honestly any night you want to seriously impress someone.
Ingredients
- 200g cooked chicken breast, sliced or shredded
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 80g sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 /2 tsp Italian mixed herb
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 3/4 cup thickened cream
- 1/2 tsp roasted garlic paste
- 25g grated Parmesan cheese
- Juice of 1/2 small lemon
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 200g pasta of your choice
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a small pot, before adding the finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes and mixing thoroughly.
- Stir in the thickened cream, chicken stock, and grated Parmesan cheese, garlic paste, lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Reduce the heat to low and let the sauce simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until it thickens.
- While the sauce is reducing, cook the pasta according to the packet instructions until al dente.
- Toss the pasta through the sauce, finish with some extra parmesan, and serve.
Notes
- This recipe is perfect for using up leftover roast chicken or rotisserie chicken from the deli.
- If you don't have cooked chicken on hand, you can quickly pan-fry a chicken breast while the pasta cooks.
- Sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil will give a richer flavour than the dry-packed variety. If using oil-packed, drain them well before chopping.
- For a lighter version, swap the thickened cream for half cream and half milk, though the sauce won't be quite as rich.
- Add a handful of baby spinach or rocket to the sauce just before serving for extra greens.
- If the sauce becomes too thick, loosen it with a splash of reserved pasta water when tossing everything together.
- Fresh basil stirred through at the end adds a lovely brightness that complements the sun-dried tomatoes beautifully.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days, though the pasta may absorb some of the sauce. Add a splash of cream or milk when reheating.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 830Total Fat: 54gSaturated Fat: 32gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 231mgSodium: 510mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 45g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
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Marry Me Chicken Recipe
This easy marry me chicken pasta is the kind of recipe that absolutely earns its name. Made with cooked chicken breast, sun-dried tomatoes, thickened cream, parmesan, and a splash of lemon juice, it comes together quickly and delivers a sauce that is rich, deeply savoury, and genuinely hard to stop eating.
Rose, the Unimpressed Roommate
I’ve been in Adelaide for a couple of months now, and life is in no way settling into anything resembling normalcy. A large part of that is Rose. Rose was, for a very long time, my perfect cat. Dramatic in the way that only truly beautiful creatures can be, but perfect. My best friend, my shadow, the most reliable constant in a life that has moved around quite a lot. She watched me cook, she followed me from room to room, she curled up beside me every single night. I adored her completely.
And then I went away for work. An interstate trip, nothing unusual. Rose stayed with my then former complicationship, and when I got her back, she wasn’t quite the same cat. She kept trying to escape. She was unsettled, restless, difficult in ways she’d never been before. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I have my suspicions. I think she bonded to him, and coming back to just me felt, to her, like a loss. Which is its own kind of thing to sit with.
So now we’re in a standoff. She meows at the bedroom door for twenty minutes then retreats with a huff. She gives me the unblinking stare of pure judgement when I come home late. She is, in short, a diva. But she’s my diva, and I miss my old girl. In the meantime, when I make something like this chicken, she gets a little treat of her own. Just enough to keep her sweet, and to remind her who buys the groceries. It’s our version of date night, and honestly, it’s better than most evenings I’ve spent with actual humans lately.
A Week of Chaos and Change
Life has been genuinely wild. I quit my job, which might sound impulsive but was very much overdue. I’d been unhappy for a long time, and when a new opportunity appeared it felt like a lifeline. My gut told me it wasn’t quite right, but I took it anyway. Less than four days in, I knew I’d made a mistake. Everything promised during recruitment turned out to be false, and I’d jumped straight out of the frying pan and into the fire.
So I left. And I don’t regret it. Life is too short to be miserable in a job you don’t believe in. I gave myself a day to panic, then poured a glass of wine, made a plate of this pasta, and decided to trust that something better was coming. It did. Within the week I had an offer for a role that actually excites me. I start tomorrow, nervous in the best way.
What struck me through all of it, the dating dramas, the job chaos, the mood swings of my unsettled cat, was how oddly at peace I felt. Life in Adelaide, for all its unpredictability, has been exactly what I needed. I walk to the market, I cook beautiful meals, I feel the sun on my face. It’s not always perfect, but it’s mine. And for the first time in a long time, I’m genuinely happy. I also may have recently given my number to a cute boy who works around the corner. But that’s a story for another post.
Why This Easy Marry Me Chicken Pasta Works So Well
The name comes from the idea that it’s good enough to inspire a proposal, and look, I’m not going to argue with that. The sauce is everything here. Sun-dried tomatoes bring a concentrated, almost jammy sweetness that gives the whole thing incredible depth without any real effort. The thickened cream makes it glossy and rich. The parmesan adds salt and nuttiness. And the lemon juice, which might seem like an odd addition, cuts right through the richness and keeps the sauce from feeling heavy.
Using pre-cooked chicken makes this genuinely quick to pull together, since you’re really just building the sauce and letting everything come together in the pan. The dried Italian herbs do a lot of quiet work in the background, and the chicken stock gives the sauce proper body before the cream goes in. The result is the kind of bowl that tastes like you’ve been standing over the stove for hours, when in reality you haven’t. That’s the kind of recipe I want on a weeknight when I’m tired, slightly wine-adjacent, and a cat is judging me from across the room.
Ingredients Breakdown
Cooked Chicken Breast
Using pre-cooked chicken makes this a genuinely fast weeknight dinner. Shred or slice it and add it to the sauce to warm through rather than cook from scratch. Rotisserie chicken works beautifully here if you have it.
Sun-Dried Tomatoes
The flavour backbone of the sauce. Sweet, concentrated, and deeply savoury, they do more heavy lifting than anything else in the pan. Use the ones packed in oil and don’t be shy with them.
Dried Italian Herbs
A generous pinch works quietly in the background, adding an herby warmth that ties all the other flavours together. Simple and effective.
Chicken Stock
Adds depth and helps build the sauce before the cream goes in. Let it reduce down a little so you’re concentrating the flavour rather than diluting it.
Thickened Cream
Goes in once the stock has reduced and transforms the sauce into something glossy and rich. Keep the heat gentle once it’s in, a hard boil will split it.
Lemon Juice
The secret weapon. A squeeze of lemon lifts the richness of the cream and brightens the whole sauce. Don’t skip it.
Parmesan Cheese
Stirred through at the end, it melts into the sauce and adds a salty, nutty depth that pulls everything together. Save a little extra to grate over the top of the bowl.
Pasta
Use whatever shape you love. Something with a bit of surface area, like rigatoni or penne, will hold onto the sauce beautifully, but honestly this works with whatever you have in the cupboard.
