Marry Me Chicken Pasta: Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken, Ready in 40 Minutes

Three small decisions do the work. The chicken is seared hard first, so the pan gets a layer of browned flavour that the stock later lifts into the sauce. The tomato purée is cooked until it darkens, which takes the raw edge off. And the cream goes in only after the stock has reduced, so the sauce thickens by reduction rather than needing flour, and the Parmesan melts into it off the heat instead of clumping.

Ingredients

Serves 4. Total time about 40 minutes: 10 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking.

• 350 g penne or rigatoni
• 600 g boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2 cm pieces
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp fine salt, plus salt for the pasta water (about 25 g)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 80 g sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped, plus 1 tbsp of the jar oil
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 250 ml chicken stock
• 250 ml double cream
• 50 g Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to serve
• A small handful of basil leaves

Method

1. Bring 2.5 litres of water to the boil and add 25 g of salt. Cook the pasta until it is one minute short of the pack time. Scoop out 150 ml of the cooking water, then drain.
2. Toss the chicken with the oregano, half a teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a wide, deep skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Cook the chicken in a single layer for 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until golden and cooked through (74 C at the centre of the thickest piece). Move it to a plate.
4. Turn the heat to medium. Add the remaining olive oil, the butter and the jar oil. Cook the garlic, tomato purée, sun-dried tomatoes and chilli flakes for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, until the purée darkens and smells sweet.
5. Pour in the stock and scrape up the browned bits from the base of the pan. Simmer for about 4 minutes, until reduced by roughly a third.
6. Lower the heat to medium-low and stir in the cream. Simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil hard.
7. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the Parmesan a handful at a time until smooth. Add the remaining half teaspoon of salt.
8. Return the chicken and any juices to the pan, add the pasta and 60 ml of the reserved water, and toss over low heat for 1 minute. Loosen with more water if needed, then scatter over the basil and extra Parmesan.

Tips, swaps and storage

• Cheese and cream split when boiled hard. Keep the cream at a bare simmer and add the Parmesan off the heat, a little at a time.
• Chicken thighs work as well as breast and are harder to overcook. Cook them for 6 to 7 minutes.
• Swap the pasta for gnocchi, or serve the chicken and sauce over mash or rice with crusty bread.
• Pasta water holds starch, which helps the sauce cling. Add it a spoonful at a time, because the sauce thickens as it stands.
• Oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes are the easiest and give you the jar oil for cooking. If you only have the dry kind, cover them with boiling water for 10 minutes, drain and chop them, and use olive oil in place of the jar oil.
• For more heat, double the chilli flakes. For a lighter sauce, replace half the cream with extra stock and reduce it for another minute or two.
• Season at the end. Parmesan and sun-dried tomatoes are both salty, so taste before you add the last pinch.
• Keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days in a sealed container. Reheat gently with a splash of water or stock, never on high.

The dish has outlasted most viral recipes because it fits the way people actually cook: one wide pan, a jar from the cupboard and a block of Parmesan. With darker evenings ahead, it should stay on the rota well beyond this autumn.