This Marry Me Chicken Pasta is a quick and easy meal that’s sure to be a family favorite! Juicy chicken, a creamy sauce made with bursts of sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, and spinach, and it’s all ready in about 40 minutes, making it a great weeknight dinner option.
This is one of my Pasta recipes I know you’ll want to keep on hand!
Happy 2025!! I know I’m a little late to the party, but my kiddos were home on winter break, then we got hit with a massive snowstorm. Whew, but I’m back!
This recipe is one that I know you’ll love. It combines all the amazing flavors of marry me chicken with pasta, so you have a complete meal!
If you’ve never heard of “marry me chicken”, it’s essentially a chicken recipe that’s served with a creamy sun-dried tomato and spinach sauce. It became internet famous several years back, and has produced many spin-offs, like this recipe.
This is a great weeknight meal, especially if you use my prep-ahead tips (they’re further down in the post, under the heading “making chicken pasta ahead of time”.
So let’s see how to make it, shall we?
What do I need to make this recipe?
- Pasta – you can use any pasta you’d like for this recipe. I typically use a short cut of pasta (like campanelle, penne, farfalle, etc).
- Olive oil – this is just to cook the chicken.
- Chicken breast – this recipe calls for boneless skinless chicken breasts, but you can use any type of chicken you’d like.
- Seasonings – for this recipe, these are Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder.
- White wine – you’ll need a dry white wine, such as a chardonnay.
- Butter – you can use salted or unsalted butter.
- Sun-dried tomatoes – you’ll want the variety that comes packed in oil.
- Garlic – if you’d rather use pre-minced garlic, use about 2 tsp.
- Flour – nothing fancy here, just plain all purpose flour.
- Chicken broth – I prefer to use reduced sodium chicken broth.
- Heavy cream – this may be called heavy whipping cream, and it’s found in the dairy section by the milk and half and half.
- Parmesan cheese – I prefer to use freshly grated Parmesan, as it melts into the sauce much better.
- Spinach – I use baby spinach, but kale could be used as well.
- Basil – this adds such a bright freshness as a garnish.
How to make marry me chicken pasta:
This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.
- Boil pasta. Just according to package directions.
- Cook chicken. Depending on the size of your skillet, this may need to be done in batches.
- Deglaze. Adding the wine allows you to scrape up any browned bits from the chicken and have them in your sauce (pure flavor!).
- Cook aromatics and thicken. This is the sun-dried tomatoes and garlic, and once sautéed, add the flour (which is what thickens the sauce).
- Add liquids. Stir as you pour in the chicken stock and heavy cream.
- Season and thicken. Add seasonings and let the mixture simmer for a few minutes until it coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- Add chicken, pasta, and spinach. Let this cook a minute or so, for the spinach to wilt.
- Garnish and serve.
Helpful Tip!
I know the ingredient list looks long, but I promise this isn’t a complicated recipe. It just uses a lot of ingredients that give it a truly incredible flavor! Plus, I’ve detailed how you can prep a lot of the ingredients ahead of time.
Variations of this recipe
- Chicken – if you’d rather use boneless skinless chicken thighs, or chicken tenders, they also will work well for this recipe. Just cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- No wine – if you can’t use alcohol, or don’t have any on hand, no worries! Just substitute the white wine with an equal amount of chicken broth.
- Additional spices – please feel free to adjust the spices and seasonings to your tastes.
- Heavy cream alternative – in place of heavy cream, you could use half and half or evaporated milk.
- Pasta – I love using campanelle pasta for this recipe, but if you’d prefer another type of pasta, that will work too.
FAQ’s
A while back this recipe, and recipes like it (that have the creamy sun-dried tomato and spinach sauce) was coined “marry me chicken”, because it’s so delicious that the person you serve it to would propose to you. Sadly it’s not to be taken literally, but hey, you never know!
While I think of it as a one pot recipe, the fact that the pasta is cooked separately may cause people to think that it’s not. When testing this recipe, I was originally going to have the pasta cook IN the sauce, but there’s just a much higher margin of error (since all stovetops cook differently, etc), so to keep this easier I chose to boil it separately.
Absolutely! Feel free to use any short-cut of pasta (such as penne, rigatoni, rotini, ziti, farfalle, etc). That’s not to say that longer cuts (such as spaghetti, linguine, etc) wouldn’t work, they’d just make this a bit harder to eat.
Making chicken pasta ahead of time
While you can make this dish completely ahead, I much prefer to prep ahead instead. This way the pasta doesn’t run the risk of being dried out, and you can still save time!
- Pasta – the pasta can be boiled, then drained and cooled and stored in the refrigerator (in an airtight container).
- Chicken – the chicken can be cut into small pieces and refrigerated (in an airtight container) for a day.
- Veggies – the sun-dried tomatoes and garlic can be chopped and refrigerated (in an airtight container) for a couple of days.
- Spices – the spices can be measured and stored at room temperature (in an airtight container).
- Cheese – the parmesan can be grated and stored in the refrigerator.
Storage
Leftover pasta should be refrigerated in an airtight container and enjoyed within 4-5 days.
When reheating, you might want to add a splash of heavy cream or chicken broth to add a bit of creaminess back to the pasta.
More Chicken Pasta Recipes:
My Favorite Stainless Skillet!
This pan is definitely not cheap, but I wanted to be transparent that this is the pan I use in my kitchen. However, you can use any large and deep skillet/pan; I just recommend at least 10-12″ in diameter.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 16 oz dried campanelle pasta or any short cut of pasta (penne, etc)
- salt for the pasta water
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into small bite-sized pieces
- 2 tsp dried Italian seasoning divided
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil drained and roughly chopped
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 handful baby spinach leaves
Garnishes
- minced fresh basil
- sprinkle of black pepper
- sprinkle of Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Boil pasta
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a generous sprinkle of salt and then boil pasta according to package directions for al dente. Drain and set aside.
Sear chicken
- Heat a large and deep skillet over MED HIGH heat. Once hot, add olive oil and chicken pieces. Add 1 tsp of the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
- Cook chicken, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes, or until chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken to a plate and cover loosely with foil so it’ll stay hot.
Make sauce
- To the same skillet, add the dry white wine and simmer for a few minutes, until the wine is reduced by at least half, scraping the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon to release any browned bits from cooking the chicken.
- Add butter, and once melted, add sun-dried tomatoes and garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds or so, until fragrant.
- Sprinkle in the all purpose flour and whisk to combine.
- Pour in the chicken broth, whisking as you pour, then pour in the heavy cream.
- Add the last 1 tsp of dried Italian seasoning, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. Whisk to combine well.
- Stir and simmer a bit, until thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Combine
- Add in cooked chicken (along with any juices that have accumulated on the plate), cooked pasta, and spinach. Stir to combine and cook, stirring often, about a minute, or until the spinach has wilted.
Serve
- Serve hot, with desired garnishes.
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Chef Tips
- I’ve estimated this recipes serves 4, but the exact amount of servings, and the serving size, is up to you.
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Maria says
This recipe looks and sounds great! I will be making it. Thanks for sharing!